Solutions for States
Enhance your education agency’s capabilities and expand capacity for improvement with highly customized solutions.
Transform education: expertise and partnership for your success
State education oversight is incredibly complex and demanding. You navigate a changing political landscape, nurture educator development so that all students are college or career bound, collect and use data efficiently, and address diverse stakeholder needs. Our Cognia specialists, former school, district, and state administrators, understand the challenges of state education agencies and integrate seamlessly with your team. Our nonprofit status means we are accountable foremost to serve as a trusted partner in our shared mission to advance learning.
We do this by:
- Evaluating your state agency for maximum efficiency, leading to the hard-earned status of accreditation
- Developing and implementing student assessments
- Promoting continuous improvement for all schools and providing support for your highest-need schools
Accreditation for state education agencies
Cognia is first to accredit a state education agency in the U.S. Read the press release >
Take an innovative approach to improving education in your state
Gain enhanced stakeholder credibility and trust while delivering maximum impact to schools and districts. State education agencies can benefit from the same foundation to continuous improvement that accredited K–12 institutions have long enjoyed, while also balancing the many complex, multifaceted, and distinctive challenges posited by your stakeholders.
As the first organization to accredit SEAs, Cognia provides a rich and rewarding experience that unveils new ideas to help you increase your efficiency, improve collaboration and remove silos within the organization, streamline initiatives to eliminate redundancy, and prepare your agency for a strong future.
Choose a partner with a long standing reputation for accreditation and improvement excellence
Cognia accredits SEAs using the same approach that schools and districts have relied on for 125 years. We collaborate with states to conduct rigorous third-party evaluations to pinpoint strengths and areas for improvement.
When you choose Cognia Accreditation for your SEA, you commit to a process of continuous improvement guided by a set of performance standards we designed exclusively for state education agencies.
Key stakeholders engaged in SEA accreditation in support of learners
Assessment for states
Collaborate on a flexible approach
Assessment should be guided by the individual needs and goals of your state and focused on creating a snapshot of student learning that is relevant to you. Cognia works with state partners to deliver a holistic assessment program, including K–12 formative, interim, and summative assessment solutions, with an option to engage in a variety of professional learning activities and resources, including administration support, assessment literacy, interpretive guides, and item writing and scoring opportunities to deepen assessment understanding, quality, and use. Throughout the process, we integrate multiple touchpoints with educators, families, and other stakeholder groups including item development, review, report design, and data interpretive training.
Engage with precision, efficiency, and quality
State assessment teams are supported by dedicated Cognia professionals who uphold the universal design principles to ensure first-rate content, accessibility, equity, and fairness. Assessment design is led by psychometricians who are experienced and highly trained assessment professionals specializing in measurement, data management and analytics, and reporting. With access to state of the art tools and the highest quality processes, they ensure the security and accuracy of your data. Your team is simultaneously supported by the Cognia program management team who oversees your program needs and helps you navigate the path to successful assessment development and implementation.
Join a leader in alternate assessment
Cognia is dedicated to meeting the needs of all learners. Since the inception of alternate assessments, we have been the frontrunner in development and delivery. Customize your alternate assessments with us or join the Multi-State Alternate Assessment (MSAA) where you will collaborate with other states, pooling resources to achieve meaningful, statistically significant insights and shared learning.
Improvement for states
Accelerate improvement in your schools and districts
Create a unified, statewide approach in school action plans, implement high-quality professional development for all leaders and teachers, and increase performance with intensive support for CSI and TSI schools when Cognia is by your side. With a rich history of aiding state education agencies, our long-standing partnerships in Alabama, Kentucky, North Dakota, and South Carolina exemplify our commitment to continuous improvement in education.
Achieve long-lasting success
Cognia is a data-driven, results-oriented organization. Our success is reflected in your achievements, as shown by these highlights:
- Two Tennessee schools exited priority status through a state partnership with Cognia. The schools experienced double-digit gains in academic achievement, high statewide growth rates, and significant decreases in chronic absenteeism.
- The Alabama State Department of Education took concrete steps towards improvement and adopted the Cognia Continuous Improvement Framework across all its schools, increasing stakeholder engagement and driving focused conversation on equitable outcomes.
- Throughout our 10+ year partnership with North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, Cognia has assessed student engagement, provided professional development for educators and leaders, and offered intensive support for identified schools.
Cognia offers intensifying levels of support to meet your state’s needs
