An education veteran has been appointed to lead the development of a joint venture to improve the literacy skills of Arabic speakers across the Arab world, and enabling education leaders, policymakers, publishers and education providers to empower leaners.

The new General Manager, Eyad Darawsheh, will spearhead the ongoing development and regional adoption of Miqyas Al Dhad, 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.

With over 20 years of global experience, and a track record of driving growth and innovation, Darawsheh brings a wealth of expertise in education, technology, and publishing to the management of multinational education products.

Miqyas Al Dhad, an innovative framework, is a 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 progress in reading. 

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.

“We are committed to leveraging our expertise and solutions to drive the development of the educational system, particularly in learning the Arabic language,” said Will Lock, Chief Growth Officer at Alef Education.

“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.

“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.”

Darawsheh 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 honoured 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.” – TradeArabia News Service