To advance literacy across the Arab world, a general manager has been appointed to lead the development of Miqyas Al Dhad, an innovative framework designed to improve the literacy skills of Arabic speakers across the Arab world. Miqyas Al Dhad is a joint venture between Alef Education, a UAE-based global leader in educational technology, and MetaMetrics®, the US-based developer of the Lexile® Framework for Reading.
The unique Arabic reading scale is set to become the de facto standard for Modern Standard Arabic, similar to how the Lexile® Framework for Reading is now the standard for English. This initiative aims to provide Arabic speakers with a powerful tool that links books and educational content with assessments, inspiring further reading progression. The Miqyas Al Dhad framework assesses content difficulty levels through an objective and rigorous measurement system and helps educators and students find the right resources to enhance their proficiency. It enables teachers to measure students’ reading levels and create personalised data-driven plans for them based on clear, actionable insights while allowing parents to readily understand their children’s current literacy level and support them with the right level of reading material.
Eyad Darawsheh has been appointed General Manager of Miqyas Al Dhad to spearhead the ongoing development and regional adoption of the scale. With over 20 years of experience spanning the Middle East and globally, Eyad brings a wealth of expertise in education, technology, and publishing. His extensive experience in managing multinational education products and his track record of driving growth and innovation will be instrumental in rapidly enabling education leaders, policymakers, publishers and education providers across the Arab world to inspire their learners. Miqyas Al Dhad represents a significant step forward in enabling a bright future for the Arabic language, helping students become more empowered to develop their language skills.
“We are committed to leveraging our expertise and solutions to drive the development of the educational system, particularly in learning the Arabic language. This appointment marks a significant milestone in our mission to empower Arabic-speakers everywhere with the skills they need to thrive in the modern world,” said Will Lock, Chief Growth Officer at Alef Education. “Under Eyad’s leadership, Miqyas Al Dhad will help to address educational challenges and accelerate the transition to a more collaborative and flexible Arabic learning system. The scale will transform how we approach Arabic literacy, providing a standardised measure that reflects the unique linguistic and cultural nuances of the Arab world.”
Eyad Darawsheh, General Manager of Miqyas al Dhad, said, “I am honoured to lead this unparalleled initiative. It is exciting to think that we are enabling our entire ecosystem to develop and tailor exactly the right resources to learners and propel their love and competency for Arabic. Significant progress has already been made and I’m excited to join as we begin the field testing.”
MetaMetrics® provides smart scales for literacy and numeracy so everyone can cultivate the skills they need to thrive in a dynamic world. “Our collaboration with Miqyas Al Dhad is a significant step towards enabling Arabic to continue to build its exciting future path as one of the world’s most important and widely used languages,” said Brad Baumgartner, CEO of MetaMetrics®. “With a surging demand for higher levels of Arabic proficiency amongst native and non-native Arabic speakers, the measures to bring together so many parts of the education landscape is an urgent and pressing need. We are honored to bring our smart scales and experience to this initiative, to contribute to the success of Miqyas Al Dhad, and to help enable both public and private sector resources to be more meaningfully targeted at increasing literacy rates for Arabic learners everywhere.”
