Press Releases

Scantron^® Offers FCAT Test Maker Item Bank for Achievement Series Formative Assessment Solution

Helps Florida Teachers Prepare Students for State High Stakes Exam by Assessing Mastery and Guiding Instruction Before the Test is Administered

IRVINE, Calif. (Jan 19, 2007) - Scantron, a leading technology provider of software and survey solutions for K-12 and higher-education, today announced the availability of a test item bank designed specifically for K-12 Florida education. This new item bank, available for use within Scantron's Achievement Series assessment solution, allows educators in Florida to create tests that look and feel identical to the high-stakes tests required of all K-12 students.

Scantron's Achievement Series is a content-neutral flexible testing platform that educators use to develop and administer tests both online and on paper, capture results, and produce standards-based reports. Adding the FCAT Test Maker Item Bank, developed by Florida-based Test Prep Systems, to Achievement Series will allow educators to instantly access over 10,000 test items written specifically for Florida. Items cover reading and mathematics for 3rd through 10th grade, and science for 5th, 8th and 11th grade.

"With the addition of the FCAT Test Maker Item Bank, Achievement Series becomes an even more valuable tool to help prepare our students for the state test," said Dr. Nicolene Junkins, director, K-12 Curriculum and Program Accountability for Volusia County Public Schools in Florida. "It will help our teachers monitor student progress toward mastery of the Sunshine State Standards, as well as to prepare for the FCAT. But the real key is that they can assess performance in real time throughout the year. This allows us to make adjustments to address learning gaps during the year so that students successfully master the state standards and are well prepared for the FCAT."

To help prepare students for the state test, the FCAT Test Maker Item Bank emulates the FCAT in both content and structure. All items are written to "FCAT Test Item Specifications" for reading, mathematics and science. All tested Sunshine State Standard benchmarks for these content areas are included in the item bank.

"Scantron has a long and successful relationship with numerous Florida school districts such as Volusia County Public Schools," said Sean Ryan, general manager of Scantron's Testing and Assessment division. "The FCAT Test Maker Item Bank add-on module is the latest example of our efforts to provide Florida educators with immediate access to the data they need to identify student strengths and needs, and make informed instructional decisions to improve achievement at the individual student, class, school and district level."

About Achievement Series

A winner of the 2005 Distinguished Achievement Awards sponsored by the Association of Educational Publishers, Achievement Series from Scantron allows educators to develop and administer tests both online and on paper, capture results, and produce standards-based reports. The system makes it easy for educators to secure timely and accurate assessment data needed to measure growth, inform instruction, and prepare students for district and state-level high stakes tests.

About Scantron Corporation

Scantron Corporation (www.scantron.com), headquartered in Irvine, Calif., helps education and commercial organizations measure and improve effectiveness with assessment and survey solutions. Scantron provides tools for the rapid, accurate and reliable capture of data with innovative software and survey solutions that leverage the company's expertise in world-class forms printing and scanner manufacturing. Scantron is a subsidiary of Harland Clarke Holdings Corp., which is wholly owned by M&F Worldwide Corp. (NYSE: MFW).

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For More Information: JP Clark | 949-639-7640 | jp_clark@scantron.com