Avant Assessment Announces Jon Bower, Chief Executive Officer

EUGENE, OR, April 23, 2013 (Press-News.org) Avant Assessment is pleased to announce the appointment of Jon Bower as Chief Executive Officer. In addition to a track record of corporate growth, Mr. Bower brings more than 30 years of experience in education research and design with a focus on improving outcomes through personalized learning.

Mr. Bower first became engaged in education reform in the Stanford International Development Education program. Bower went on to complete an MBA at Harvard Business School with a focus on operations management and entrepreneurship, after which he spent 12 years in various high tech leadership roles. Bower returned to education to combine his talents with his passions as CEO at Lexia Learning Systems, where he built a team that grew the company from 25 to over 10,000 school customers, and helped over 5 million students learn to read.

Since leaving Lexia, Bower has held executive leadership positions with several other education technology companies, including Soliloquy Learning and it's learning, inc. In addition, Bower has been an active member of a number of boards of directors for technology companies, including Avant's board, on which Bower has served as a director for the past 6 years.

As CEO of Avant Assessment, Mr. Bower is focused on providing effective assessments and tools to support personalized learning. "I believe that the next opportunity in education is to help students achieve their own learning goals, and that doing so will improve education outcomes far more than standardized testing," said Bower. "Our greatest challenge in education is to train and support teachers to meet the needs of every individual student. Avant's proficiency, diagnostic, and placement assessments, combined with the iCAN standards-based ePortfolio, provide a viable platform for doing so."

"We are thrilled that Jon will be leading Avant into the next phase of its growth," said Founder and Chair David Bong. "Under his guidance, I am confident that the company will continue to pursue its mission to improve language learning through effective assessment."

About Avant Assessment
Avant believes that every student can communicate and thrive in a diverse world, and that every educator can be confident in guiding student learning through data, observation and evidence. A leader in language proficiency assessments with its STAMP and Placement lines, Avant provides valid, reliable language assessments in Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. Breaking ground in formative assessment with its iCAN ePortfolio, Avant's solutions build student and teacher confidence in real-world learning and deliver accurate standards-based data to inform a more efficient, effective learning process. Delivered via the Web, Avant's tools are easily accessible, engaging and reliable.

For more information, press only, contact:
Mary Beth Saddoris, 888-718-7887, marybeth.saddoris@avantassessment.com, http://www.avantassessment.com

Copyright 2013 Avant Assessment. All rights reserved. Avant and iCAN are registered trademarks, and Every Student Can, STAMP and Placement are trademarks of Avant Assessment. All other brands are the property of their respective owners.