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ERB Insights Blog

Education is changing daily, and ERB strives to keep educators and parents up to date on what is happening that may impact your school and your students today, tomorrow, and in the future.

educators

The latest news and updates for educators and our ERB Member Schools.

Comprehensives Testing Update

January 13, 2022
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Browser Update for Comprehensives Testing For online Comprehensives testing, an updated version of the Windows Secure Browser is available.  The current version is 11.1.2.7.  If you are running a previous version, no action is needed.  Your secure browser will automatically update to the current version the next time it is launched.  If you would prefer to manually update to the current version, download it at http://ctponline.erblearn.org.  For questions or assistance, please contact CTP Operations at (866) 683-2335 or (646) 503-2699.  Tagged in: […] read more

ERB Launching Free Check-In Survey

December 16, 2021
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ERB Launching Free Check-In Survey to Help Schools Quickly Gauge Student Well-Being Inspired by Character Lab’s Student Thriving Index, the quick survey includes academic, emotional and inclusion scales. ERB announced today that it has partnered with Character Lab to deploy elements of its Student Thriving Index in a 13-item Check-In Survey that will be available free to ERB member schools using our CTP or Milestones assessments. ERB’s survey design was informed by input from students and teachers at a cross-section of the organization’s member schools. “School leaders across the country have expressed the need for a quick way to understand […] read more

Setting Up Classrooms for SEL Insights

December 14, 2021
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How to Create Classrooms Rethink Ed has launched a new feature that allows you to: Create customized classrooms for staff and administrators. The capability to look at assignments, assessments, quizzes, and incidents for each classroom. Reports to measure progress for each classroom. Ready to learn more about introducing SEL Insights to your classrooms? Tagged in: […] read more

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families

The latest news and updates for our families.

The Distinctive Value of Independent Schools

September 15, 2023

Independent schools are non-profit, mission-driven institutions governed by a board of trustees and funded by tuition and charitable contributions. […] read more

How to Interpret the New Milestones Norms

September 14, 2022
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New Updates to Milestones Norms for Fall 2022 Milestones is an interim assessment of reading and mathematics that complements the CTP.  When it was first launched in the fall of 2020, ERB used CTP data to construct Milestones norms. This was appropriate given that Milestones and CTP share the same score scale and use very similar test specifications.   After two years of administration, ERB determined that it collected sufficient data to construct norms based on actual Milestones test-takers. These norms better reflect students’ performance on Milestones and are more useful to members interpreting results. ERB will keep adding years to the Milestones norm […] read more

All About the Data – Understanding CTP Norms

September 13, 2022
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CTP Norms Fall 2022 As the 2022-2023 school year gets underway, we want to update you on the latest with CTP norms and explain how we developed the current CTP norms in relation to pre and post-pandemic data. CTP norms for the fall 2021 test administrations were frozen due to anomalies in the fall 2020 data (e.g., low volume, non-representative samples, and COVID disruptions). Norms were unfrozen in the fall of 2022 given: the desire for members to understand performance in relation to the pandemic context, and a rebound in test taking that occurred as members adapted to schooling during […] read more

Ahead of the Curve: How PEG™ Has Led Automated Scoring for Years

August 29, 2022
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What is PEG™? PEG, or Project Essay Grade, is the automated scoring system at the core of ERB Writing Practice.  It was invented in the 1960s by Ellis Batten Page, a former high school English teacher, who spent “many long weekends sifting through stacks of papers wishing for some help.” His guiding principles? 1) the more we write, the better writer we become, and 2) computers can grade as reliably as their human counterparts (Page, 2003).  The state of computers at the time of Page’s invention did not leave much room for automation, so PEG lay dormant until the mid-1980s.  […] read more

ERB Launches Writing Practice

August 12, 2022
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ERB Launches Writing Practice with new design, functionality, and enhanced features to help students improve their writing skills with instant, actionable feedback. A robust library of prompts and lessons saves educators time while providing students unlimited opportunities to practice writing. ERB announced today the availability of ERB Writing Practice, an online program designed to help students improve their writing skills through practice, feedback, and guided support backed by the industry’s most accurate automated scoring algorithm. ERB Writing Practice helps educators and families save valuable time while giving students immediate and individualized feedback and opportunities for growth. Why ERB Writing Practice? […] read more

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