Lexiles & Readability

A LOOK AT LEXILES and Text Complexity

While delivering PD yesterday,  a teacher asked me, "What's a Lexile?"   I wanted to say, "where have you been?"  But the reality is--I commend her for not being afraid to ask what we think is such a basic question.  We forget that some people have been so busy working in the trenches that they haven't been able to keep up. (They've been too busy administering tests, Student Learning Objective assessments, state exams and more.) So, listed below are the basics of LEXILES 101. 

Essential understandings: 

• The Common Core has defined where "college and career ready" (CCR) students should be reading and it's a 1450  Lexile.  Therefore, they scaffolded in reverse levels to graduate students at the appropriate level.  These Lexile levels are more difficult than where typical students are reading.
• Lexile is an algorithm. It is a mathematical assessment of a linguistic product. 
• Lexiles (and other readability statistics) are fallible. (For instance, it is not valid for prose or drama and is less valid for fiction in 1000+ Lexile range.) 
• The parent organization to the CCSS, (CCSSO formally called the Governor’s convention) recently released a white paper verifying the validity of text complexity. Therefore, we have to pay attention to this essential shift to embrace "rigor" in reading.
• To read the recent white paper from the Council of Chief State School Officers click here. This article compares a number of algorithms and the summarizes text complexity for the CCSS. 
• Text complexity formulas were meant for instructional purposes.
• Pleasure reading should be allowed at any level and this is validated in the Common Core, Appendix A, page 9, paragraph 1:

 It is very interesting, to compare the variables used among the six different "approved" complexity measures. Metametrics (Lexile) uses the simplest measure of only word count and sentence length. (Lexile.com provides a search tool for books, but many are missing.)  Other companies including Accelerated Reader (ATOS) and Pearson, DRP, etc... add additional measures of review such as punctuation, a 100,000-word vocabulary match, and more. Therefore, we would conclude that the ratings of the latter companies would be more accurate picture of complexity and appropriateness. This quote from page 17 of the white paper puts it diplomatically:

"There is no clear "gold standard" measure of text difficulty against which to compare the various metrics. Instead, we compared each metric against various reference measures based on grade level and student comprehension data for five sets of passages gathered for the study. These are defined and discussed in the sections following. Although there are limitations in the validity of these indicators as measures of text difficulty, the variety in their construction allows us to observe the robustness of the metrics and consider how different reference measures might affect their performance."

Be sure to note that Microsoft Word's Flesch-Kincaid measure has also been proven valid. This picture shows how to "turn on" readability statistics within Word:   

Readability statistics, is only one characteristic to examine for instructional materials.  Please see the charts below to identify correct grade levels and Lexiles - or level of complexity.

The Common Core has asked teachers to evaluate classroom materials for quality as well as quantity.  Complexity is only one piece of the puzzle. In addition, a teacher, librarian, or educator, has to pay attention to:

• Complexity - Lexile, vocabulary

• Qualitative measures -value
• Reader and the task -is there enough in the text to foster good discussion, value -added assignments, and begin a knowledge exploration. How can I use this novel or passage to foster critical thinking skills?

Every reading program (F and P, AR, Reading Counts, etc.) uses as its baseline, some metric to measure difficulty or "readability".

Here is a chart by Perma-bound, which correlates the different reading measures:

Thus Saith the Common Core about Graphic Text

I chuckle when, via a feed, I receive something talking about a rubric for "graphic text" and wonder how librarians could be so far ahead of the pack? We're discussing transliteracy, graphic text, infographics, comic life, multi-literacies and more...when the CCSS are giving us rubrics to determine what "text" we should use in our instructional delivery, they don't address this.

We librarians have realized that communication had moved beyond alpha-numeric delivery to information products which convey inference, require extrapolation, and visual messages that require deep content knowledge to uncover and discover messages.  However, our CCSS authors want us to insure that we have a literate generation who can write when they need to....And, yes, that is of utmost importance.

To understand the rational behind the definition of classroom text to be alpha-characters, you'll need to read Appendix A, page 4 paragraph 2.  "text-free or text-light sources, such as video, podcasts, and tweets. These sources, while not without value, cannot capture the nuance, subtlety, depth, or breadth of ideas developed through complex text."
Let's compare and contrast: 


Rich Text: Lexile 9-10th grade band

Susan B. Anthony: “Friends and fellow citizens: I stand before you tonight under indictment for the alleged crime of having voted at the last presidential election, without having a lawful right to vote. It shall be my work this evening to prove to you that in thus voting, I not only committed no crime, but, instead, simply exercised my citizen's rights, guaranteed to me and all United States citizens by the National Constitution, beyond the power of any state to deny....”

[http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/anthony.htm]

Cheap Text: Ellen DeGeneres Commencement Speech, Tulane 2009: 

Thank you, President Cowan, Mrs. President Cowen; distinguished guests, undistinguished guests - you know who you are, honored faculty and creepy Spanish teacher. And thank you to all the graduating class of 2009, I realize most of you are hungover and have splitting headaches and haven't slept since Fat Tuesday, but you can't graduate 'til I finish, so listen up. When I was asked to make the commencement speech, I immediately said yes. Then I went to look up what commencement meant. … So I had to break the word down myself, to find out the meaning. Commencement: common, and cement. Common cement. You commonly see cement on sidewalks. Sidewalks have cracks, and if you step on a crack, you break your mother's back. So there's that. But I'm honored that you've asked me here to speak at your common cement. I thought that you had to be a famous alumnus - alumini - aluminum - alumis - you had to graduate from this school. And I didn't go to college here, and I don't know if President Cowan knows, I didn't go to any college at all. Any college. And I'm not saying you wasted your time, or money, but look at me, I"m a huge celebrity. Although I did graduate from the school of hard knocks.... [http://www.hark.com/clips/wfxbjlpnnh-ellen-degeneres-commencement-speech-at-tulane-university]  

Graphic Texts:  

These graphic texts are actually embraced as "knowledge product" suggestions in the writing standards.  Math standards also embrace extrapolation of data,relationships and modeling which could be "stretched" to create infographics which picture relationships, cause and  effects, ratios, and more. 

The words "graphic texts" do NOT appear in the CCSS at all. There are 98 instances of the words "graph" in them in the math standards, but most of those relate to mathematical functions-- not as vehicle to communicate and share knowledge in diverse formats for diverse audiences. 

 The very act of summarizing and picturing information, proves the content has been assimilated, digested, reformatted, and probably committed to long-term memory.

So the moral of the story is:  Teach with rich Text, graphic text should be used as knowledge products.  Thus saith the Common Core. 

Fishing for Lexiles?

Fishing is a peaceful, boring, activity--unless you catch one.  If you sit there and row your boat all day, you'll be tired, discouraged, your muscles will ache, and all you'll go home to make a PBJ.  And for ice fishing?...I once heard someone  say they'd rather get a root canal, than sit out in the cold. 

Searching for Common Core complex text is similar to that experience for teachers.  They don't know how to fish and they are coming up short.  Listed below are a few tools to analyze text for Lexile levels.  Use these to help find instructional resources for classroom use. In addition, I have a link below where where you can catch some primary sources. 

• The Readability Statistics within Microsoft Word

• http://www.lexile.com/fab / Find a book's Lexile score at this link by either the title (upper right hand corner search box)  or search for titles that are at the proper Lexile level.  
•  Lexile Analyzer - http://www.lexile.com/analyzer/  Create an account and upload .txt files such as primary sources - This is the most reliable way to get a true Lexile.  All the others are approximate substitutes.   

• http://juicystudio.com/services/readability.php#readintro  - Will analyze URL’s readability.   

• 

• http://www.readability.info/  - another place to upload a URL and get the readability of the URL/site.

In general, the “readability” ratings come in about 100 points lower than Lexiles per thousand. Therefore something with a readability index of about 850, you would likely add about 85 points to get the correlating Lexile.  The Lexile.com resources by Metametrics are the most reliable.   However, getting a Lexile is only one piece of the puzzle in understanding the Common Core and meeting the requirements to embed rich text with deep meaning.  Teachers will want to also consider:

•  Does the piece have additional opportunities to enrich learning? 
•  Does the piece use the vocabulary of the discipline? 
•  Is the piece engaging for the learner? 
•  Does the piece lend itself to additional research and learning activities such as debate, research, discussion, etc.  

Find a list of sample Primary Source Archives here.   

Common Core Complex Text - Become the Go-to Source

When I was young growing up in "shopping land," Long Island, NY there was a store called Fortunoff's.  Their motto was "The Source."   That's what we librarians are-- The Source. 
This morning, as I fielded a 911 email from a librarian looking for resources, I thought it was important to share this with the greater Cybrary community.  As librarians help teachers find appropriately Lexiled sources for students to read, there is no need to panic.  The following simple steps will help teachers and cybrarians across America meet CCSS requirements for complex text: 
• Databases can be searched by Lexile counts to grab correctly Lexiled passages for any grade level.
• Here is a link to a flyer that explains the importance, if you haven't heard.
• The correct Lexile ranges are found in Appendix A of the CCSS.

• The quickest and easiest source is by the NOVEL NY databases. See the following link for EBSCO's Searchasaurus  as an example.  This has a juvenile interface, but is super easy to use, and --includes higher level resources as well as lower level.   In NYS this is part of our state-wide provided NOVEL resources and is available for ALL NY schools.   Contact your librarian for access information.  Other products such as GALE Academic Onefile and many other GALE products, also have the ability to search by Lexiles.  

A simple search on immigration yielded these results:

I'd like a Staples "Easy button" for this moment.  The teachers love you, and really...it's no big deal.  This is what we do.  We are trained to quickly provide resources, know just where to look and know how to provide them.  Here's a GALE example and please notice the Lexile counts listed.  This is an example of a higher level resource:  

Check the advanced search, if you have trouble finding this Lexile search ability.

THAT IS THE QUICK WAY. There are other ways to search also. Your teachers can find primary source passages at the LOC, on ABC Clio databases, etc,. and then copy the text and paste it into Microsoft Word. At that point, they will need to analyze the text via: Grammar, spelling and grammar, turn on “readability statistics” see picture below. You will get a Fleish-Kincaid level, which roughly equates to Lexile.

See the chart on my website.  On this webpage , I have additional online sites to search for primary source documents, and have other downloadable conversion charts.  The Lexile.com site also has a Lexile analyzer, but it too, has a learning curve to learn. The easiest way to start is with the databases shown above.

We give half day workshops in this for educators and librarians. Almost everyone leaves feeling they are more equipped to handle the Common Core  Complex text issue.  You may want to consider “Lexile-ing” your collection. We did this for ALL of our 84 libraries circulating on our automation system.  Librarians can search by Lexile on any topic. The teachers could also do this and pull a passage from a book.  Some book-jobbers will Lexile your collection for free if you order from them, others charge.  Be certain to inquire what their match rate is for titles.  We were able to obtain about an 80% match for fiction.  Secondary collections come in at about a 50% match, while elementary collections match at the 80% rate.  Some automation suppliers charge big bucks and do not have such success.  Be careful.   

For those who are unaware of what a Lexile is... well you better read the explanation at Lexile.com and become friends with their tools.   RTTT assessments are to built upon Lexile passages.  Make certain your school has aligned their ELA novels with correct Lexile ranges.  That's a no-brainer.  However, many teachers will be disheartened to learn that their sacred cow books are not in the correct Lexile range.  Provide them with some exemplary alternatives!  Become the go-to source.