The country’s fastest-growing assessment for Catholic Schools, ARK, will now offer K-12 formative math and literacy testing, powered by MetaMetrics’ measures.
DURHAM, NC and MANCHESTER, NH — (November 9, 2023) — MetaMetrics®, developer of the Lexile® Framework for Reading and the Quantile® Framework for Mathematics and Assessment of Religious Knowledge (ARK), developer of academic assessments for Catholic schools and parishes, announced a partnership to provide Lexile® and Quantile® measures through ARK for Academics, a new formative assessment offering that expands ARK’s current religious knowledge-based test to include literacy and mathematics. The ARK for Academics test will be piloted in spring 2024 and will be available in schools and dioceses for fall 2024.
Over 35 million students receive Lexile and Quantile measures through state summative testing and our assessment partners, empowering educators and families with actionable data. Lexile measures allow teachers to match students with ability-appropriate reading materials. Quantile measures help educators differentiate instruction and match students with the math skills and concepts they are ready to learn. Both Lexile and Quantile measures are used to monitor growth, putting students on the path to success in school, college and careers.
“We are excited to bring meaningful measurement of reading and math abilities to Catholic education through this partnership with ARK,” said Malbert Smith, co-founder and CEO of MetaMetrics. “Lexile reading and Quantile math measures will provide teachers with insight into student strengths and areas for growth so they can tailor instruction for maximum learning.”
ARK for Academics was developed in response to a need for Catholic-aligned academic testing identified by dioceses nationwide. This new formative assessment will support targeted classroom instruction and will provide comparative data in an intuitive, easy-to-read format for grades K-12. The assessment will also offer suggested reading and math content and learning pathways for each student. Integrated Lexile and Quantile measures will provide growth metrics that allow educators and families to understand progress over time.
”Linking the Lexile Framework for Reading and Quantile Framework for Mathematics with ARK for Academics means Catholic school educators can see their students’ learning grow on the same universal scale used throughout the country in a trusted tool,” explained Robert S. Kenney, Executive Director. “Adding these academic measures provides a unified assessment system for our schools, easing administrative burden and making data available for all our educators, students and their families,” continued Kenney.
ARK for Academics will leverage the robust ARK platform, which provides educators at all levels with the ability to see summary data at the diocesan, school and classroom levels, as well as single student dashboards showing current results and historical longitudinal progress. Because ARK for Academics is a formative assessment, testing can be administered throughout the school year and will generate a family report to provide parents and caretakers with information about their child’s learning. Teachers and families have access to the Lexile® and Quantile® Hub, a website with tools to help find books and math resources based on an individual student’s skill level.
About ARK
The Assessment of Religious Knowledge (ARK) was established to provide educators with actionable information to help improve Catholic education in schools and parishes. ARK provides educators with metrics that rival the other academic subject areas to enable informed decisions to improve the Catholic identity—knowledge, beliefs and behaviors—of the whole school community. ARK, a non-profit, sister apostolate of Sophia Institute for Teachers, was born out of decades of on-the-ground engagement with Catholic educators. In dozens of conversations with administrators and teachers alike, a clear need for information on the effectiveness of religious education was voiced consistently. Our independent team set out to resolve that information gap using cutting-edge technology and best practices for assessment. For more information about ARK, visit https://arktest.org.
About MetaMetrics
MetaMetrics Brings Meaning to Measurement
MetaMetrics is guided by a powerful north star—to support student growth through actionable learning measurement. Over the last 35+ years, MetaMetrics’ staff of educators, psychometricians and policy leaders have developed learning frameworks that now support over 35 million students in the US. More than half of the K-12 students in the US receive Lexile and Quantile measures and over a hundred million pieces of content have corresponding measures. MetaMetrics was founded in 1984 by Dr. A. Jackson Stenner (retired) and Dr. Malbert Smith with the singular goal of making measurement meaningful by matching students to learning resources using a scientific, universal scale. Today, Lexile and Quantile measures are available in all 50 states, either through formal partnership agreements with 21 state departments of education or at the local level through partnerships with edtech companies who deliver services to schools and districts. Leveraging the most advanced AI technology and learning theory, MetaMetrics continues to innovate solutions for a wide range of applications including early reading, career readiness and tutoring. For more information, visit MetaMetricsInc.com.