Text Complexity, Lexile Levels and Instruction February 11, 2016 “Building Academic Excellence Through Coherence, Collaboration, High Expectations and Accountability” Vivian Ekchian, Local District Superintendent Local District Northwest Terri Bourg Coordinator, Secondary EL instruction

Meeting Norms Presume positive intentions Respect what others are saying Be fully present Be mindful of airtime Keep the focus on students

Recognizing the diversity of learners whom we serve and the need to graduate students who possess the literacy, critical thinking, and technological skills necessary to be competitive in a 21st century global market, Local District Northwest has created a system-wide PreK-12 instructional plan to enable all students to meet or exceed A-G requirements and graduate college and career ready. Our Northwest Vision

Objectives Review elements of text complexity and apply to text samples Consider instructional uses for the recent SRI data and its relationship to quantitative measures of text complexity

Guiding Question What are the features of text that make it more complex or less complex for students reading at various Lexile levels?

What makes a text complex? Levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands Readability measures and other scores of text complexity Reader variables (such as motivation, knowledge, and experiences) and task variables (such as purpose and the complexity generated by the task assigned and the questions posed) (Lexiles)

Newsela Article at 5 Lexile Levels Create groups of 5. You have the title and first sentence of a Newsela.com article written at 5 different Lexile levels. Work together to put the cards in order of Lexile, from lowest (easiest) to highest (hardest).

560 L

820 L

1070 L

1220 L

Max level

What can teachers do to scaffold for students reading the original article? Notice how the Word Count changes. Why do you think it increases and decreases? Notice how the Word Count changes. Why do you think it fluctuates?

Your turn! Count off 1-5 and form Expert Groups In your group, consider the text you are assigned. What elements of this text make it challenging for students reading at (or just below) that Lexile level? Chart your ideas What might a teacher do to support struggling readers? Be prepared to share. Challenging ElementsScaffolds/Supports

What other ideas did you list? Common Reading Challenges for ELs Vocabulary, including non-phonetic spelling Sentence Structure, especially placement of subordinate clauses Word order Background knowledge Idiomatic expressions Pronouns and Antecedents Inferences Multiple meaning words Verb Tenses Passive Voice Transition Words Humor

Look across all 5 levels Now form groups with numbers 1-5 in each group. How do the authors modify the Lexile level of the article?

Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) Use of Lexiles Educators need to know where students are having difficulty in order to accurately forecast their growth. SRI measures reading growth on the Lexile Framework for Reading — a scientifically proven tool that measures both a reader’s ability and difficulty of the text at the same time. With SRI’s Lexile measures, educators are able to: ∗ Measure and understand how much support every student needs ∗ Increase rigor as student achievement grows ∗ Set achievable goals for all students to be placed on the path to college and career readiness

How is the Lexile measure determined? Text is split into 125-word “slices.” Each slice is compared to 600-million word list Words are counted Sentence length and difficulty of vocabulary are examined Calculations are done according to Lexile equation Measures do NOT include age-appropriateness, text quality, text theme, or other text characteristics. For more information, see videos at

What does the BR code mean? Beginning Reader (BR) is a code given to readers and text that are below 0L on the Lexile scale. The Lexile scale works like a thermometer. The smaller the number following the BR code, the more advanced the reader is.

Make a “silent appointment” to discuss: What can teachers do once they know their students’ Lexile levels? Find “just right” books for independent reading Select texts at an appropriate level for whole group lessons Guide students in goal-setting Help students learn how to identify Lexile levels of texts they choose Identify “easy” books for pleasure reading Consider Lexile levels when forming collaborative pairs/groups Consider quantitative measures when planning scaffolds for reading complex text

You can find a book’s Lexile score by using the “Quick Book Search” at

Students can look up books on their own, too.

The Lexile Analyzer at lexile.com allows you to find the Lexile of any text.

Most students are now aware of their SRI scores (Lexile levels). Students can set growth goals for themselves from the first testing window to the second. What’s reasonable? Note that annual growth expectations decrease as the student’s Lexile level increases.

Questions and Answers