ETS edged out some top corporate competitors to win a Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) Codie Award for its Criterion Online Writing Evaluation Service.

ETS received the award for Best Instructional Solution for English Language Acquisition at a gala held in San Fransisco, USA, on May 16.

SIIA, the principal trade association for the software and digital content industry, presents the Codie Awards annually for the software and information industry’s finest new products. The award honors excellence in corporate achievement and philanthropic efforts.

The Criterion service is an online learning tool that uses automated scoring technologies to evaluate student essays online. About a half million elementary, middle, high school and college students around the world have used the service.

ETS has also won Technology & Learning magazine's Award of Excellence and a ComputED Gazette's Eddie Award for Criterion.  

"I’m pleased that this service has received a Codie Award, particularly since it’s making a real difference in teaching and learning in the classroom," says Siobhan Leahy, Product Manager for Instructional Solutions. "We couldn’t ask for a better acknowledgement of the service’s value as an educational solution."

The Criterion service was also named a finalist in another category: Best Instructional Solution for Language/Arts English–Secondary. And the Instructional Data Management System™ application was named a finalist in three award categories: Best Instructional Solution: Classroom Management; Best Student Assessment Solution; and Best Student Information System or Gradebook. 

The IDMS application is a Web-based software system designed to help K-12 educators manage and use assessment data to drive instructional practices, improve student achievement, and optimize learning results.