Information helps job seekers discover reading and math requirements of potential careers
DURHAM, N.C. & MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — March 14, 2023 — In today’s evolving workforce, many adults want to pursue new opportunities and are looking for information about the skills and abilities required for their aspirational careers. Now, through an extended partnership between MetaMetrics® and Data Recognition Corporation (DRC), adult learners and career counselors will have access to valuable information about how reading and math skills compare to the demands of hundreds of jobs.
When learners complete assessments in TABE®, DRC’s comprehensive and reliable academic assessment product for adult education and career development, they are given access to the TABE WorkForce Portal—a tool that supports meaningful career planning and decision making for job seekers and their advisors. The TABE WorkForce Portal allows learners to connect their TABE scores to hundreds of occupations covering the entire U.S. economy, and to receive MetaMetrics’ Lexile® and Quantile® measures. The Lexile® Framework for Reading and Quantile® Framework for Mathematics measure student ability and the difficulty of reading and math content on the same scale.
As the result of a linking study conducted by researchers from DRC and MetaMetrics, learners and counselors can use the TABE Workforce Portal to compare TABE test scores to a vast collection of national career data and occupation-specific job descriptors in TABE Career Database. The database was developed based on years of research examining the reading and math demands for entry into more than 700 careers.
“As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, an increasing number of adults have decided that they want to change jobs or pursue career opportunities adjacent to their current positions,” said Marcus Ripp, DRC’s product director for adult assessments. “With the ability to connect their current reading and math abilities to job demands in our TABE Workforce Portal, job seekers and their advisors can make informed decisions about future career paths.”
The TABE Workforce Portal shows learners and career counselors the target Lexile and Quantile measures for selected careers, indicating the reading and mathematics demands encountered in the first years of a new job, alongside the learner’s actual scores for easy comparison. Using this information, learners can determine which careers match their skills or learn more about the skills they need to build to pursue the job of their dreams.
“Our collaboration with DRC to provide job seekers with the information they need to successfully navigate the path to a new career exemplifies the many ways that Lexile and Quantile measures support learning and development beyond the K–12 classroom,” said Malbert Smith, CEO and co-founder, MetaMetrics.
About Data Recognition Corporation
For decades, DRC has maintained a tradition of excellence in educational assessment publication, administration, and reporting. DRC offers assessments for the pre-K, K–12, and adult education markets, across the U.S. and internationally. DRC customers include state and national government agencies; public, private, and charter schools and districts; and other educational organizations. DRC serves millions of students and education professionals across the nation, and delivers assessments to more than 50,000 schools, districts, and testing centers in all 50 states, 3 U.S. territories, the District of Columbia, and international locations. For more information on DRC, visit www.datarecognitioncorp.com.
About MetaMetrics
MetaMetrics is an award-winning education technology organization that offers the only scientifically valid, universal scales for measuring silent and oral reading and listening (Lexile) and math (Quantile) with plans to develop measures for writing. The Lexile and Quantile Frameworks measure student ability and the complexity of the content they encounter. Lexile and Quantile measures and related technologies link assessment to instruction and provide the next steps for students of all ages and abilities. The measures also provide valuable insights into students’ potential for growth. MetaMetrics’ measures, products, and services are licensed to dozens of education product companies to help achieve that growth. For 35 years, MetaMetrics’ work has been increasingly recognized for its research-based approach to improving learning. For more information, visit MetaMetricsInc.com.