News-O-Matic Partners with MetaMetrics
News-O-Matic partners with MetaMetrics to add Lexile measures for real-time current events news stories. In partnering with MetaMetrics, News-O-Matic provides up-to-the-minute current events articles at a variety of reading levels for students of all ages and reading abilities.
NEW YORK, NY and DURHAM, NC–(Mar 18, 2015) – News-O-Matic, the Daily Newspaper Just for Kids, announced that it has partnered with MetaMetrics®, developer of the widely adopted Lexile® Framework for Reading, to deliver daily news at a variety of readability levels for elementary and middle schools. The partnership allows News-O- Matic to deliver grade-appropriate nonfiction content, giving educators access to a differentiated instruction resource via in demand informational text.
News-O-Matic has always been a leader in student literacy engagement. With more than a million comments, votes, and drawings from its young readers, the app gets youth involved with stories from across the globe. Videos, photos, audio support, and interactive maps contribute to the students’ understanding of world events. Now Lexile measures helps bring this interactive experience to readers with a range of abilities so all children can become empowered global citizens.
“We are thrilled to use Lexile measures to give schools a multi-level solution for their daily literacy needs,” said News-O-Matic Founder Lillian Holtzclaw Stern. “No longer will there be restrictions on students’ ability to be inspired by current events, even at the earliest ages.” She added that teachers can easily adjust the students’ reading levels so they can all enjoy the same rich multimedia experience but tailored to their unique abilities.
News-O-Matic uses the Lexile Analyzer tool to evaluate the complexity of the texts, which cover breaking world news, science, sports, arts, and more. The Lexile Analyzer determines the difficulty level by breaking down each unique passage and studying its syntactic and semantic challenges that the text presents to a reader. The outcome is the text complexity, expressed as a Lexile measure. Most News-O-Matic articles receive a variety of Lexile measures between 400L to 1000L.
“News-O-Matic transforms how students are learning about current events,” stated Malbert Smith, Ph.D., President and Cofounder of MetaMetrics. “We are delighted that Lexile measures will be one of the features that help deliver daily, curated content. Lexile measures will help ensure that students are engaged in the materials.”
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 NEWS-O-MATIC
News-O-Matic is the Daily News Just for Kids, a transformative reading resource for schools. The News-O-Matic app is available on iOS and Android. It provides students with an exciting and engaging nonfiction experience, giving young readers a window into the world — and a reason to love reading on a daily basis. The tool allows students to make connections in meaningful ways and gives them a voice to communicate with peers across the planet. Our users log in from more than 150 countries, the majority coming from North America. With News-O-Matic, reading proficiency grew by 26% in two pilot classes.