New Online Resources for State Teacher Certification Test Preparation Launched by Georgia Professional Standards Commission.

Web Resources to Help Faculty Working With Georgia's Pre-Service Teachers Developed by National Evaluation Systems

ATLANTA & HADLEY, Mass. -- The Georgia Professional Standards Commission today launched its new online Faculty Resources, the latest enhancement to the Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators([R]) (GACE([R])) Web site. The new resource area was developed by National Evaluation Systems([TM]) (NES([R])), the teacher licensure testing business of Pearson Education. The GACE Faculty Resources area is designed to help teacher preparation program faculty members confirm that their curricula are aligned with state, national and P-12 Georgia student standards, and assist them in interpreting and analyzing teacher candidate test results. NES also developed and manages the GACE, the state's assessment of the knowledge and skills of prospective public school educators.

"At the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, we are committed to placing highly qualified teachers into Georgia public school classrooms. To achieve this goal, we ask our state's prospective teachers to demonstrate that they possess the knowledge and skills necessary to best educate our students," said F.D. Toth, Ph.D., executive secretary. "Our collaboration with the outstanding team at NES has resulted in the important addition of Faculty Resources to the GACE Web site. These new resources provide the faculty of Georgia teacher preparation programs with a powerful tool for transforming the way they advise their students and counsel certification candidates."

Deans from Georgia colleges and universities are meeting today at Macon State College with the Professional Standards Commission and NES staff to review the Faculty Resources and discuss strategies for using them with faculty, program advisors and certification candidates.

"NES is proud to have worked with Georgia education leaders to develop an innovative Web resource to help ensure that their pre-service teachers are prepared for the state certification examinations," said William Gorth, Ph.D., president, NES. To view the GACE Faculty Resources, visit the GACE Web site at www.gace.nesinc.com/GACE_faculty_resources.asp.

About National Evaluation Systems

National Evaluation Systems (NES) (www.nesinc.com) provides customized assessments for teacher licensure testing. As the most experienced provider of custom tests, NES collaborates with state education agencies to develop and administer licensure tests for prospective teachers who want to enter the profession and for experienced teachers who want to teach a new subject or work in a new state. Today, NES tests about 50 percent of prospective U.S. teachers in more than 100 content fields, in professional teaching skills and in the basic skills of reading, writing and mathematics.

NES is a business of Pearson Education, the world's largest integrated education company, which in turn is part of Pearson (NYSE: PSO), the international media company. Pearson's other primary operations include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group.