Creator of Lexile® and Quantile® measures poised for continued growth as founder Malbert Smith transitions to Chairman of the Board
DURHAM, NC – May 2, 2024 — MetaMetrics, Inc., an innovative leader in educational measurement, assessment, and AI, is excited to announce Brad Baumgartner as its new Chief Executive Officer effective May 27, 2024. Baumgartner succeeds Malbert Smith, who co-founded MetaMetrics and served as its CEO since its inception, 40 years ago. Brad Baumgartner brings an impressive background from the edtech industry, most recently holding the position of CEO at BookNook where, under his leadership, the high-impact tutoring company expanded growth and reach to impact more students.
Baumgartner has decades of success in the education industry with companies such as Learnosity, Questar Assessment, ConnectEDU, and Ellucian. He has built and scaled companies ranging from $20M to $130M in revenue and from 90 to 270 employees. With a career devoted to enhancing educational opportunities and outcomes across K–12, Brad is known for his strategic vision and commitment to empowering educational professionals and learners.
“I am honored and humbled that Malbert and the MetaMetrics Board have selected me to lead the company. Malbert and Jack created a generational company and I am excited to continue to build on their great achievements. We will focus on expanding our work with educational partners both domestically and internationally and doing so with a high degree of integrity,” says Brad Baumgartner, incoming CEO of MetaMetrics.
MetaMetrics, under the leadership of Malbert Smith and co-founder Jack Stenner, revolutionized educational testing with the creation of the Lexile® Framework for Reading in 1984. This Framework allowed for the measurement of both text difficulty and student reading capabilities in a unified manner, greatly aiding teachers in selecting appropriate reading materials for students. In subsequent years, MetaMetrics added the Quantile® Framework for Mathematics, El Sistema Lexile® Para Leer, and the Lexile® Framework for Oral Reading. MetaMetrics has grown to influence educational policy and practice, with nearly half of all states and over 50 edtech and assessment organizations reporting Lexile and Quantile student measures.
“Passing the torch to Brad ushers MetaMetrics into its impact phase. He has experience, vision, and passion and I look forward to the new ways in which Brad and MetaMetrics will influence the educational space,” Malbert Smith, incoming Chairman of the Board and co-founder of MetaMetrics, remarked.
MetaMetrics’ reach in educational testing is now recognized globally, with partnerships and adoption spanning numerous countries and educational systems. The company’s commitment to improving learning outcomes has had a profound effect, touching the lives of over 35 million students in public schools across the United States alone.
Marcelo Gigliani, Managing Partner at Apax Digital and lead director of MetaMetrics, expressed his enthusiasm for Brad’s leadership. “Brad’s deep expertise, proven track record, and innovative approach in the edtech field make him the ideal leader for MetaMetrics at this pivotal time. We are excited to partner with him to accelerate the expansion in MetaMetrics’ offerings, reach, and impact in bringing meaning to measurement. We are also thrilled to be able to continue our longstanding partnership with Malbert, in his new role as Chairman of the Board.”
MetaMetrics is poised for accelerated innovation with Brad Baumgartner at the helm, building on a strong foundation, including the recent announcement of the AI-powered MetaMetrics® Writing AccuRater. Exciting product development is underway that will continue MetaMetrics’ legacy of enhancing educational practices and learning outcomes globally.
About MetaMetrics, Inc.
MetaMetrics Brings Meaning to Measurement
MetaMetrics is guided by a powerful north star—to support student growth through actionable learning measurement. Over the last 40 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, with half of the nation receiving the measures through state accountability assessments or at the local level through partnerships with edtech companies that 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.