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What are Lexile-Reading Levels

Written by Rebecca Dove

November 15, 2021

  • Lexile is a measurement tool with a leveling system that matches test scores to books.

  • Lexile and Fountas & Pinnell level books but are different systems.

  • Lexile analyzes text, has a range for books, includes vocabulary lists, and has extensive research.

Lexile is a measurement tool created by psychologists, researchers, and scientists from MetaMetrics. They take a scientific approach to help with education. Lexile was created to help educators, parents, researchers, and other practitioners with reading material. Additional information Here

MetaMetrics states that 90% of standardized K-12 assessments use Lexile scores.

A Lexile Measure “isn’t a simple score or grade. It is a tool to help you and your child find reading materials to match and challenge their abilities.”

Lexile works with companies so companies can use Lexile’s scoring, ranges, and recommendations.

Here is what makes their product unique

  1. Scientific use test scores to connect them to books using their scaling system. It is grounded on a psychometric system, a field of psychology specializing in testing, measurement, assessment, and relative knowledge. These researchers use data, create experiments, write reports, share tested theories of change, and more.
  2. The range uses a numerical number with the corresponding letter “L.” The scale or range matches books to a child’s development and knowledge at that time.
  3. Vocabulary has created customized lists, similar to sight words. However, these vocabulary words are common vocabulary words that can assist a child academically.
  4. Complexity measure determines the syntax of the books, vocabulary words, and other pieces of writing-voice, main idea, and many more researched-backed concepts. Lexile has developed The Lexile Analyzer so that researchers can analyze text to see how their text fits within the Lexile framework. This analyzer has preset rules, variables, and mathematical problems to determine the different complexities of the text.
  5. Fountas & Pinnel is another leveling system that levels books for small group reading. If you need to learn about the differences between F&P and Lexile you can find here.

Leveling books has benefits, but there are also consequences to leveling as well. If one is too caught up on reading for leveling then what is their objective for reading. It is best to find that balance between leveling and not.

Read2Think is proud to integrate Lexile into our system. Parents, educators, and non-profit directors will be able to view which stories that a child reads have a Lexile score corresponding to it.

To sign up for Read2Think visit: read2think.com

 

Read2Think is a web application to help parents, educators, and students to discover a child’s reading challenge. Our software applies machine learning and humans to assess how children read. Visit our homepage to sign up or learn more.

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