TOEFL® Junior™ Reading Scores Now Matched With Lexile® Measures
Score reports offer students valuable learning resource for strengthening English reading ability
Princeton, N.J. — December 15, 2010 —Young English language learners in Korea and more than a dozen other countries taking the newly launched TOEFL® Junior™ test will discover valuable information for improving their reading ability when they receive their score reports. ETS, creator of the TOEFL® Junior™ test, has joined with MetaMetrics®, creator of The Lexile® Framework for Reading, to link reading section scores from the exam with Lexile® measures, officials of both companies announced today.
The Lexile Framework scientifically measures both an individual’s reading ability and the complexity of text on the same developmental scale. To assist young students studying English, each TOEFL® Junior™ score report will come with the student’s reading section score matched with a Lexile measure and a link to the new multi-language website www.lexile.com/toefljunior. Students and parents can use this website to access more on Lexile measures and search for books and build custom reading lists based on the student’s ability and interests. The website is available in English and Korean, with more language options to be added.
“Linking a TOEFL Junior Reading section score with a Lexile measure helps students practice reading more effectively to improve their skills and better prepare them for advanced learning,” says Malbert Smith III, Ph.D., President and co-founder of MetaMetrics. “Finding the right books that provide the right level of challenge for practice can be difficult. With Lexile measures and our new book search on the TOEFL Junior site, we are simplifying the process of matching students with books that can help them strengthen their English reading skills and achieve their goals.”
“ETS realizes that student time is valuable and with all their school studying, students don’t have the time or energy to search for books that can help improve their English reading skills,” says Tony Ostrander, Director of TOEFL Product Management for ETS. “Having access to books matched to their TOEFL Junior Reading score/Lexile measure is like having an electronic library at their fingertips.”
The matching of TOEFL Junior Reading section scores with Lexile measures follows a similar move announced last year for the TOEFL iBT™ test. In that announcement, test takers were provided with a free utility at www.lexile.com/toefl that allows them to match their TOEFL iBT Reading section score with a Lexile measure and then use that to search for books by ability level and interests.
About ETS
At nonprofit ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and post-secondary education, as well as conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® test and The Praxis Series™ assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide.
About MetaMetrics
MetaMetrics, an educational measurement and research organization, develops scientific measures of student achievement and complementary technologies that link assessment with targeted instruction to improve learning. The organization’s renowned psychometric team created the widely adopted Lexile Framework for Reading (www.Lexile.com); El Sistema Lexile para Leer, the Spanish-language version of the reading framework; The Quantile® Framework for Mathematics (www.Quantiles.com); and The Lexile Framework for Writing. In addition to licensing Lexile and Quantile measures to state departments of education, testing and instructional companies, and publishers, MetaMetrics delivers professional development, resource measurement and customized consulting services.