HOUSTON (August 8, 2005) -- Questia Media, Inc., the world’s largest online academic library and research service, announces that its entire digital collection of 60,000 books and more than a million articles has incorporated The Lexile Framework® for Reading. The agreement, announced in July 2004, more than doubles the number of books that are measured by Lexiles®, increasing the total to more than 100,000 titles.
As the most widely adopted reading measure in use today, Lexiles provide a common scale for matching reader ability and text difficulty, allowing easy monitoring of student progress and ensuring reading comprehension. The addition of Lexile measures to Questia’s online library enables teachers to match texts to class reading levels and differentiate instruction based on individual student reading ability.
“By adding Lexile measures to all of the books and articles in our digital library, we are able to offer students and teachers the premier method for identifying materials that best meet reading abilities. In this way, teachers are equipped with a tool that facilitates more effective student learning,” said Troy Williams, CEO and president of Questia Media.
At www.questia.com, the Advanced Search Page will allow teachers to search Questia’s online publications according to three Lexile categories: Minimum, Maximum and Exact. By entering values into these fields, users can limit their search results to materials that fall into specified Lexile reading ranges. The results can then be used to create targeted reading assignments.
As part of the agreement, many of the titles from Questia’s digital library also will be available in the searchable Lexile Book Database at www.Lexile.com. Search results for those titles that originated in the Questia library will include a hyperlink to the Questia web site where users can read portions of the book.
“We are pleased to partner with Questia on this online initiative,” said Malbert Smith III, Ph.D., president, MetaMetrics, Inc., developer of The Lexile Framework. “Through agreements with leaders in education testing and assessment, publishing, and Questia’s academic library, we are continuing to position Lexiles as the most widely adopted reading measure used in education.”
About The Lexile Framework for Reading
MetaMetrics, Inc. developed The Lexile Framework for Reading and its companion scale, The Quantile Framework® for Mathematics. The Lexile Framework provides a common scale for matching reader ability and text difficulty, enabling teachers and parents to choose materials that can help to improve student reading skills and monitor literacy across the curriculum and at home. Recognized as the most widely adopted reading measure in use today, Lexiles are part of reading and testing programs at the district, state and federal levels. More than 100,000 books and 80 million articles have Lexile measures, and all major standardized tests can report student reading scores in Lexiles. Launched in 2004, Quantiles® measure student mathematical achievement similar to the way Lexiles measure reading proficiency. The Quantile Framework represents mathematical achievement ranging from understanding how to read mathematical expressions to knowing how and why to apply various types of mathematical knowledge to geometry; measurement; numbers and operations; algebra; and data analysis and probability. For more information, visit www.Lexile.com and www.Quantiles.com.
About Questia
Questia Media, Inc. provides the world’s largest online academic library and research resource. Students, instructors, and lifelong learners in more than 190 countries use Questia’s collection of full-text, copyrighted books and articles for scholarly research.
A digital toolkit enables researchers to highlight text, properly cite passages, and automatically generate bibliographies and footnotes. In addition, Questia provides a personalized workspace for each user, complete with an individual bookshelf and reference resources. Designed for use by educators and students to enhance curricula, the Questia service also includes the Questia Classroom, a teacher/student resource center that integrates the digital library content into class instruction.
Questia’s unlimited, 24/7 access allows researchers to simultaneously use every item in its online, scholarly library from any connected corner of the world.
Founded in 1998, Questia Media is based in Houston. For more information, visit http://www.questia.com/.