Announcing TAO Community Edition: A New Era for Open Digital Assessment
Open Assessment Technologies (OAT), creators of TAO, the world’s leading open-source digital assessment platform, is excited to announce the upcoming release of the TAO Community Edition (TAO CE). This major release represents a shift toward open, extensible, and community-driven innovation in digital assessment.
TAO CE introduces a new suite of modular tools: TAO Advance, TAO Grader, TAO Insights, and TAO Portal. Together, these components provide a powerful end-to-end stack that enables institutions and developers to fully manage and customize their assessment infrastructure.
This release is part of the broader TAO Community initiative, which brings together developers, educators, and organizations to co-create the future of learning and evaluation. Community members will gain access to collaborative tools, feature requests, roadmap discussions, and contribution opportunities.
“The future of digital assessment isn’t locked in proprietary systems. It’s open, extensible, and community-built,” - Mack K. Machida, Co-CEO, Open Assessment Technologies
What’s New in TAO Community Edition
TAO Advance
A next-generation test delivery engine focused on performance, scalability, and a seamless user experience across devices.
TAO Grader
A flexible manual scoring tool for evaluating open-ended responses, including support for rubrics and detailed feedback workflows.
TAO Insights
A data analytics module that transforms assessment data into actionable insights to support better educational outcomes.
TAO Portal
A unified dashboard to manage TAO components, with tools for rostering, user management, and live proctoring of assessments.
Why This Matters
TAO Community Edition gives institutions and developers:
- Full ownership of the platform, free from licensing fees or vendor lock-in
- A modular setup, allowing users to activate only the features they need
- Integration capabilities based on open standards like QTI®, LTI®, and WCAG
- A direct role in the roadmap and evolution of the platform
“Open-source isn’t just a licensing model. It’s a commitment to progress,” - Patrick Plichart, Co-Founder, Open Assessment Technologies
TAO CE will be released under the Affero General Public License version 3 (AGPLv3), ensuring freedom to use, adapt, and extend the platform.
What’s Next: Early Access Program
The Early Access Program (EAP) for TAO Community Edition will begin in September 2025. Developers and contributors are invited to join the waitlist and start participating in the new technical forum.
“Innovation in education thrives when communities lead. TAO Community Edition gives institutions and developers the freedom to build, adapt, and contribute on their own terms,” - Marc Oswald, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Open Assessment Technologies
Learn more at taotesting.com