Microsoft joins project to assess learning skills

Seattle PI | at | by Mike

Microsoft said Tuesday it would team up with tech giants Intel and Cisco to support work designed to modernize ways to assess learning skills worldwide.

The announcement, made at a forum of educators in London, adds to a host of educational initiatives being sponsored by Microsoft.

A white paper drafted with the project says that current assessment tools are badly in need of an overhaul -- and therefore stymieing efforts at education reform.

"Many previous, well-meaning and well-resourced attempts to reform education have stumbled through an inability to demonstrate improvement on standardized tests designed for last century's education," the paper says.