Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Adds Quantile Measures to Leading Mathematics Textbook Series
World's largest publisher of pre-K–12 educational materials adopts math measure to help educators match students with the right lessons
BOSTON, and DURHAM, N.C. — January 6, 2010 — Global education leader Houghton Mifflin Harcourt today announced that it has partnered with MetaMetrics®, developer of The Quantile Framework® for Mathematics, to assign Quantile® measures to lessons in some of its popular mathematics textbooks series for grades K–8, including Math Expressions, Saxon Math, and MathThematics. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt offers Quantile measures as a means to help educators connect students with targeted instructional materials and activities that best match their mathematical achievement level.
“By adding Quantile measures to our mathematics textbooks, we are providing educators with valuable, actionable information that they can use to inform classroom instruction and support student learning,” said Jim Reynolds, Editor in Chief for Elementary Math for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. “Regardless of where a student may be in his or her mathematical development, educators can use the student's Quantile measure and the Quantile measures of the lessons to match and support the student with specific skills and concepts that best meet his or her learning needs and goals.”
MetaMetrics' Quantile measurement service calibrates the mathematical skills or concepts related to each textbook lesson with the Quantile Framework in order to calculate the lesson's Quantile measure. The Quantile measure represents the difficulty of the skill or concept being taught and the demand on student ability required to learn it. Each lesson is measured individually by MetaMetrics' subject matter experts in order to obtain accurate Quantile measures of the lessons in the textbook. The Quantile measures of the lessons, and the skills or concepts associated with them, are freely available at www.quantiles.com.
“We are pleased that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will use Quantile measures to enable educators to match students with mathematical resources that will help them achieve at the highest levels possible,” said MetaMetrics President Malbert Smith III, Ph.D. “I applaud Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for appreciating the unique value that Quantile measures add in connecting students with targeted instructional resources that support the development of mathematical skills that are necessary for success in school and in life.”
The Quantile Framework provides a common, developmental scale for measuring student mathematics achievement, the difficulty of mathematical skills and concepts, and the materials for teaching mathematics. By placing the curriculum, teaching materials and students on the same scale, Quantile measures enable educators to describe which mathematical skills and concepts a student is ready to learn and those that will require additional instruction. Educators then can match students with resources that best meet their learning needs. Parents also can use Quantile measures to support students' mathematical development by connecting them with targeted mathematics activities at home. For more information and to access free Quantile resources, visit www.quantiles.com.
About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Boston-based Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company is a global education leader and the world's largest publisher of educational materials for pre-K–12 schools. The Company publishes a comprehensive set of best-in-class educational solutions, ranging from research-based textbook programs to instructional technology to standards-based assessments for students and educators. The Company also publishes an extensive line of reference works and award-winning literature for adults and young readers. With origins dating back to 1832, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt combines its tradition of excellence with a commitment to innovation. To learn more about Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, visit www.hmhco.com.
About MetaMetrics
MetaMetrics, an educational measurement and research organization, develops scientific measures of student achievement 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 offers professional development, resource measurement and customized consulting services.
MetaMetrics®, the MetaMetrics logo and tagline, Lexile®, Lexile Framework®, Lexile Analyzer®, the Lexile logo, Quantile®, Quantile Framework® and the Quantile logo are trademarks of MetaMetrics, Inc., and are registered in the United States and abroad. The trademarks and names of other companies and products mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
CONTACT:
Josef Blumenfeld
Vice President, Communications
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
617-351-5432
josef.blumenfeld@hmhpub.com