Educational Consultant

In 2022, H&F made a minority investment in Curriculum Associates.  Curriculum Associates is a leading adaptive learning platform for U.S....

Curriculum Associates accelerates i-Ready innovation with 2026-2027 updates. Sep 10, 2026, 12:14 ET New enhancements give educators greater visibility into usage, make assessment more efficient, and provide clearer information to support all students NORTH BILLERICA, Mass., Sept. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Curriculum Associates today announced a series of updates to the i-Ready suite for the 2026-2027 school year designed to give educators greater visibility into students' usage, make assessment more efficient, and provide educators and families with clearer, more actionable information. i-Ready Inform(TM) adaptive assessment results guide i-Ready Personalized Instruction's individualized sequence of online reading and mathematics lessons for each student in Grades K-12. Students work at a level where they can make visible progress week to week, and teachers receive reports showing exactly what each student needs, so their time is spent where it matters most: delivering instruction. The program is designed as a targeted complement to teacher-led instruction. The i-Ready suite of assessments and Personalized Instruction is used by 17 million students and one million educators nationwide. This year's updates reflect Curriculum Associates' ongoing product development process, which combines direct feedback from educators and students with classroom observations, product usage data, research, psychometrics, and guidance from outside experts and advisory groups. Input from educators, education leaders, students, and families has helped shape several of this year's most significant changes, including a move toward a shorter assessment experience and new tools that give schools greater visibility and control over when students use Personalized Instruction. In 2025 alone, Curriculum Associates engaged more than 800 students and educators through user research and co-design activities to understand how its programs are working and where schools need something different. "Technology should earn its place in the classroom," said Kate Geusic, senior vice president for product at Curriculum Associates. "Every minute students spend on a device should serve a clear instructional purpose. Our responsibility is to make sure the technology educators choose supports their goals and gives them the information and control they need. These updates reflect what educators have been telling us, paired with what research tells us about how students learn." Greater Visibility and Control over Personalized Instruction "Technology is now an essential part of modern instruction, but educators and families also want greater visibility and control over when and how students engage with it," said Tyrone Holmes, chief impact officer at Curriculum Associates. "Giving schools more flexibility to manage students' access to i-Ready helps educators make intentional decisions about technology use while respecting the important role families play in shaping students' time outside the classroom." Curriculum Associates recommends a usage target of 30 to 49 minutes per subject per week - a recommendation grounded in research showing that consistent use within that range is what drives results. Close monitoring of students' usage and progress is a key. Teachers have always been able to track that usage through i-Ready reports, and many have asked for a way to make these reports even clearer. Enhanced reports for teachers and administrators will now identify students who exceed recommended usage, providing details for follow-up and surfacing alerts on dashboards. This helps teachers monitor student usage and progress, ensuring that Personalized Instruction is effectively supporting each student's learning needs. Leaders can also analyze usage patterns and enhance implementation plans. Additionally, educators now also have the ability to restrict usage to select dates and times, empowering them to determine when students engage with lessons. Together, these tools are designed to help schools proactively manage usage and keep Personalized Instruction aligned with their instructional strategy. More Efficient Assessment That Informs Instruction Beginning in the 2026-2027 school year, i-Ready Diagnostic becomes i-Ready Inform(TM) for Reading and for Mathematics for Grades K-12, reflecting the assessment's role in giving teachers, families, and students actionable information to guide learning. In response to educator feedback about the need for more efficient testing, Curriculum Associates is also moving toward a shorter assessment experience designed to provide trusted insights with less disruption to instructional time. For Grades K-6, the new Student Literacy Profile will bring together information from i-Ready Inform and i-Ready Literacy Tasks to give educators a clearer view of students' literacy performance. Helping Families Better Understand i-Ready Curriculum Associates is also launching an updated Family Center and public webpage for families to help caregivers find answers, better understand the role of i-Ready, interpret student results, and find resources to support conversations about student learning and progress. "We recognize the importance of family involvement for student learning and continue to be committed to supporting it," said Mara Rodriguez, associate vice president of i-Ready strategy. "We want to make it easy for caregivers to get answers to their questions, interpret their students' i-Ready results, and help them find resources and supports to have productive, meaningful conversations about their students' progress within their families and with teachers." Supporting Spanish Learners Curriculum Associates continues to support Spanish learners with the introduction of My Path for Spanish Reading for Grades K-5. The program delivers personalized, authentic Spanish reading instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension through a distinct pathway for students, powered by i-Ready Inform de lectura. Listening, Learning, and Improving These and other updates are part of Curriculum Associates' broader approach to continuous improvement in all of its programs. Product teams regularly examine platform use and point-of-use feedback, conduct surveys and user research, and work directly with students and educators to test and refine new features. Research and psychometric teams study how programs and assessments are performing, while subject-matter experts, district leaders, and technical advisory groups help ensure changes remain grounded in research and meet appropriate standards for quality, validity, and reliability. Additional i-Ready enhancements will continue to roll out throughout the 2026-2027 school year. About Curriculum Associates Curriculum Associates is a mission-driven company dedicated to making Grades K-12 classrooms better for more than 17 million students and one million educators nationwide. The company's connected suite of i-Ready(R) solutions unites adaptive assessment, personalized instruction, and core curriculum in English language arts and mathematics - supported by expert professional learning and service teams - alongside Ellevation for multilingual learners and Stile Education(R) for middle school science. Through its innovation hub, AI Labs, Curriculum Associates designs forward-looking technologies educators can trust. The company measures success by the impact it makes on student outcomes and is honored to support the extraordinary work of teachers every day. SOURCE Curriculum Associates, LLC

Curriculum Associates and American Printing House for the Blind partner to advance accessible learning for students who are blind or low vision. Aug 31, 2026, 13:58 ET New tactile graphics library and assistive technology initiative expands access to assessments while helping educators prepare students for success in STEM BILLERICA, Mass., Aug. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Curriculum Associates and American Printing House for the Blind (APH) announced a partnership to help ensure students who are blind or have low vision have equitable access to the same rigorous assessment to inform instruction as their peers. The organizations are developing a customized tactile graphics library that will enable educators to quickly locate, print, and use high-quality tactile graphics for i-Ready Inform(TM), eliminating the need for educators to manually create these materials in real time. In addition, the library's infrastructure lays the foundation for integrating tactile graphics into the next-generation technologies, such as refreshable tactile displays, including the Monarch refreshable tactile displays. The new high-quality tactile image library will be available in the 2026-2027 school year. The collaboration combines Curriculum Associates' expertise in instruction and assessment content development with APH's leadership in braille, tactile graphics literacy, and assistive technology. Students who are blind or have low vision continue to be underrepresented in STEM education and careers, while limited access to high-quality tactile graphics remains a significant barrier to engaging with mathematics, science, charts, diagrams, and other visual learning materials. The partnership helps remove those barriers in i-Ready Inform by making tactile graphics easier for educators to find, produce, and use, saving valuable preparation time while improving consistency and quality. "Timely access to high-quality braille and tactile graphics provides students the opportunity to fully and independently participate in learning," said Lauralyn Randles, senior director of accessible test and assessment. "Together with Curriculum Associates, we're helping educators spend less time creating accessible materials and more time helping students succeed." The partnership also addresses a significant challenge facing schools. While accessibility standards are essential, creating accessible tactile materials often requires substantial time and specialized expertise. The new searchable tactile image library will streamline teachers' work by making accessible materials easier to find, produce, and use, thereby reducing preparation time while improving consistency and quality. "This initiative reflects a shared commitment to accessibility that goes beyond compliance by focusing on usability and ensuring students can fully demonstrate what they know," said Allison Johnson, AVP of accessibility, authenticity, and belonging at Curriculum Associates. "By designing for current assistive technology while keeping emerging technologies in mind, we are helping to create environments where students who are blind or low vision can increasingly engage more independently and pursue the same academic opportunities as their fellow learners." More information about Curriculum Associates' approach to inclusive assessments is available in their recent whitepaper and on their blog. About Curriculum Associates Curriculum Associates is a mission-driven company dedicated to making Grades K-12 classrooms better for more than 17 million students and one million educators nationwide. The company's connected suite of i-Ready(R) solutions unites adaptive assessment, personalized instruction, and core curriculum in English language arts and mathematics - supported by expert professional learning and service teams - alongside Ellevation for multilingual learners and Stile Education(R) for middle school science. Through its innovation hub, AI Labs, Curriculum Associates designs forward-looking technologies educators can trust. The company measures success by the impact it makes on student outcomes and is honored to support the extraordinary work of teachers every day. About American Printing House for the Blind American Printing House for the Blind is a leader in designing innovative lifelong learning solutions for children and adults who are blind or low vision. We believe in the power and necessity of learning to open the doors to educational success, satisfying employment, and personal well-being. We level the learning playing field for students who are blind or low vision by providing specialized technology, materials, products, and services that are essential for education and life. SOURCE Curriculum Associates, LLC