MetaMetrics' Gary Williamson and Mary Ann Simpson Win Prestigious Awards for Educational Research

DURHAM, NC--(Marketwired - May 21, 2013) - MetaMetrics® Inc. Senior Research Scientist, Gary L. Williamson, Ph.D. and Senior Psychometrician, Mary Ann Simpson, Ph.D., have received accolades for their paper, "Statewide Developmental Growth Curves in Reading and Mathematics: A Practical Strategy to Lengthen Empirical Trajectories." Williamson and Simpson were awarded the 2012 North Carolina Association for Research in Education (NCARE) Distinguished Paper Award and later received the Consortium of State and Regional Educational Research Associations (SRERA) Distinguished Paper Award while presenting their paper at the 2013 American Educational Research Association's (AERA) annual meeting in San Francisco. Williamson and Simpson's paper was one of 16 papers to receive this national honor.

Williamson and Simpson's award-winning paper explored a strategy to describe growth in reading and mathematics throughout a student's elementary, middle and high school years. Their research utilized longitudinal data from end-of-grade tests for grades 3-8 and high school content-area tests, demonstrating that the analysis of growth can be facilitated by the use of both developmental and non-developmental measures that have been linked to a common developmental scale. The common developmental scale used for reading was The Lexile® Framework for Reading, and the common developmental scale used for mathematics was The Quantile® Framework for Mathematics. According to the authors, "The results from this study demonstrate a new, practical strategy for states who may wish to explore a long-term approach to growth by combining measures from developmental and non-developmental tests in their accountability program(s)." This research was done pursuant to a contract with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

"We were thrilled to support this landmark research," said Angela Hinson Quick, Ed.D., Deputy Chief Academic Officer. "MetaMetrics is a valued research collaborator. Their work in psychometrics and mathematical modeling of academic growth has supported and informed important initiatives in our Department."

NCARE was the first organization to recognize the impact the paper has for the educational community. NCARE's mission is to improve the quality of education in North Carolina through research and evaluation. The organization explores current educational topics and issues such as educational policy, instructional practices, educational assessment, teacher and administrator preparation and educational equity and access. NCARE's Distinguished Paper Award recognizes a paper previously presented at an NCARE conference that furthers its goals and represents the highest quality of academic research. With the acceptance of the 2012 NCARE award, this marks the second time MetaMetrics researchers have been recipients of the award. In 2006, Gary L. Williamson and Robert F. Baker (along with Charles L. Thompson of East Carolina University) won the NCARE Distinguished Paper Award for their paper, "North Carolina's Growth in Reading and Mathematics."

"North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's commitment to research and their work in student growth and differentiating instruction serves as a model to state education agencies everywhere," said Malbert Smith III, Ph.D., president and co-founder of MetaMetrics. "Our own Drs Williamson and Simpson represent the important work of psychometricians, finding ways in which testing and student assessment can further educational goals in both reading and mathematics."

About MetaMetrics
MetaMetrics is focused on improving education for learners of all ages and ability levels. The organization develops scientific measures of academic achievement and complementary technologies that link assessment results with real-world instruction. MetaMetrics' products and services for reading (The Lexile® Framework for Reading, El Sistema Lexile® para Leer), mathematics (The Quantile® Framework for Mathematics), and writing (The Lexile® Framework for Writing) provide unique insights about academic ability and the potential for growth, enabling individuals to achieve their goals at every stage of development. Connect with the organization at: http://blog.lexile.com.