CTB/McGraw-Hill Leads in
English and Spanish Student Assessment

From its quarter-of-a-million square foot international headquarters in Monterey overlooking the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, CTB/McGraw-Hill rightly assumes its mantle in the forefront of student assessment in English and in Spanish.

The firm has almost 70 years of experience in test publishing, scoring and reporting information about educational progress.

"We're the industry leader in language assessment scales,'' said Michael Kean, CTB's vice president for public and governmental affairs. Kean, who holds a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in educational development and administration, notes that the firm is the nation's leading elementary and secondary school test and assessment publisher.

CTB/McGraw-Hill's role in such programs is both deep and wide.

"Our products are used by schools in all 50 states and we have the state testing program contract in 14 different states,'' Kean said. "In addition to English, we sell tests in Spanish wherever schools offer multicultural programs.''

Though most states do not have a state test in languages other than English, CTB could certainly provide such products if they were requested.

"We do provide Spanish-language tests to cities from Los Angeles to Chicago, and from Palm Beach to Agana, Guam,'' Kean said. CTB's best-selling multicultural assessments include the Language Assessment Scales (LAS) and the Spanish Assessment of Basic Education (SABE).

CTB is also the contractor of the U.S. Department of Defense Dependent Schools and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Among the English-language tests published by CTB are the California Achievement Tests (CAT), the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) and the Tests of Adult Basic Education (TABE).

As far as Monterey's designation as the language capital, Kean said, "The resources are right here,'' adding that CTB/McGraw-Hill can also contribute assessment and research expertise in such an environment. "As organizations determine the need to assess in languages other than English, we can work with them,'' he said.

Kean believes designation of Monterey as language capital is the first of many steps.

"The designation won't do much in itself,'' he said. "Having established the foundation, then a group would have to make a conscious effort and take advantage of the designation and the critical mass that exists here.''

Kean envisions Monterey as a perfect locale for more multi-language meetings.

"What better place to meet than in Monterey? The location is already popular with golfers, tourists and conventions,'' Kean said. "And an increasing number of visitors are from overseas.''

There would be benefits for CTB/McGraw-Hill as well.

"The educational and linguistic resources of the Monterey Peninsula will prove invaluable as we expand our product in other languages,'' Kean said.

CTB/McGraw-Hill, which was founded as the California Test Bureau in Los Angeles in 1926, relocated to Monterey in 1958. It was acquired by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. in 1965.

If you would like more information about CTB/McGraw-Hill, visit their Web site

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Rev 09/28/05   L. Huelga http://www.monterey.org/langcap/ctbmcgrw.html