The American Education Corporation Links A+ LearningLink Assessment With the Lexile and Quantile Frameworks

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK and DURHAM, NC--(Marketwire - August 26, 2008) - MetaMetrics®, Inc. and The American Education Corporation (AEC) today announced that the A+® LearningLink™ assessment has been linked with both The Lexile Framework® for Reading and The Quantile Framework® for Mathematics. Beginning in fall 2008, the formative assessment will report students' scores as Lexile® and Quantile® measures, enabling educators to target classroom instruction and forecast performance on high-stakes reading and mathematics tests.

"The integration of the Lexile and Quantile Frameworks within our A+ LearningLink assessment provides educators and administrators with a single, integrated system for connecting students with prescriptive programs based on their individual reading and mathematics abilities," said Jeffrey E. Butler, AEC's chairman and chief executive officer. "Because students' results are reported on the same Lexile and Quantile scales used by many state and national assessments, educators can better gauge if intervention programs are moving students toward meeting rigorous AYP [Adequate Yearly Progress] standards."

A+ LearningLink is a valid and reliable formative assessment that measures a student's existing knowledge, comprehension and mastery of basic skills in reading and mathematics in grades 1-8. Because the assessment is calibrated with the Lexile and Quantile Frameworks, and aligned with state standards and objectives, educators can use students' scores to connect them with appropriate reading and mathematics materials and forecast how they will perform on all Lexile- and Quantile-aligned tests. Teachers who use the A+nyWhere Learning System® can automatically prescribe interventions from A+ LearningLink and track progress throughout the year. Currently, 75 A+nyWhere Learning System courseware titles have Lexile measures and more than 240 mathematics lessons have Quantile measures.

"We are pleased to add The American Education Corporation's A+ LearningLink to the growing number of formative assessments that have been linked with the Lexile and Quantile Frameworks," said Malbert Smith III, Ph.D., president, MetaMetrics. "The addition of Lexile and Quantile measures provides educators with actionable tools for measuring student growth in reading and mathematics, and ensuring students are on track for meeting AYP standards."

Recognized as the most widely adopted reading measure, Lexile measures are used at the school-level in various capacities in all 50 states. Each year, more than 28 million Lexile measures are reported from state and national assessments, classroom assessments and reading programs, representing about half of U.S. students. More than 115,000 books, 80 million articles and 60,000 Web sites have Lexile measures, and the number of resources with Lexile measures continues to grow.

The Lexile Framework is an educational tool that connects readers with reading materials using a common measure called a Lexile. What makes the Lexile Framework unique, and what has led to its widespread adoption, is that it measures both reading ability and text difficulty on the same developmental scale. When used together, Lexile reader measures and Lexile text measures allow educators, parents and students to find books and other materials that meet and challenge a reader's ability and interests or school assignments.

Similar to the Lexile Framework, the Quantile Framework provides a common, developmental scale for measuring student mathematics achievement, the difficulty of mathematical skills and concepts, and the materials for teaching mathematics. By placing the curriculum, teaching materials and students on the same scale, Quantile measures enable educators to describe which mathematical skills and concepts a student is ready to learn and those that will require additional instruction so that students can be matched with resources that meet their learning needs. Parents can also use Quantile measures to support students' mathematical development by connecting them with targeted mathematics activities at home.

For more information on the Lexile and Quantile Frameworks, visit www.Lexile.com or www.Quantiles.com. Additional information is available at www.amered.com.

About The American Education Corporation

The American Education Corporation (AEC) is a leading provider of research-based core curriculum instructional software for kindergarten through adult learners. The company's courseware is currently in use in over 14,000 public and private K-12 schools, charter schools, colleges, correctional institutions, centers of adult literacy, military education programs, and after-school learning centers. For more information, visit www.amered.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.

MetaMetrics, Lexile, Lexile Framework, the Lexile symbol, Quantile, Quantile Framework and the Quantile symbol are trademarks or U.S. registered trademarks of MetaMetrics Inc. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. © 2008 MetaMetrics Inc. All rights reserved.

Contact Information: For more information Press only: Mann Cronin PR Ruth Weiner 914-747-7365 Audrey Mann Cronin 914-861-2009 914-260-9651 The American Education Corporation David Gilliland 800-34APLUS or 800-222-2811