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DURHAM – MetaMetrics, developer of the widely adopted Lexile and Quantile Frameworks, today announced the acquisition of Elemeno, an edtech company focused on bridging the research-to-practice gap in early literacy by packaging scientific knowledge into useful tools for practitioners.
Elemeno’s founder and CEO Neena Saha, Ph.D., is joining MetaMetrics in a new role as vice president, science of reading. Saha will innovate, lead and champion the company’s work in early literacy and the science of reading. In addition, she will support the research, design and implementation of MetaMetrics’ early reading products and services.
“Developing strong literacy skills at the youngest age provides children with an on-ramp to success in education, careers and life,” said Malbert Smith, CEO and co-founder. “Neena’s work in early literacy at Elemeno and her entrepreneurial spirit are the perfect complements to our efforts to increase our emphasis on helping the youngest learners – particularly those who are struggling with learning to read – build both literacy skills and a lifelong love of reading.”
Saha taught reading to children with exceptional needs for several years before returning to school for graduate training in educational neuroscience from Columbia University. She earned her doctorate in special education from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, where research was on individual differences in decoding skill acquisition. Her research can be found in The Journal of Learning Disabilities, Annals of Dyslexia and Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal.
“I share MetaMetrics’ commitment to helping children find the right book at the right time to build literacy skills,” said Saha. “I look forward to collaborating with the MetaMetrics team to extend the work we started at Elemeno and help all young learners around the world become strong readers.”
As part of its decades of pioneering work on the most widely used scientifically valid, universal scales for measuring reading, MetaMetrics extended its research focus to include early literacy and expanded the Lexile Framework for Reading with measures for early readers and texts, growing resources, such as the Lexile Item Bank, to include test items to assess alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness and phonics, as well as vocabulary and reading comprehension for preliteracy. Elemeno’s work, largely focused on helping teachers discover decodable texts for young readers, will support the continued growth of MetaMetrics’ emphasis on early literacy. In addition, Elemeno’s popular weekly e-newsletter, “The Reading Research Recap,” is read by thousands of educators, researchers and parents who want to keep pace with the latest research developments in the science of reading.
Since July 2019, MetaMetrics has been part of the portfolio of the Apax Digital Fund, the technology-focused growth equity fund advised by global private equity advisory firm Apax Partners.
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 next steps for students of all ages and abilities. The measures also provide valuable insights about 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.
