Lexile Framework for Reading Supporting Quality Instruction Office of Instruction

Agenda Defining Lexiles Understanding how Lexiles work Using Lexiles to manage students reading comprehension Applying Lexiles across the curriculum Communicating Lexiles to family Using Lexiles in your classroom Linking Lexile assessment data with instruction

I want my students to learn all the material I have to teach this year. I assign pages in texts for them to read. By sixth grade, they should be able to read a grade-level text and answer the questions. I give them time to copy notes from the board so they have the important ideas in their notebooks. I want my students to love history as much as I do, so I tell them all I know about the topics we study. Danielle, 6 th grade social studies teacher

What is a Lexile? Big Idea: Lexiles provide a single measure of… Reader Ability and Text Readability

Lexile Framework Lexile measure –Numeric representation of readers ability or a texts difficulty –850L Lexile scale –Developmental scale for reading –Ranges from below 200L for beginning readers to above 1700L for advanced texts

Lexile Reader Measure Lexile Scale Lexile Text Measure 1700L 200L Advanced Reader Difficult Text Beginning Reader Easy Text

How is a Lexile text measure determined? Semantic Difficulty the frequency of the words in a corpus of written text corpus has over 600-million words Syntactic Complexity the number of words per sentence longer sentences are more complex and require more short-term memory to process

Text Difficulty Arthur and the Recess Rookie 370L Arthur Goes to Camp 380L Arthur, clean Your Room! 370L Harry Potter series (880L to 950L) Little Women 1300L Don Quixote 1410L

The Lexile Analyzer Scan text into electronic format Edit text Examine wordsExamine sentences Calculate Lexile measure Review text and Lexile measure

10 The Lexile Map Literature Titles Benchmarks (Sample Text) Lexile Measure Grade Level Range

220L 320L 490L

770L 660L 560L

1030L 950L 820L

1210L 1200L 1160L

1530L 1440L 1340L

1840L 1790L 1680L

Lexile Moment At your table brainstorm… How will knowing the Lexile measure of your students and the Lexile measure of a book help you in the classroom? Be ready to give one example to all the workshop participants. Your table has five minutes to discuss and share.

How do I get Lexiles measures for my students? State Information page on West Virginia ACT Explore (Grade 8) ACT Plan (Grade 10) WESTEST 2 (Spring 2009)

Placing a Reader on the Lexile Map Harcourt Assessment – SAT-10, SAT-9, MAT-8 CTB/McGraw Hill – TerraNova Assessment Series Scholastic – SRI, READ 180, Reading Counts! Sopris West - Language! Voyager – Passport Reading Journeys Northwest Evaluation Assoc. – Measures of Academic Progress Pearson - Stanford 9 and 10 Riverside – Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests Dynamic Measurement Group - DIBELS

Library Resources EBSCOhost databases –High School: Student Center Research –Middle School: Kidsearch –Elementary School: Searchasaurus Scholastic: Grolier Online

How will I use Lexiles in the classroom? To promote reading progress To differentiate instruction To select reading material that meets and challenges each students ability across content areas To provide a clear, nonjudgmental way of communicating a students reading ability to parents To generate lists of books that parents know will be challenging reading for their children (e.g., summer reading lists)

Linking Assessment to Instruction Lexiles… Add value to state assessments –adding more information but not more time. Offer a common scale for monitoring student progress. Paint a big picture view of student progress, preschool through graduate school. Give parents and students a way to monitor reading progress.

Lexile Comprehension Model Reader Ability - Text Readability = Comprehension Targeted Comprehension = 75% Independent Reading 600L (reader) – 600L (text) = 0 (75% forecasted comprehension) Educators can adjust forecasted comprehension by changing the text options given to a reader.

Why 75% Comprehension? Research suggests that at 75%… A reader can have a successful reading experience without frustration or boredom A reader can achieve functional comprehension of the text A reader will be sufficiently challenged (by vocabulary and syntax) 75% is the right amount of challenge

Managing Comprehension Readers can experience frustration when… –Text readability is 100L+ above their Lexile level Readers can experience ease when… –Text readability is L below their Lexile level Readers can experience growth when… –Text readability is within their Lexile range General Reading Recommendation: Targeted text range of 100L below to 50L above the students Lexile level Note: This range may vary based on text type, reading context and purpose, reading strategies and support, and reader motivation.

Science Passage940L Atoms of the same element can have different numbers of neutrons; the different possible versions of each element are called isotopes. For example, the most common isotope of hydrogen has no neutrons at all; there's also a hydrogen isotope called deuterium, with one neutron, and another, tritium, with two neutrons.

For a start, just because something is called an isotope doesn't necessarily mean it's radioactive. You can think of different isotopes of an atom being different "versions" of that atom. Consider a carbon atom. It has 6 protons and 6 neutrons - we call it "carbon-12" because it has an atomic mass of 12 (6 plus 6). If we add a neutron, it's still a carbon atom, but it's a different isotope of carbon. One useful isotope of carbon is "carbon-14", which has 6 protons and 8 neutrons. This is the atom we look for when we're carbon dating an object. So isotopes of an atom have the same number of protons, but a different number of neutrons. Science Passage1040L

Science Passage1400L Most atoms have several naturally occurring isotopes. An isotope is an atom which contains a different number of neutrons in its nucleus than some other atom of the same element. This means that different isotopes of an element will have different masses, since both the protons and the neutrons contribute about equally to the mass of an atom. (Here is a great source of information about sub- atomic particles from a physics point of view.) Not all isotopes are equally abundant in nature. For example, here are the naturally occurring isotopes of Hydrogen (Hydrogen-2 is the only common isotope which has its own name, and is generally called Deuterium).

Predicting Textbook Comprehension Read the following Science textbook passage and see if you can determine the Lexile measure. Predict how well different groups of students will comprehend the text if their Lexile measures are between 600L and 950L.

Science Textbook Estimate this passages Lexile level Matter is anything that takes up space and has mass. Matter also has properties which can be observed. These properties are color, texture, shape, size, hardness, smell, temperature, magnetic attraction, dissolvability in liquid, and buoyancy. Buoyancy is the upward force of water or air that keeps things afloat. An example of buoyancy is a boat floating on top of water. Mass is the amount of matter that makes up an object. It can be measured in kilograms and grams. A balance can be used to measure mass. The three states of matter are solid, liquid, and gas. A solid has definite shape and amount of space. Examples of solids are a book, pencil, and desk. A liquid takes the shape of its container and takes up a definite amount of space. Orange juice, water, and oil are examples of liquids. A gas does not have a definite shape or take up a definite amount of space. Helium and oxygen are examples of gases.

Science Textbook Estimate this passages Lexile level Matter is anything that takes up space and has mass. Matter also has properties which can be observed. These properties are color, texture, shape, size, hardness, smell, temperature, magnetic attraction, dissolvability in liquid, and buoyancy. Buoyancy is the upward force of water or air that keeps things afloat. An example of buoyancy is a boat floating on top of water. Mass is the amount of matter that makes up an object. It can be measured in kilograms and grams. A balance can be used to measure mass. The three states of matter are solid, liquid, and gas. A solid has definite shape and amount of space. Examples of solids are a book, pencil, and desk. A liquid takes the shape of its container and takes up a definite amount of space. Orange juice, water, and oil are examples of liquids. A gas does not have a definite shape or take up a definite amount of space. Helium and oxygen are examples of gases. 790L

Lexile Moment A middle school administrator understands that her faculty is frustrated because so few students can comprehend the textbooks used in the school. How can Lexiles help manage comprehension in the content classes? Your table has 3 minutes to discuss possible solutions. Write it on a Post-it and place on door.

Lexile Tools Lexile Book Database – contains thousands of books, newspapers, magazines and other reading material that have a Lexile measure Lexile Analyzer – a tool for analyzing reading materials and producing a Lexile measure Spanish Lexile Analyzer-a tool for analyzing Spanish text and generate Spanish Lexile measure Lexile Calculator – a tool to calculate expected comprehension at various Lexile measures Lexile Reading Pathfinder – a set of prepared list of books by series and by topics Lexile Power Vocabulary – vocabulary words lists for books that might challenge the reader.

Click on educators

Resources and Tools for Educators Resources Tools

Click on Tools

Click Lexile Book Database

Click Book Search

Click Search the Lexile Book Database

Recommendations: Use a Lexile range that is from 50L above your student's Lexile measure to 100L below to ensure that s/he has a successful reading experience. Enter keywords to find books that match his/her interests. The key here is to get your student reading. Select books with the Lexile range that you are looking for (either for a student or based on your classroom Lexile roster), but also select a development level (e.g., "Middle School").

You try it. Title/Author Search: Use Harry Potter series by Rowling. How many Harry Potter books? What is the Lexile measure for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire? How many pages are in this book? Keyword search: Use keyword cells, range 500L-950L, sort by Lexiles What do letters IG mean?

Predict a Lexile Think about three books your students recently read. With the information just presented, predict the Lexile measure of the book. Check the Lexile Book Database. You have 15 minutes to use the Book Search.

The Lexile Codes Illustrated Glossary (IG) Non-conforming Text (NC) Inconsistent with the developmental appropriateness of the text Beginning Reading (BR) Lexile measure of zero or below Non-prose Text (NP) Poems, plays, songs, and books in which punctuation is absent or used unconventionally Adult-directed Text (AD) Designed to be read to or with readers Graphic Novel (GN) The text of these books is largely in voice or thought bubbles that are integrated into comic book-style illustrations

Lexile Analyzer: Managing Comprehension Click to Register

Tools - Lexile Analyzer

Creating Documents for the Online Analyzer 1.Create a text document 2.Save the document as plain text. 3.You are now ready to use the online analyzer to determine the Lexile measure of the text

Saving Documents to Analyze You must save your document as Text Only

Lexile Analyzer Click Browse… to find your file

Insert the Document Locate your document Double click on the document

The Results

Analyze an Article Register to use the Lexile Analyzer Choose an article from your favorite news source Copy the article into a text file Edit text Analyze article You have 20 minutes to practice with Lexile Analyzer.

Lexiles and The News USA Today Wall Street Journal New York Times Washington Post Chicago Tribune Reuters Associated Press

Lexiles and The News USA Today (1200L) Associated Press (1310L) Chicago Tribune (1310L) Wall Street Journal (1320L) Washington Post (1350L) NY Times (1380L) Reuters (1440L)

Lexile Calculator Can forecast comprehension Identifies the relationship between the reader and the text Predicts how well the reader will comprehend the material in the text Can perform the following calculations: The rate at which a student is expected to comprehend of the text The reading ability a reader is expected to need in order to comprehend the text at a specific level

Tools - Lexile Calculator Click Lexile Calculator

Tools - Lexile Calculator

Tools – Lexile Calculator

Lexile Calculator Results

Using the Calculator Sean is entering the 8 th grade. Sean has a Lexile measure of 950L. Use the calculator to determine his expected comprehension rate.

Using the Calculator You are in the process of selecting a new 7 th grade science textbook. You would like to ensure that your students have a comprehension rate of 75%. Use the calculator to determine the Lexile range in which your students should be reading. You have 15 minutes to work with Lexile Calculator.

Lexile Framework Adjustments for the reader –Guide a struggling reader –Guide advanced students Adjustments for the text –Confronting new texts Adjustments for content

BookBags Create a BookBag for your reading groups. Create a BookBag for summer reading. Create a BookBag for independent reading program.

Click on Educators Link Click Find a Book

Click View Bookbag

Build a BookBag Build your own BookBag with the following information: Two reading groups with different Lexile ranges and interests for each group Share with your group

Lexile Scavenger Hunt Answer the 17 questions Use the Lexile tools needed Work in pairs Check answers with your group 30 minutes if needed

Professional Development: Goals/outcomes Time Audience Vocabulary Slides Practice/Application Reflection Discuss with your group ideas for professional development in your school/county.