Insights in Action
The impact of the COVID pandemic on student learning continues to provoke expressions of deep concern. In this paper, we use ERB test data to compare the impact on student learning from the initial closure of schools in March 2020 versus the impact on learning from the most recently concluded 2021-22 school year. The initial impact on student learning due to school closures in March 2020 was significant, ranging from 30% to 50% in the rate of student learning growth on different CTP subtests. By end of the 2021-22 school year, however, overall student growth rates on CTP subject tests […] read more
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
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
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
An award-winning automated scoring algorithm. Project Essay Grade® (PEG®) software is an automated essay scoring solution based on more than 40 years of research by Dr. Ellis Batten Page, whose pioneering work in the field of computational linguistics has distinguished him as the leader of computer-based essay scoring. Using advanced, proven statistical techniques, PEG analyzes written prose, calculates measures that reflect the intrinsic characteristics of writing (fluency, diction, grammar, construction, etc.), and models the decisions of professional readers to produce scores that deliver unparalleled accuracy and reliability. PEG’s scoring results have been validated in more independent studies than all other […] read more
Join ERB’s Member Services Directors for a series of virtual office hours to help you learn and maximize your use of ERB’s products and services. These full-length webinars will last 45-60 minutes, providing participants with the tools they need to maximize the use of our products and services to inform curriculum and instruction and support student learning and growth. Sessions will be recorded for future reference. Wed., September 14 12:00 pm ET / 9:00 am PT September Virtual Office Hours: Welcome Back to ERB! This session oriented new members/users to the various ERB portals, Member Profile, and Help resources and […] read more
Join ERB’s Member Services Directors for a series of mini webinars to help you learn and maximize your use of ERB’s products and services. Each mini webinar will last 15-20 minutes and introduce you to one of ERB’s products or services. Sessions will be recorded for future reference. Tues., August 30 12:00 pm ET / 9:00 am PT MSD Mini: SEL This mini webinar focused on ERB’s SEL Insights program! Wed., August 31 11:00 am ET / 8:00 am PT MSD Mini: ERB Writing This mini webinar focused on ERB’s Writing Practice (formerly known as WPP)! Thurs., September 1 12:00 […] read more
On March 22, 2022 Glenn Milewski, Chief Program Officer at ERB, and Jason Lasnetski, Senior Member Services Director, discussed the newly updated Independent School and Association Norms that have been released for Spring. Glenn and Jason discussed which norms were updated, changes to how norms are calculated, and the impact we saw from Covid. Read the full blog post… Read Glenn Milewski and Adrienne Hu’s full explanation of the updated CTP norms. […] read more
New enhancements will allow proctors to more easily manage and monitor sessions. As many of you know, we have been successfully administering ISEE At-Home since 2020. Many families have taken advantage of ERB-proctored at-home testing, and many of our member schools have been administering ISEE At-Home in both open and closed testing sessions. Based on feedback from both ERB and school proctors, we are pleased to announce a variety of enhancements to the ISEE At-Home testing platform launched on April 4, 2022. These updates allow proctors to: Communicate with students at certain stages of the check-in process Better locate […] read more
Webinar Recap Last month we sat down for a roundtable discussion with fellow educators discussing how they are using assessment data to inform curriculum and instruction. ERB’s Member Services Directors and guest speakers from Member Schools discussed how they are accessing and leveraging data from ERB’s tools to meet their school’s needs. Watch the full webinar recording here or below. […] read more
Latest Reading
ERB Conference to Feature New Tools that Support Whole Child Education
“Each child is a physical, mental and spiritual being, interlocked and intertwined, with each dimension significantly affecting the other two.” William Litterick More than 50 years ago, ERB President William Litterick wrote that assessments of […] read more
Spring 2023 CTP Norms Update
By Adrienne Hu and Glenn Milewski For the Spring 2023 reporting cycle, the rolling norm continues to use four consecutive years of data. CTP norms are typically updated annually for each reporting cycle (fall and […] read more
2023 Virtual Office Hours
Join ERB’s Member Services Directors for a series of virtual office hours to help you learn and maximize your use of ERB’s products and services. These full-length webinars will last 45-60 minutes, providing participants with […] read more
How to Interpret the New Milestones Norms
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 […] read more