History
Tests for Higher Standards
Tests for Higher Standards (TfHS) was founded in 1997 by Dr. S. Stuart Flanagan, who had recently retired from the College of William and Mary, and Dr. David E. W. Mott, who had previously worked in the testing service at the Virginia Department of Education.
TfHS began by developing tests to assess students’ achievement with the Virginia Standards of Learning in Mathematics, later followed by English, Science, and History & Social Science. These tests were designed to be hand scored.
R&D Group
R&D Group was formed in 2002 by Dr. Mott to produce Reports Online System (ROS), a new plain-paper scanning, scoring, and web-based reporting system for use with TfHS assessments. After its initial release in 2003, client feedback and feature requests lead to four major and many minor updates to ROS under the TfHS and R&D Group banners.
ROSworks, LLC
As ROS matured, more clients began to use their own or third-party test content, so the decision was made to separate the ROS from its TfHS roots. As such, ROSworks, LLC was formed in August 2007 by acquiring the assets of R&D Group. The same staff continues to provide the service and product our customers have come to rely on, but ROS has a new look and a new address: www.rosworks.com. ROS is now up to version 8.
Staff
David E. W. Mott, Ph. D. — Owner and CEO of ROSworks, LLC and co-owner of Tests for Higher Standards
Dr. Mott holds degrees from Vanderbilt, American, and Virginia Commonwealth Universities. He worked in the Virginia Department of Education, student testing division, for nearly 20 years, where he was Test Development Supervisor and Virginia State Assessment Program Administrator. He has been involved with the Virginia Standards of Learning programs since its inception in 1979 under then State Superintendent Dr. S. John Davis (30+ years). He was heavily involved in both curriculum and test development activies. Currently, he jointly owns and manages Tests for Higher Standards (TfHS), where he oversees development and evaluation, test construction, validation, equating, and utilization, and is senior science content editor. As he is also the founder of ROSworks, he performs a number of various functions involving the development and implementation of ROS as well as being closely involved in day-by-day operations.
S. Stuart Flanagan, Ed. D. — Co-owner of Tests for Higher Standards
Dr. Flannagan is a mathematics educator with substantial experience in research and student testing. He holds degrees from Washington and Lee University, and the University of Virginia. He served as chair of the math department at St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, Virginia. Thereafter, he was professor at the College of William and Mary for 30 years, teaching mathematics and mathematics education-related courses in research, testing, and curriculum development. He is now Professor Emeritus. He developed test items for projects at local and state levels, directed grants, consulted with schools, authored numerous articles, was a grader for the ETS Advanced Placement Program, and was senior consultant to CBS Publications in math. During the late ’80s and early ’90s, he produced the Literacy Passport Test support materials. These were the conceptual model for the Tests for Higher Standards. He now works with Dr. Mott in developing high-stakes testing and instructional materials.
Emmet “Trip” Clarke — Documentation Specialist and Sales Representative
Trip conducts on-site and telephone training sessions and produces ROS documentation. He also sells products to clients, researches sales opportunities, and attends conferences. Previously, Trip provided customer service and technical writing for an online testing service, a regional bank, and several major manufacturers.
Sharon Spacek — Controller
Sharon has been involved with TfHS and ROSWorks, LLC since the beginning. She is in charge of fiscal matters for both companies, and coordinates the Science development for TfHS. She holds a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Alex Balas — Sales Representative and Documentation Specialist
Alex attends conferences, sells ROS and TfHS, conducts product demonstrations, and helps with product and client support. He holds a B.S. in Business with a marketing specialty from James Madison University, and a Certificate in Information Systems from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Andrea Walters — Science Content Author and Editor
Andrea Authors, edits, correlates and does whatever needs to be done with TfHS science test banks for various states. She assembles custom science benchmark tests for various clients. Andrea has a BS in Wildlife Science (Biology minor) from VA Tech.
Allan Noah — Developer Emeritus
Allan was the primary creator of versions 1 to 6 of the ROS software. He has ventured off to discover what else can be done with scanners on the web. (But we keep in touch.)