ETS Releases New Instructional Data Management System Upgrade

Redlands, CA, April 11,2005 – ETS (Educational Testing Service) announced today the release of a significant upgrade to its Instructional Data Management System (IDMS), a Web-based software application designed to help K-12 educators manage and use assessment data to drive instructional practices, improve student achievement, and optimize learning results.

“With IDMS Version 5.0, ETS will provide educators with immediate access to a pool of formative assessment items that are aligned to state standards,” says Barry Pulliam, Vice President, ETS Elementary and Secondary Education. “IDMS Version 5.0 also introduces functionality improvements that will enable educators to better identify school performance challenges and target intervention to improve student achievement.”

Through IDMS, educators can identify critical state standards, pace instruction, align materials to the standards over the school year, create formative assessments (tests or quizzes given throughout the year), and generate district, school, class and student reports that are meaningful, actionable and easy to use.

IDMS Version 5.0 will be used as a platform to deliver the ETS Formative Assessment Item Bank, an extensive online bank of 12,000 math and language arts test questions tailored to states’ specific standards. With this remarkable tool at their fingertips, educators can create formative assessments to test for proficiency in the standards they teach.

IDMS Version 5.0 also introduces ETS EZScan, software that allows educators to upload student responses from scanned answer sheets into IDMS for scoring and reporting. Results are available for viewing within minutes, so educators can quickly and accurately monitor and communicate student performance.

Other IDMS Version 5.0 upgrades include enhancements to the Curriculum Guide that allow users to define the sequence of standards within specified instructional periods by grade level, course or subject. Enhanced navigational abilities, including personalized homepages and tabs, make the system more intuitive for users. IDMS Version 5.0 also introduces a Message Center that allows the district to post messages for all users and a shortcut feature, which provides customized links to favorite IDMS pages.

IDMS is the technical framework behind ETS Elementary and Secondary Education’s instructional improvement model, Focus on StandardsTM (FOS). FOS is an integrated process that uses educational resources to help school leaders develop a school improvement plan, provide a system for continuous standards-based improvement, and encourage sharing of instructional strategies. In 2003, 87 percent of elementary schools using the FOS program met or exceeded their state academic growth targets.

For more information about IDMS, visit: http://www.etspulliam.org/idms