MetaMetrics Partners With More Than 20 State Departments of Education to Combat Summer Learning Loss

DURHAM, NC--(Marketwired - Jul 20, 2015) -  MetaMetrics®, developer of the widely adopted Lexile® Framework for Reading and Quantile® Framework for Mathematics, is pleased to announce its partnership with 22 state departments of education to promote learning this summer. Through joint efforts with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), MetaMetrics supports a national, state-led summer learning initiative, the "Chief's Summer Learning Challenge," to keep students reading and engaging in math over the summer months.

Earlier this year, Chris Minnich, Executive Director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, challenged every state to initiate, renew or enhance their summer learning opportunities. To help reach this goal, MetaMetrics offers free resources to support states' summer learning initiatives. The Lexile-based "Find a Book" and the Quantile-based "Summer Math Challenge" tools are made freely available to state departments of education.

"Summer learning loss is a real issue that can contribute to widening achievement gaps for students. CCSSO is proud to support this state-led program to help all kids improve their reading and math skills during the summer months," said Chris Minnich.

"Find a Book" provides a way to match readers with texts. Students, educators and parents can build custom reading lists based on the student's Lexile level (reading ability) and favorite topics. Students, educators and parents can also check the availability of books at the local library through the popular book search tool. "Find a Book" is comprised of more than 215,000 fiction and nonfiction works, and new titles are added every day.

The "Summer Math Challenge" is a free, email-based math program offered to states to encourage their students to continue math practice and prevent the loss of math skills over the summer. The math skills maintenance program is based on grade-level standards that help prepare students for college and careers. The program is targeted to students who have just completed grades two through six and is designed to help students retain math skills learned during the previous school year. Parents who enroll their child will receive daily emails with fun activities and links to free educational resources.

"The 'Chiefs Summer Learning Challenge' has been a positive experience for our state," Kentucky Commissioner of Education, Terry Holliday, Ph. D., said. "With school and public libraries working together to keep students' skills sharp over the summer months, our children are able to return to school better prepared to pick up learning where they left off and make faster progress toward our goal of college/career-readiness for all children."

The "Chief's Summer Learning Challenge" has aimed to raise national awareness of summer learning loss and provide access to a variety of free resources to support targeted reading and mathematics learning. For the past three consecutive years, more than 10 state departments of education have continued to partner with MetaMetrics every year to use the Lexile-based "Find a Book" in their summer reading campaigns. During the same time frame, the number of state participants using "Find a Book" has nearly doubled. Similarly, a record breaking 18 states are promoting the "Summer Math Challenge" to encourage students to practice their math skills. During the summer months over a million students, parents and educators have used "Find a Book" and/or participated in the "Summer Math Challenge."

"While summer learning loss in reading is primarily a problem facing children of low-income families, when it comes to math all students experience loss," stated Malbert Smith, Ph.D., president and co-founder of MetaMetrics and National Summer Learning Association Board Member. "If we are going to seriously address the achievement gap and graduate all students college and career ready, paying attention to summer is critical. Seeing the growth in the number of students who are energized and excited to kick off summer learning year after year compels our passion."

About MetaMetrics

MetaMetrics is focused on improving education for learners of all ages and ability levels. The organization develops scientific measures of academic achievement and complementary technologies that link assessment results with real-world instruction. MetaMetrics' products and services for reading (The Lexile® Framework for Reading, El Sistema Lexile para Leer), mathematics (The Quantile® Framework for Mathematics), and writing (The Lexile Framework for Writing) provide unique insights about academic ability and the potential for growth, enabling individuals to achieve their goals at every stage of development. Connect with the organization at: http://blog.lexile.com.

About CCSSO

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. CCSSO provides leadership, advocacy and technical assistance on major educational issues. The Council seeks member consensus on major educational issues and expresses their views to civic and professional organizations, federal agencies, Congress and the public.