Avant Assessment

Dr. Carl Falsgraf envisioned an online, standards-based assessment of language proficiency to shift language education from a grammar-based, rote-learning approach to a focus on developing real-world proficiency. Carl and his team at the University of Oregon’s Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS) began developing STAMP (STAndards-based Measurement of Proficiency) as the world’s first online language proficiency test. In 2001, David and Sheila Bong joined Carl to pursue that vision and created what is now Avant Assessment. Today, Avant delivers STAMP across the country and around the world. Avant builds and delivers ever more effective assessments of real-world proficiency, including Spanish for Heritage Learners and less commonly taught languages, such as Somali and Yup’ik. Avant’s mission is as it has always been: to improve the teaching and learning of language in the US and around the world through effective assessment.