June 2, 2005, Findlay, Ohio – The University of Findlay has received a $20,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Education that will be used to help strengthen the College of Education’s system for assessing the progress of its students.

According the Dr. Melissa Cain, dean of the College of Education, the funding will be used this summer to evaluate measures that can be taken to make the system, called College LiveText, more streamlined and effective, and to train education faculty and staff on how to better use the system.

The College of Education implemented the LiveText in the spring of 2004 as a means of tracking students’ knowledge, skills and dispositions.

LiveText is designed to help ensure that students in UF’s College of Education address all of the assessments of the college’s assessment system, as well as pass the Praxis Series assessments. All graduates must pass the assessments to earn teaching licenses. It also allows the college to track how well students are addressing the Ohio Academic Content Standards and the standards of their professional associations.

In addition, LiveText enables students to log into the system to find out how they are doing in a class or on a particular assignment. They also are able to prepare their lesson plans and portfolios in LiveText and can share them digitally with potential employers.

The college’s assessment system has already shown positive results. One hundred per cent of recent UF College of Education graduates passed the Praxis III test with scores above the state average in all four testing areas.

For more information, contact Rebecca Shell, public relations officer, at 419-434-4345.