Session 5: Lexiles and Other Progress Monitoring Tools Nancy Moody Janice Kite Jennifer Smith

Essential Question: How do we support teachers developing and using common assessments to improve learning?

Lexiles and Fountas and Pinnell Levels - Elementary…… New Revised North Carolina K-2 Literacy Assessments (2009) Change - current leveled books use a variety of numerical leveling system ( 2005) To – leveled books use the Fountas and Pinnell leveling system A – N. Grades 3-5 need to continue using the Fountas and PInnell levels in order to show continuity throughout K-5

Lexiles and Fountas and Pinnell Levels - Elementary…… –From Metametrics…….. Lexiles and Fountas and Pinnell levels –are not a one to one correlation. –have variables that are not identical. – are to be used in conjunction with each other. –can compliment each other. –measures student growth and helps match books to readers

Lexiles and Fountas and Pinnell Levels - Elementary…… –From Metametrics…….. Lexiles and Fountas and Pinnell levels –Can be mismatched from time to time »Non standard prose… “The Gingerbread Boy” »With text feature/picture support…Fountas and Pinnell may give it a Level N and the Lexile may be equivalent to Level P »OR with lack of text feature/picture support – Fountas Pinnell may give it a Level P and the Lexile may be equivalent to a Level N

Lexiles and Fountas and Pinnell Levels - Elementary…… –Fountas and Pinnell Levels Give the “Big Picture” of a a student’s reading ability as it measures….. –Decoding skills – how well does the student read orally? –Reading strategies – is the student a strategic reader? –Fluency – is the student reading with fluency? –Comprehension – can the student answer in the text, beyond the text, and about the text questions? Show the teacher where the gaps and holes are to be used in small group instruction. Differentiates much better in the early elementary years.

Lexiles and Fountas and Pinnell Levels - Elementary…… –Lexile Levels ….. Give equal interval measurement – and 800 – 850 has equal interval measurement Measured by Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) »Can be administrated to the entire class at once in a fast and efficient way »Measures and graphs growth over the year…typically in six weeks intervals in ACS »Can help teachers differentiate instruction after the student scores above the Beginning Reader (BR) Level »School libraries can match books to readers within the school library »Parents can use Lexile levels and to help match books to their children.

Lexiles and Fountas and Pinnell Levels - Elementary…… –Fountas and Pinnell levels measure...i.e. Picture/text feature support Sentence length and complexity Predictability of text Language pattern and repetition Print size, spacing, number of words per page Concept difficulty Content difficulty Topic familiarity Ratio of different words to total words in text Ratio of high frequency words total and of low frequency words to total words

Lexiles and Fountas and Pinnell Levels - Elementary…… –Lexile levels measure... Vocabulary frequency – frequency of words that appear in each book against their frequency that appears in the English language. –The more frequent appearing words – the higher frequency value they get – therefore reducing the Lexile level Sentences – it measures the words in the sentence.

Qualitative Reading Inventory (QRI) Purpose is to assess a student’s ability in reading, specifically their fluency, rate, accuracy, and comprehension Provides diagnostic information about the conditions in which students can identify words and comprehend text successfully and the conditions that result in unsuccessful word identification, decoding and/or comprehension.

What does this test tell us? The results of this test can help determine the reading level of a student. The criteria for each level is as follows: Independent = 90% or above, Instructional = 70%-89%; and Frustrational = below 70%. If scores for explicit questions are compared to scores for implicit questions, a substantial difference between these two scores may suggest that the student needs instruction in either remembering what the author stated explicitly in the text or in using clues in the text to make inferences, depending on which score is higher.

Asheboro City Schools Administrative Retreat Administrators and Lexiles Sharpening Progress Monitoring Tools June29th and June 30th

video

Essential question – Lexiles How can we, as administrators, using Lexile measures and other progress monitoring tools monitor student educational reading attainment in relation to performance standards and growth over time?

Lexiles... The Lexile Framework is a nationally normed and research based tool resulting in a unifying theory of measurement of reading comprehension. The research has resulted in a unifying theory of measurement that allows different measures of reading to be placed on a common clear scale. Main Components Lexile Measure: numeric representation of a reader’s ability or the difficulty of a text selection Lexile Scale: developmental scale for reading ranging from below 200 to above 1700 Reader and text measures reported on the same scale, (Lexile) so users can TARGET > MATCH text with ability to read

Lexiles What is the Lexile Framework for Reading? The Lexile Framework is a tool that can be used to describe the difficulty of texts (readability) and the reading level of the reader (reading ability). The Lexile Measure is the number reported on most standardized assessments as an indicator of reading comprehension. score with a the letter “L” beside of the number e.g L EOG, IOWA, English 9 EOC, SAT all report Lexiles “ Understanding the Parent/Teacher Report for the NC End of Grade Tests” handout section H. provides parents and teachers information on understanding Lexiles

Lexile Scale The Lexile Scale is a developmental scale. There is not an explicit bottom or top to the scale, but rather two anchor points on the scale that describe different levels of reading comprehension and workplace text. Lexile Scale – 200L to 1700L

Determining Lexile Measures Lexile Measure is based on two factors: Semantic Difficulty - (word frequency) Syntactic Complexity (sentence length) Semantic Difficulty - Early reading researchers determined that the difficulty of words is a continuum based on exposure with frequently encountered words being the easiest and rare words the most difficult. Analysis resulted in more than 50 semantic variables to determine which were the most valid indicators for text difficulty. Syntactic Complexity – Reading Researchers have found that the best predictor of the difficulty of a sentence is its length. Long sentences contain more clauses, and therefore communicate not only more information and ideas, but also an interrelationship between them. The length also requires the reader to retain more information in short term memory. (Lennon, C., & Burdick, H., Lexile Framework As An Approach For Reading and Success (white paper). April 2004.)

Comprehension Level When reader and text are appropriately matched a reader can enjoy a comprehension rate of about 75 percent. This rate corresponds to the balance of skill and difficulty that allows reading to be positive but challenging and encourages growth and motivation.

So if my Lexile is 1000L?

Text Lexile to Reader Lexile 200L-1700 = Lexile Scale 100+ = FRUSTRATION L Below = EASE 50L-100L above = TARGET Text RANGE Targeted Range = 75% Independent Comprehension Instructional Level and Purposes – Targeted Range is recommended (50L-100L)

Special Text Cases Fiction for example designed for emerging readers are scaled differently due factors such as illustrations which scaffolds the instruction Nonfiction books with less than 500 words often contain repetition

Should students be allowed to read outside their Lexile levels? Lexiles do not take into account: –Age appropriateness –Quality of language –Student interest –Text support (pictures, pull-outs) –Background knowledge –Reading context and purpose ** Don’t take the child, teacher, parent, or media specialist out of the equation.

Administrators Tool (some sources) All major standardized reading tests in schools report their results in Lexiles Progress Monitoring resources such as Scholastic Reading Inventory or SRI report in Lexiles NC EOG’s and English 9 EOC report a Lexile Score

Reading EOG Assessments

EOG/EOC Levels and Lexiles

Lexile of 940

Lexile: A Teacher’s Tool Communication tool with parents. Predict/Monitor reading growth and progress over time. Differentiate Instruction –Matching appropriate text for instructional purposes. –Matching appropriate texts for independent student reading.

Lexile: A Student’s Tool Match themselves to accessible texts. Allows students to make choices based on their Lexiles with flexibility for individual interest and background knowledge. Monitor and celebrate their own growth. Engender a love of reading.

Lexile: A Parent Tool Communication tool with teacher and student. Participate in child’s development. Public library resources (

What role does Lexiles play in summer reading? Research states: Lower income students reading level decreases by as much as 2.6 months grade level equivalency during the summer months. However, with “intentional” identification of targeted texts for summer reading (6-8 books), lower income students reading levels show no significant loss during the summer. Proven gains are seen when reading materials are matched to Lexiles. Entwisle, Alexander & Olson, Kim, James, 2006.

Administrators Tool (some sources) All major standardized reading tests in schools report their results in Lexiles Progress Monitoring resources such as Scholastic Reading Inventory or SRI report in Lexiles NC EOG’s and English 9 EOC report a Lexile Score

Uses of Lexiles Parent Communication Web base resources such as analyzer provide strategies for differentiation of lesson planning Progress monitoring targeted toward teacher and student communication around improvement Rigor of curriculum content Textbook Lexile information

Additional resources: NCDPI Testing and Accountability Handout “Understanding the Parent/Teacher Report for North Carolina End-of-Grade Tests (summer reading/find a book site) Lexile Power Parent communication information

Lexiles and Fountas and Pinnell Levels - Elementary…Next Steps Next Steps…. Schools work toward adding Lexile levels to the books in their literacy closets to help make professional decisions about the book choices for small group instruction. Use the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) to create student reading lists from their school media centers

Lexiles and Fountas and Pinnell Levels - Elementary…Next Steps –MARC Wizard – a service in elementary media centers….How to use it? –School media centers can submit their cataloging records to MARC Wizard who will then add Lexile levels to the school’s records to be uploaded into their database. –Then by modifying OPAC to allow search by Lexile, students can search for books on their Lexile level – a level they are given after each SRI assessment. –Students can find all the books in the media center and browse for one they would like to read or search a specific topic.

Lexiles and Fountas and Pinnell Levels - Elementary…Next Steps –Scholastic Reading Inventory – –Learn how to use SRI better for the content areas ( Social Studies and Science) –Can use ( if available) »EBSCO, MasUltra, ProQuest to look up articles about a subject using the Lexile Scale »Then using collaboration across the grade level to create units in the content area and being able to differentiate the reading material.

Based upon the information shared today, how can I use data to improve student learning?

Reflections What am I squared away with? What am I still circling around? What three things do I need to do in priority order to advance the work?