Lexiles A Way to Determine Text Complexity

How do we know if the reading selections we are offering are challenging our students?

Lexiles A rating score called a Lexile has been created by a company named MetaMetrics. MetaMetrics has partnered with the Common Core movement as a way to ensure that our students are being challenged by the reading materials we give to them in the classroom. In order for us to meet the criteria of the CCSS, we must give students regular access to challenging texts. Just like anything else in life, reading growth only comes through being challenged.

Three Research Findings from MetaMetrics The text complexity of K-12 textbooks has become increasingly "easier" over the last 50 years. The Common Core Standards quote research showing steep declines in average sentence length and vocabulary level in reading textbooks. The text demands of college and careers have remained consistent or increased over the same time period. College students are expected to read complex text with greater independence than high school students. There is a significant gap between students' reading abilities and the text demands of their postsecondary pursuits.

Lexile scores will determine: The reading level of where our students are/should be functioning The reading complexity of the texts we are using Moving away from grade level scores to Lexile scores…

Text Complexity Grade Band in the Standards Old Lexile Ranges Lexile Ranges Aligned to Common Core expectations K-1N/A – – – CCR (College and Career Readiness) 1070 –

Lexile Challenge Level Less Challenging Lexile “Average” Lexile More Challenging Lexile Grade 6> Grade 7> Grade 8> Grade Level Lexile Ranges According to the “Find a Book” section on lexile.com…

Quoted from MetaMetrics “Today’s students take many different types of assessments and receive many different scores. These scores provide important measures of student proficiency in content areas, but they are often static. The data can’t be used to inform instruction or to help educators and parents select appropriate reading materials based on each child’s ability.

The Lexile Framework for Reading changes that. When an assessment is linked with the Lexile Framework, students’ test scores immediately become actionable. A Lexile measure is the most widely adopted reading metric, measuring both reader ability and text difficulty on the same scale. Lexile measures are powerful tools for linking assessment with instruction across the curriculum, at home, and in the library, by taking the guesswork out of selecting materials that can help to improve student reading ability.”

Rationale for us as teachers across the curriculum The annual exams our students will be taking will offer reading passages that are within the challenging range for our students. Since we do not yet know how we as teachers will all be assessed by APPR, using Lexile measures across all subject areas when choosing reading materials will increase our students’ reading skills and better prepare them for success on those exams…and our success as professionals.

A disclaimer… There are some limitations to Lexiles to be noted. “ A Lexile text measure is based on two strong predictors of how difficult a text is to comprehend: word frequency and sentence length. Many other factors affect the relationship between a reader and a book, including its content, the age and interests of the reader, and the design of the actual book. The Lexile text measure is a good starting point in the book-selection process, with these other factors then being considered. ” A Lexile measure does not take into account such items as vocabulary, thematic ideas, difficulties of concepts found in the passage, etc.

A note about the CCSS movement: In terms of non-fiction informational reading, textbooks are not considered to be “challenging” due to the fact that textbooks do not contain real- world writing. Reading from genuine texts is where the Common Core wants us to spend our time…not in the interpretation of facts from a textbook. The Common Core movement contends that career and college-ready reading comes from primary sources.

A word from Mrs. Borgeest…

Library and Lexiles What your Library Media Specialist can do for you: Databases and Lexiles Lexiles provided Primary Sources: American History Online Evaluating Sources Works Cited – Noodletools

Using lexile.com to determine Lexile measures…

Three Tasks to Complete: Under the Lexile Tools tab… 1.Try out the Find a Book feature for the grade level you teach to get a sense of what books they suggest for that Lexile range. 1.Click on Lexile Analyzer and register an account. Then, examine the Lexile of your textbook. Type in some text from the textbook, save it as a PLAIN TEXT file, and upload it to get a Lexile score. 1.Choose a non-fiction informational article (from databases, yahoo news, etc.) you can use in your current unit between now and Christmas vacation as an ancillary resource within your unit. Do a Lexile analysis of it to determine the reading level.