The Lexile Framework for Reading

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The Lexile Framework for Reading

• Matching readers to text
• A Presentation for Librarians and Educators
• by Lorena Wilder
• Library Media Teacher
• Creekside Middle School
• 1330 Creekside Drive
• Monument, CO 80132
• November 2006

--The Lexile Framework for Reading MetraMetrics,
Inc.
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What are Lexiles?

• Scientific approach to reading and text
  measurement
• Matches reader ability and text difficulty,
  allowing individualized monitoring of progress.
• Research shows improves reading skills

MetraMetrics website.
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Who developed Lexiles?

• Program developed in 1984 in with a grant from
  National Institute of Child Health and Human
  Development (NICHD)
• Gary L. Williamson, Ph.D., educational researcher
  associated with the University of North Carolina.
• Founding member of Lexile research team
• Co-founder of MetaMetrics, Inc.

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Who developed Lexiles?

• MetraMetrics, Inc.
• a for-profit company.
• run by a team of psychometricians
• has about 50 employees
• charges publishers for lexile information on text
  documents
• test publishers pay royalties when students take
  lexile tests

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How do Lexiles work?

• 2 parts to Lexiles
• Lexile measure
• Lexile scale

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How do Lexiles work?

• Lexile measure (the TEXT)
• Reading ability or text difficulty score followed
  by an L (e.g. 850L)
• Measures how difficult a text is to comprehend
• semantic difficulty (word frequency)
• syntactic complexity (sentence length)

MetraMetrics website.
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How do Lexiles work

• Lexile scale (the READER)
• Developmental scale for reading
• Range from below 200L (beginning-reader material)
  to above 1700L (advanced text).

MetraMetrics website.
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How does Lexile compare to grade level?

• Lexile scores in a range of numbers
• More accurate than grade level
• Compare to shoe size

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What Lexile does NOT measure

• Content -
• complexity of plot
• complexity of character(s)
• Quality -
• good books
• books to hook reluctant readers
• Developmental suitability
• Age-appropriateness
• Prior knowledge required for comprehension

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• How do we measure the students?

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• Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA)s
  Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) testing
  program.
• nonprofit assessment organization that provides
  testing to more than 1,900 U.S. schools
• Pearsons PASeries (Progress Assessment Series
• first formative assessment product line designed
  to forecast student growth toward state
  performance standards
• Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI)
• research-based, computer-adaptive reading
  assessment that measures students level of
  reading comprehension and reports it using the
  Lexile Framework for Reading

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Which books are lexiled?

• Over 450 publishers Lexile their titles
• Tens of thousands of books
• Tens of millions of newspaper magazine
  articles.

MetraMetrics website.
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How can you find these books?

• Metametrics website http//www.lexile.com
• EBSCO ProQuest (online subscription databases)
• NoveList (online subscription database)
• Most public libraries do not show lexiles in OPAC
  system.

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How can you find these books?

• Many school library management systems include
  Lexile as an option.
• Example about one-half of Creekside Library
  Media Centers total collection is lexiled
• 80 of fiction
• 30 of biography
• 25 of other nonfiction

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Some Lexile observations

• Nonfiction tends to score higher than fiction.
• Most middle school fiction books fall in the 600L
  to 1000L range.
• Fantasy fiction tends to score high
• Mystery fiction tends to score low

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More Lexile observations

• Most authors tend to be consistent in their
  lexile scoring
• No apparent correlation between book length and
  lexile score.
• Not necessarily a correlation between target
  audience and lexile score.

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• And now for a look at not-so-random sample of
  middle school books and how they rank in the
  lexile ratings

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Conclusions

• Dont rely on lexile stickers (numbered or
  color-coded) placed on the books
• Teach students how to use OPAC or programs such
  as NoveList to search for books in lexile range.
• Respect confidentiality
• And remember that

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• Lexile is a good measuring tool, but it is just
  one factor in great book selection!

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References Suggested Reading

• The Lexile Framework for Reading. MetaMetrics.
  lthttp//lexile.comgt.
• "Andrew Kyngdon Joins Durham-Based MetaMetrics
  Inc. as Senior Research Scientist."
  dBusinessNews Daily Business News Delivered to
  Your Desktop. 24 Oct 2006. dBusinessNews. 6 Nov
  2006 lthttp//www.dbusinessnews.com/shownews.php?ne
  wsid96277type_newspastgt.
• Ezarik, Melissa. "Text Demands on Students Don't
  Meet Life's Demands." Curriculum Update June
  2005.
• Glick, Andrea, and Renee Olson. "Company Touts
  System to Match Students and Books." School
  Library Journal Sep 1998 94.
• Jones, Chip. Measure of Difficulty." Richmond
  Times-Dispatch 4 May 2006.
• Reid, Calvin. "Lexile Ratings Catch On."
  Publishers Weekly 6 Sep 2004 8.