Since 1895, Cognia has been working alongside schools to advance learning, evolving from an accrediting organization to a global nonprofit focused on continuous improvement. 2024 was an impactful year for Cognia, with many milestones and an evolution of our services and offerings.

In this edition of the Source, we share insights from our 2024 Impact Report, including the ways we’ve worked with our network to strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of state education agencies, support institutions with assessments that inform meaningful changes in the classroom, provide opportunities for deep collaboration and support for teachers and leaders on a national scale, and much more.

We also detail how our research-backed Strategic Thinking and Planning Process can support schools in developing sustainable strategic plans and collaborating more efficiently across their teams. Our recent study of this process with Instructure yielded Cognia a Level III (Promising Evidence) classification under Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) evidence requirements.

To address the crucial topic of assessment in the classroom, we continue to discuss the importance of designing balanced assessment systems based in current research on student learning. When we focus only on high-stakes summative assessments, we miss opportunities to support students in working towards mastery of key skills and concepts. As part of Cognia’s efforts towards creating a more tailored, balanced assessment system, we also discuss our ongoing work in developing and testing our science interim assessments aligned to the OpenSciEd curriculum.

In this edition, let’s explore:

 

Mark A. Elgart, Ed.D.
Mark A. Elgart, Ed.D.,  serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Cognia. Dr. Elgart works closely with government agencies and other leading education-focused organizations to help establish the policies, strategic vision, and actions to propel and transform the learning experience so that every learner is prepared for the rapidly and ever-changing global world. Dr. Elgart provides vision and leadership for a global nonprofit in over 90 countries, 40,000 institutions serving and supporting nearly 18 million students and 5 million educators every day. Cognia is an undeniable force for enhancing schools, engaging students, and driving better outcomes for all learners. Dr. Elgart’s professional experience includes serving as a mathematics and physics teacher; a middle and high school administrator; and a middle school principal. He earned a bachelor’s in mathematics from Springfield College, a master’s in education from Westfield State College, and a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts.

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