CTB/McGraw-Hill Launches Writing Roadmap Online Writing Assessment; New Tool Helps to Enhance Students' Written Communication Skills.

Business and Technology Editors

MONTEREY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 29, 2002

CTB/McGraw-Hill, the nation's leading provider of assessment products, today announced the release of Writing Roadmap(TM), a web-based classroom writing assessment.

Writing Roadmap is an instructional tool that offers students an online method of practicing their writing skills with immediate feedback. This approach also provides teachers with analytic information and options for monitoring and reporting individual student and class progress.

"Being able to communicate effectively in writing is critical to personal and career success. Writing Roadmap is an important new online tool that provides students an effective and efficient way to improve their written communications skills. The development of Writing Roadmap reflects our commitment to providing innovative learning and assessment solutions for the teacher and the student using the latest online assessment technology," said David Taggart, president of CTB/McGraw-Hill.

Writing Roadmap--offered for grades 3-12, college students and adult students--provides a practical, cost-effective way to assess writing progress over time. The application covers a range of topics and writing modes including descriptive, narrative, persuasive, and informative styles.

Scores are reported on five analytic traits, consistent with different state rubrics. Users can also choose between holistic or summative scores, which can be downloaded into existing student information systems.

Writing Roadmap also allows students to create a portfolio of their essays. This enables them to review and revise their work, and improve specific skills by receiving ongoing diagnostic feedback on such important writing dimensions as organization and mechanics. Teachers can also review student work online and provide additional feedback through options that provide personalized guidance.

CTB's new online writing program uses the IntelliMetric automated essay scoring engine provided by Vantage Learning(TM), the world's leading provider of online essay scoring technologies.

This online writing assessment reflects CTB/McGraw-Hill's ongoing mission to provide practical solutions to meet the educational needs of teachers and students.

About CTB/McGraw-Hill:

As the nation's leading publisher of standardized achievement tests for pre-school, elementary, middle and high schools, CTB/McGraw-Hill LLC offers a broad range of assessments, software and services. CTB/McGraw-Hill LLC is owned by the McGraw-Hill Companies, a global information services provider serving the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as McGraw-Hill Education, Standard and Poor's and BusinessWeek. Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. has more than 350 offices in 33 countries. Sales in 2001 were $4.6 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.