MetaMetrics Provides Lexile Measures for National Braille Press' ''Early Reader Series''.

BOSTON & DURHAM, N.C. -- Blind and Visually Impaired Children Will Use Widely Adopted Reading Measure to Choose Braille Titles That Match Their Reading Abilities

MetaMetrics(R) Inc., developer of The Lexile Framework(R) for Reading, today announced a collaboration with National Braille Press. The company donated its time to provide Lexile(R) measures for 83 books in the Press' "Early Reader Series." The Press also obtained levels for more than 330 other books in the series using the Lexile Book Database. Now when blind and visually impaired children make the transition from storybooks to intermediate readers with these braille books, they can select titles that match their reading abilities.

As the most widely adopted reading measure in use today, the Lexile Framework provides a common scale for matching reader ability and text difficulty, allowing easy monitoring of student progress and ensuring reading comprehension. Recognized as the most accurate way to match readers with text, there are currently Lexile measures for more than 100,000 books, 80 million articles and 60,000 Web sites. More than 20 million students received a Lexile measure during the 2005-2006 school year, including blind and visually impaired students through disability accommodations in state testing programs. For the first time, braille readers will also be able to use their Lexile measures to choose reading materials.

"At National Braille Press, we are committed to promoting the literacy of blind and visually impaired children through braille," said Bill Raeder, president. "As a result of MetaMetrics' generosity, our young readers, their teachers and parents can now use Lexile measures to select reading materials that match their reading abilities - the same way as their sighted peers."

The "Early Readers Series" includes books from popular series such as "Amelia Bedelia," "Arthur," "Biscuit" and "Frog and Toad," all available on CD. These early reader books are specifically designed to help young children practice their reading skills, and in braille that means providing four formats for printing out each ebook - uncontracted braille with extra spacing, uncontracted braille with normal spacing, contracted braille with extra spacing, and contracted braille with normal spacing. Reading contracted braille requires extra training, so the uncontracted formats are available for the youngest readers; the formats with extra spacing help developing braille readers keep track of what line of dots they are reading, just as large-print letters help developing print readers. These books can be embossed with a braille printer or accessed with a braille notetaker.

"MetaMetrics welcomed the opportunity to work with National Braille Press to provide Lexile measures for the titles in this important reading series," said Malbert Smith III, Ph.D., president, MetaMetrics. "We share the organization's commitment to equal access to information that will allow all readers to select materials that can promote literacy skills and their enjoyment of reading."

About National Braille Press

National Braille Press is a nonprofit publishing house founded in 1927 to ensure that blind people have the same access to information as sighted people in a medium that they can read - braille. The Press produces books and periodicals for blind children and adults and actively promotes braille literacy. For more information about the National Braille Press, visit www.nbp.org.

About The Lexile Framework for Reading/The Quantile Framework for Mathematics

MetaMetrics Inc. developed The Lexile Framework for Reading and its companion scale, The Quantile Framework(R) for Mathematics. The Lexile Framework (www.Lexile.com) provides a common scale for matching reader ability and text difficulty, enabling teachers and parents to choose materials that can help to improve student reading skills and monitor literacy across the curriculum and at home. Recognized as the most widely adopted reading measure in use today, Lexiles are part of reading and testing programs at the district, state and federal levels. More than 100,000 books, 80 million articles and 60,000 Web sites have Lexile measures, and all major standardized tests can report student reading scores in Lexiles. Launched in 2004, Quantiles(R) (www.Quantiles.com) measure student mathematical achievement and concept/application solvability similar to the way Lexiles measure reading proficiency. The Quantile Framework represents a student's ability to think mathematically in a taxonomy of math skills, concepts and applications. The Quantile strands - Geometry; Measurement; Numbers and Operations; Algebra/Patterns & Functions; and Data Analysis & Probability - integrate and align with the strands described by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).

MetaMetrics, Lexile, Lexile Framework, the Lexile symbol, Quantile, Quantile Framework and the Quantile symbol are trademarks or U.S. registered trademarks of MetaMetrics Inc. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. (C) 2006 MetaMetrics Inc.