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MetaMetrics Launches Spanish Lexile Analyzer
Spanish-Speaking Students Can Now Benefit From Free Online Tool Allowing Educators to Measure the Reading Demands of Spanish Text
| Source: MetaMetrics, Inc.
DURHAM, NC--(Marketwire - September 25, 2008) - Connecting Spanish-speaking students with
targeted reading materials just got easier. MetaMetrics®, Inc., developer
of the widely adopted Lexile Framework® for Reading, today announced that
it has launched a free Spanish version of its popular online Lexile
Analyzer®. Registered users can utilize the Spanish Lexile Analyzer to
evaluate the reading demands of articles, passages and other Spanish texts
and to determine the Spanish Lexile® measures of titles currently not in
the Spanish Lexile Book Database.
The Spanish Lexile Analyzer uses El Sistema Lexile para Leer, the
Spanish-language version of the Lexile Framework, to determine text
difficulty. El Sistema Lexile measures text based on the same semantic and
syntactic factors of reading demand -- word frequency and sentence length
-- as the Lexile Framework. However, El Sistema Lexile employs a distinct
58-million word research corpus to determine Spanish word frequency values
and a unique equation for calculating Spanish Lexile measures. As a result,
the Spanish Lexile measure of
a text can differ from the Lexile measure of the same text written in
English.
"We are pleased to launch the Spanish Lexile Analyzer as another resource
for our classroom teachers and librarians to use in connecting students
with books and other reading materials that will support the development of
important literacy skills," said MetaMetrics President Malbert Smith III,
Ph.D. "With the proliferation of Spanish-speaking and ELL students in our
nation's classrooms, we must continue to provide educators with the
resources they need to help all students achieve at the highest levels --
regardless of their language of origin."
The Spanish Lexile Analyzer is intended to measure professionally edited
text only, including books, newspaper and magazine articles, and short
stories. It is not designed to measure the difficulty of texts such as
students' writing samples, poetry and unconventional writing styles, which
can result in inaccurate Spanish Lexile measures. MetaMetrics advises users
to follow all text-preparation guidelines posted on the Lexile Web site to
ensure the validity of the Spanish Lexile measures. For more information
and to use the Spanish Lexile Analyzer, visit
www.lexile.com/spanishanalyzer.
Publishers interested in licensing the Spanish Lexile Analyzer to establish
certified Spanish Lexile measures for their materials should contact Trilby
Berger, MetaMetrics' director of strategic partnerships, at
tberger@Lexile.com or 919-547-3427. All Spanish Lexile measures must be
certified by MetaMetrics before they can be published in print or online.
El Sistema Lexile is an educational tool that connects Spanish-speaking
students with materials written in Spanish using a common measure called a
Spanish Lexile. What makes
El Sistema Lexile unique is that it measures both reading ability and text
difficulty on the same developmental scale. When used together, Spanish
Lexile reader measures and Spanish Lexile text measures allow educators,
parents and students to find books and other materials that meet and
challenge a reader's unique ability and interests. Many Spanish-language
books have been measured and a growing number of standardized tests can
report students' reading scores as Spanish Lexile measures.
For more information on El Sistema Lexile and the Lexile Framework, visit
www.MetaMetricsInc.com.
About MetaMetrics, Inc.
MetaMetrics, Inc., a privately held educational measurement company,
develops scientifically based measures of student achievement that link
assessment with instruction, foster better educational practices, and
improve learning by matching students with materials that meet and
challenge their abilities. The company's team of psychometricians developed
the widely adopted Lexile Framework for Reading (www.Lexile.com); El
Sistema Lexile para Leer, the Spanish-language version of the Lexile
Framework; The Quantile Framework® for Mathematics (www.Quantiles.com);
and The Lexile Framework for Writing. In addition to licensing Lexile and
Quantile® measures to state departments of education, testing and
instructional companies, and publishers, MetaMetrics delivers professional
development, resource measurement and customized consulting services. For
more information, visit www.MetaMetricsInc.com.