April 2, 2005 – Creative Learning Systems releases Student Assessment System.  Innovative system provides authentic assessment of higher-order cognitive skills.

Creative Learning Systems today announced the release of its new SmartLab student assessment system.  This innovative system provides authentic assessment of individual learning and is particularly effective in measuring higher-order cognitive skills.  The system is the product of the company’s twenty years of experience developing engaging, project-based learning environments.  It incorporates the input of many of the company’s partner schools, reflecting classroom-tested feedback on best practices.

Consistent with the company’s educational philosophy, the CLS assessment system supports a project-based, student-centered approach to learning.  “In a CLS SmartLab, students of all ability levels are able to learn through projects of personal interest”, said Kurt Williamson, Director of Learning Environments.  “The challenge was to construct an assessment system that provided an objective evaluation framework, while remaining flexible enough to accommodate the wide variety of student-produced work“.  In contrast to pre-test/post-test assessment systems that measure only information recall, the CLS assessment system also addresses higher-order cognitive skills such as comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.  “We are very pleased to be able to offer such a powerful assessment tool to our educational partners”, said Mr. Williamson.

A key element of the new student assessment system is the SmartLab Project Development Guide.  This Guide provides a clear framework for students to develop project outlines, objectives and defined project plans, galleries of work and project presentations.  With this framework in place, students and educators can objectively assess portfolio-based work on student-directed projects.  In addition to evaluating project results, students are able to self-assess the quality of their planning and project design and deconstruct their work flow and learning experience in very concrete terms.  The result is an authentic assessment of each student’s individual learning.  “The insight gained by both students and educators through this system far exceeds what is generally available through traditional assessment methods”, said Mr. Williamson.

For more information on the Creative Learning Systems Student Assessment System, please call (800) 458-2880.