Lincoln—March 30, 2007—Assessment, Learning and Technology Solutions (ALTS), a software development company specializing in assessment tools for students in grades K-20, will enter the business incubation program at the University of Nebraska Technology Development Center on April 16.
ALTS President Dennison S. Bhola said that his company has developed a software product that will revolutionize the way business is transacted in classrooms. The ALTS assessment management system empowers teachers to do better assessment. According to Bhola “better assessment enables teachers to make better decisions for the benefit of students.”
The ALTS product line includes software, assessment development workshops and data services – all focused on enhancing students’ learning.
“We provide a system to teachers that empowers them to write questions that are well-aligned with their curriculum and their teaching goals. This ensures content validity.” Bhola said.
Bhola indicates that 65 schools have already subscribed to ALTS’s assessment management software, and with its focus on immediate feedback and “assessment for learning” his company intends to become Nebraska’s service provider of choice within three years.
He added that ALTS hopes to help the State to meet federal guidelines established by the No Child Left Behind legislation. “Among states, Nebraska’s response to NCLB is unique. Our products are essential for Nebraska’s schools to successfully respond to the federal requirements of NCLB and simultaneously increase students’ learning,” Bhola said.
Bhola taught high school for almost a decade before going back to school himself to earn a PhD in Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Education from the University of Nebraska. After graduation, he spent nine years developing tests for Gallup and served as a professor on their International Research and Education Council until 2002.
In 2002-2003, in his capacity as Assistant Director of the Buros Institute for Assessment, Consultation and Outreach, he consulted with the Nebraska Department of Education. He then went to Virginia in 2004, where he taught doctoral students in James Madison University’s famous Center for Assessment and Research Studies. He returned to Nebraska in 2005 to share his expertise and computer-based assessment management system with educators here because according to Bhola’s research “of all the states in the union the need for this system was greatest in Nebraska.”
NU Technology Park President Steve Frayser said that he believes that the ties the TDC has to the University will be extremely helpful to someone with Bhola’s extensive credentials and business goals.
“Dr. Bhola brings an unusually strong mix of academic and commercial skills to an exciting new vocation. ALTS is a particularly good fit for the Park in that the University has significant expertise in developing educational assessment tools presenting good opportunities for future collaboration,” Frayser said.
Bhola is counting on the Tech Park to provide him with the mentorship he needs to create a strong company that will be able to achieve his business goals.
After establishing dominance in the Nebraska market, Bhola hopes to expand nationally and internationally. Within the next five years, he plans to launch his software in Canada, the United Kingdom and the English-speaking Caribbean.
“ALTS is on a mission to make the world a better place through education, by helping the adults of tomorrow use technology, assessment and quality feedback to learn what they need to learn more efficiently and at their convenience,” Bhola said.