LEXILES AND YOU

Comprehension n 1: an ability to understand the meaning or importance of something (or the knowledge acquired as a result); "how you can do that is beyond my comprehension"; "he was famous for his comprehension of American literature"

What are Lexiles? A Lexile is a standard unit for measuring the comprehensibility of text A Lexile is a standard unit for measuring the comprehensibility of text  Semantics (meaning)  Syntax (sentence structure) A Lexile measure or range can also be assigned to a student A Lexile measure or range can also be assigned to a student

June 18, 2007Edvance Research, Inc.4 Workplace Lexiles (from MetaMetrics, 2007 & Williamson, 2006a) 200 = 1 st grade 1123 = th grade texts 1355 = 1 st Year College texts Forklift Operations Manual 890 Adobe PhotoShop 5.0 Tutorial1080 Fine Homebuilding Magazine Cadillac Eldorado Brochure1150 Attendance Policy for Hourly Employees1210 Federal Form W Free Application for Federal Student Aid1270 Aetna U.S. Healthcare - Open Choice PPO1280 U.S. Dept. of Justice (INS) - Employment Eligibility Verification1340

June 18, 2007Edvance Research, Inc.5 Newspaper Lexiles (from MetaMetrics, 2007 & Williamson 2006a) 200 = 1 st grade 1123 = th grade texts 1355 = 1 st Year College texts Miami Herald1200 USA Today1200 Chicago Sun-Times1210 New York Daily News1230 San Francisco Examiner1230 San Jose Mercury1230 New York Post1280 Washington Times1290 Associated Press1310 Chicago Tribune1310 Wall Street Journal1320 Los Angeles Times1330 Washington Post1350 UPI1370 Bloomberg1380 New York Times1380 Reuters1440

June 18, 2007Edvance Research, Inc.6 Comparing Text Difficulty and Person Ability Person Ability Text Difficulty Expected Comprehension Rate 25% 50% 75% 90% 95%

June 18, 2007Edvance Research, Inc.7 What does Comprehension-Rate mean? This rose-bush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history; but whether it had merely survived out of the stern old wilderness, so long after the fall of the gigantic pines and oaks that originally overshadowed it, or whether, as there is fair authority for believing, it had sprung up under the footsteps of the sainted Ann Hutchinson as she entered the prison-door, we shall not take upon us to determine. - The Scarlet Letter (1400L) Cloze item: The rose-bush serves as a vibrant ______ for this tale.

June 18, 2007Slide 8 Standard: 2100 TAKS 1015 Lexile Higher Ed: 2200 TAKS 1170 Lexile Commended: 2400 TAKS 1490 Lexile TAKS Performance Standards Overlay on Text Demands (adapted from Williamson, 2006a) 7

Determining Your Lexile Range Independent Reading Range of difficulty should be Lexiles above to 100 Lexiles below Independent Reading Range of difficulty should be Lexiles above to 100 Lexiles below Instructional Reading Range of difficulty should be to 150 Lexiles above Instructional Reading Range of difficulty should be to 150 Lexiles above

June 18, 2007Edvance Research, Inc.10 Willamson, G. L. (2006a). Student Readiness for Postsecondary Endeavors. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), San Francisco, CA. Willamson, G. L. (2006b). Aligning the Journey with the Destination. Durham, NC: MetaMetrics, Inc. References