1. Measures of Text Difficulty
EDC423
Dr. Julie Coiro

2. Today’s Learning Objectives
MTH Unit Workshop:
Check in about your guiding inquiry question
Time to work with partner…
Practice pulling into Blendspace
Questions?
What makes a text challenging?
What measures are available to help determine the difficulty level of a text?

3. What makes a text difficult to read? (or complex)
Difficulty of vocabulary (unfamiliar)
Format (size of font, length) – longer > harder; smaller font > harder
Dialogue
Punctuation & Text formatting (bold, italics)
Diagrams, graphs,
Informational vs. narrative
Number of words per page Sentence structure (n/v, length) vocabulary (academic, difficulty) Level that's on the book pictures (lack = more challenging)
content (more common = easier) book thickness/number of pages (most likely more pages = more difficult) genre (informational, fictional, fantasy/mystery)

4. Computing Text Difficulty
Fry Readability Formula
Sentence Length and Word Length
3 Random 100-word samples
Count and average # of sentences
Count # of syllables in 100 words; average across three samples
Plot the intersection of average sentences (side) and average syllables (bottom)

5. ONLY CONSIDERS 2 LIMITED TEXT FEATURES

6. Try It Out

7. Other Measures of Text Difficulty
Lexile Levels (
What grades go with what levels?
Levels Correlation Table: Guided Reading / Reading Recovery / Reading A-Z
Quickly find readability of a book?
Lexile Level of a book or a text you wrote!
Scholastic - A-Z Leveling
Juicy Studio (readability of a website)
Type text into MS Word > Spelling/Grammar check

8. Increased Expectations About Text Complexity in CCSS
CCSS Appendix A; Standard #10 Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently

9. Looking for More Support of CCSS and Instructional Shifts?

10. What else makes reading hard? (Class on Thursday)
Expository texts:
Varied organizational structures in same text
Academic vocabulary; Referential challenges
Hybrid texts:
Author combines elements of narrative and exposition to convey information about natural or social world

11. Homework Finish MTH Unit Activities Part 1: Book Launch
Part 2: During Reading Questions
Part 3: Vocab, Fluency, Character Traits, and Anticipation Guide Activities
Part 4: Unit Map and Extension Activities
Put into Blendspace & Publish Link on Wiki

12. Resources & Challenges in these categories

13. Small Group Assignments
P Title, Border, and Snap!
P. 19: Eating A Lot & New Arrival
P. 20: Getting Stronger & Stepping Out
P. 21: Unexpected Guests & Photos
P. 22 A Shrinking Refuge & Dwindling No.
P. 22: Unlocking the Secrets & Wordwise
P. 23 (all): Last picture/caption