Instructure Introduces Gauge, a New Assessment Management Platform that Empowers School Districts to Effectively Measure and Improve Student Learning

SALT LAKE CITY, July 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Instructure (NYSE:INST), a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology company and creator of the Canvas learning management system (LMS), today announced the release of Gauge, a comprehensive assessment management system (AMS) that empowers K–12 school districts to regularly measure student learning with more insight and more timely results. This world-class assessment product will benefit teachers and students in schools across the nation.

"Gauge is our easy-to-use, scalable assessment platform that enables schools to create effective formative, interim and benchmark exams, deliver them to individuals or groups of students and use the data collected to directly influence instruction," said Mitch Benson, vice president of product for Canvas by Instructure. "Simply put, Gauge provides schools with a simple, easy-to-use assessment experience that delivers actionable data to drive student outcomes and success."

To highlight the importance of assessment, Instructure commissioned a national study about assessment testing and learning tools. Results reveal that teachers are not getting what they need from their assessment data. The study found that if teachers received better, more actionable data faster, they would take steps to improve teaching.

According to the survey, only 50 percent of respondents receive individual student performance data from their current AMS. Of all the types of data, teachers said access to this individual student performance data would be most helpful. Teachers also wish they received results more quickly. If they had access to their data sooner, 60 percent of teachers would individualize student learning plans, 58 percent would intervene with targeted instruction for struggling students and 43 percent would make changes to the curriculum.

Gauge product features include:

• Scalability: Educators can create and deploy district-wide assessments for students across the district, within a grade level or at a particular campus.
• Ease of Use: From the very beginning, Gauge was designed with end-users in mind, so its real power comes from its simplicity. Gauge's interface is clean, intuitive and easy to navigate. This minimizes user frustration, reduces support costs, and ultimately, lets users focus on what's truly important — teaching and learning.
• In-depth Reporting: Administrators and teachers can view meaningful reports and take action to improve instruction and student achievement.
• Data Analysis: User profiles set up by data from the student information system allow teachers and administrators to identify and assist at-risk populations, and recognize and repeat successes. Robust item analysis and quiz statistics help educators understand the performance and reliability of their assessments. Teachers can align test items to learning outcomes and capture student performance question by question.
• Mobile Availability: Gauge works on any device, any time. Students can sit for an assessment using a mobile device or personal computer/laptop.
• Security: Tests are secure through IP address filtering, availability settings, password protection, SSL encryption and other industry standard security processes.
• Standards-based Technology: Gauge is compliant with IMS Global Learning Consortium standards LTI and QTI.

Gauge is a full-featured and fully integrated solution accompanying the LMS to drive adoption, decrease costs and positively affect learning. This assessment product gives educators simple and effective tools to improve instruction through fast and useful data.

"As a district with more than 250,000 students, we now have a district-wide assessment platform, Gauge, that works seamlessly with the Canvas product our teachers and students are already familiar with," said Richard Baum, director of student assessment and research for Broward County Public Schools.

To learn more about the study, visit https://www.CanvasLMS.com.

To learn more about Gauge, visit http://www.GaugeAMS.com. 

In April 2017, Canvas by Instructure surveyed 530 K–12 public school teachers via online survey provider Qualtrics regarding their thoughts on formative assessments, summative assessments, assessment management systems and data.

ABOUT INSTRUCTURE
Instructure, Inc. is a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology company that makes software that makes people smarter. With a vision to help maximize the potential of people through technology, Instructure created Canvas and Bridge to enable educational institutions and organizations everywhere to easily develop, deliver and manage engaging face-to-face and online learning experiences. To date, Instructure has connected millions of instructors and learners at more than 2,000 educational institutions and corporations throughout the world. Learn more about Canvas for higher ed and K–12, and Bridge for the corporate market, at www.Instructure.com.

CONTACTS:

Becky Frost
Sr. Director, Public Relations
Instructure
(801) 869-5017
bfrost@instructure.com

Neil Davies
Method Communications
(801) 461-9770
Neil@methodcommunications.com

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SOURCE Instructure; Canvas