BOSTON – Global education leader Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, providers of DataDirector, has announced a strategic partnership with GradeCam, one of the industry’s fastest-growing technology providers, to offer users a quick and easy method of capturing student assessment results into one of the nation’s leading data management and assessment systems
Starting this fall, educators using DataDirector will be able to use inexpensive web cameras as well as document cameras to capture student answer choices using GradeCam’s proprietary technology and transmit it to DataDirector for immediate reporting of results. This new option eliminates the need for costly scanners and provides teachers a quick and easy way to complete the testing process. Students can even use GradeCam themselves as they complete their test, simplifying the post-testing process for teachers.As part of this strategic partnership, HMH and GradeCam also announced the development of a new mobile application which will be available exclusively to DataDirector customers. This new mobile application allows educators to use the camera of their Apple iPhone, iPad or Google Android devices to capture student responses and offers a new level of convenience for teachers as well as substantial cost savings for districts.
“We are proud of this new partnership with GradeCam,” said Jim Nicholson, President of HMH’s Riverside division. “Both companies have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to making education as affordable and practical as possible. We hope that by using our new integrated services, teachers will be able to spend less time grading tests and more time educating students.”
GradeCam, headquartered in Livermore, CA, was created to offer teachers a quick and easy way to identify students’ instructional needs. The GradeCam solution was founded in 2003 when its founder, Rob Porter, was trying to find an alternative method his mom (a teacher at Pleasanton Middle School in California) could use to grade tests. Since then the technology has improved exponentially, and word has spread across California and in other states as to the ease of use and cost effectiveness of the solution.
“Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has an unrivaled commitment to educators, and we are thrilled to be their partners,” said Rob Porter, GradeCam’s Founder and CEO. “Through this partnership, HMH is giving millions of teachers all of the benefits of immediate in-the-classroom data collection. By removing the cost barriers that have kept scanning solutions out of classrooms, they are demonstrating that they are truly dedicated to finding innovative solutions to the challenges facing education today.”
GradeCam’s integration with DataDirector will be offered as an option to all DataDirector users this fall so they have a new option for the capture of student answer choices on assessments. The two companies have formed a strategic alliance that enables HMH to integrate GradeCam technology across a wider array of platforms and products. In the future, for example, GradeCam may also be available for the Edusoft Assessment Management System and HMH’s new Pinpoint so that users of those programs may also benefit from this great new technology.
“When I was a classroom teacher, I would have loved to have the option to quickly score my student’s work using something like an iPhone. DataDirector and GradeCam now make that possible,” said Mike Mitchell, Vice President, Business Development and Account Management, HMH Enterprise Solutions. “We see this announcement as just the start of an exciting collaboration with our colleagues at GradeCam. Educators will benefit from the depth and breadth of HMH’s instructional offerings, now combined with the power and ease of GradeCam’s capabilities.”
For more information on DataDirector, visit www.riversidepublishing.com. To learn more about GradeCam, visit www.gradecam.com.
About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
With education products and services used by 57 million students throughout all 50 U.S. states and 120 countries, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is a global education and learning company. The world’s largest provider of materials for pre-K–12 learning, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is leading the way with innovative solutions and approaches to the challenges facing education today. Through curricula excellence coupled with technology innovations and professional services, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt collaborates with school districts, administrators, teachers, parents and students, providing interactive, results-driven learning solutions. Its Educational Consulting Services group works to increase student achievement in underperforming schools by developing, implementing and supporting education transformation through sustained district partnerships. With origins dating back to 1832, the Company also publishes an extensive line of reference works and award-winning literature for adults and young readers. For more information, visit www.hmhco.com.