Avant Assessment
Alejandra Balestra is a highly experienced language educator and administrator with a diverse background in teaching and program coordination. Currently serving as the Spanish Rater Manager at Avant Assessment since March 2021, Balestra focuses on training new Assistant Rater Managers and developing training materials. Previous roles include Director at the University of Houston, where Balestra retired after a long tenure, and Professora Titular at Universidad de Palermo, teaching courses on Argentine culture and history. Additional experience includes positions as Term Assistant Professor at George Mason University, Coordinator of the Spanish as a Second Language program at the University of New Mexico, and various teaching roles at the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires. Balestra holds a Ph.D. in Spanish Linguistics and has extensive expertise in curriculum development and academic advising.
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Avant Assessment
In today's connected world, language has never mattered more. To reach your destination, you first need to know where you are. Avant's assessments accurately and efficiently measure language skills and provide data and reporting that help to guide instruction, curriculum and learning. Avant creates web-based, age-appropriate language proficiency tests, language placement tests, and educator training tools that are: Real - We use only passages from the real world that students and adult learners live and communicate in. Scientific - Computer Adaptive Multi-Stage test design efficiently and accurately addresses the complexity of language to measure proficiency. Meaningful - The rich data generated is presented in easy-to-access reports that inform instruction, curriculum and learning. Avant's assessments measure proficiency in 32 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish.