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McGuffey Reader Reading Levels, from Lexile


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I have just processed, with the Lexile Analyzer, prose samples from the McGuffey Readers that I’ve been able to find online. The books are not in the Lexile database. And I don’t think poetry can be mechanically, yet accurately analyzed. Occasionally there is a sample that isn’t aligned with the others in grade level, deviating from upper-level books normally, to 7th-grade, 8th-grade, or graduate-school level. I have determined the general pattern, though, to be that the books cover a two-grade range in lower levels, and a range of several grades in the higher levels. Because the Lexile Analyzer accepts selections of only one-thousand words at a time, I selected sections ranging from several lessons in the beginnings of the primer and first books, to a few paragraphs each of two lessons in the same section in the later books, checking the beginning and end in lower books, and also the middle parts of the higher books. I don’t believe revisions have changed the grade levels, but think it would require a more thorough analysis of various editions, which I don’t have access to, to be sure.

 

Here are the results:

 

Eclectic Primer: 1st grade

1st Eclectic Reader: 1st–2nd grades

2nd Eclectic Reader: 3rd–4th grades

3rd Eclectic Reader: 5th–6th grades

4th Eclectic Reader: 6th–8th grades

5th Eclectic Reader: 7th grade–college sophmore

6th Eclectic Reader: 9th grade–college senior

 

1st New Reader: 1st–2nd grades

2nd New Reader: 3rd–4th grades

3rd New Reader: 4th–5th grades

4th New Reader: 5th–6th grades

5th New Reader: 6th–12th grades

6th New Reader: 12th grade–college sophomore

 

High-School Reader: 9th–12th grades

 

Alternate 3rd Reader: 6th–8th grades

Alternate 4th Reader: 8th–12th grades

Alternate 5th Reader: 11th grade–college senior

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  • 3 months later...
I've never seen the New Readers.

 

For some reason I cannot find the sixth one on the internet again. Sorry. It should still be saved on one drive our other computer, but that’s in the shop with a catastrophic virus on the other drive. So I don’t know if and when we can get it back. If we do, I should just upload the file to the internet and post the link here.

 

Here are the others to download. (Don’t pay attention to the title at the top or on the cover, apparently some sorting convention for Google Books.)

 

The New McGuffey First Reader

The New McGuffey Second Reader

The New McGuffey Third Reader

The New McGuffey Fourth Reader

The New McGuffey Fifth Reader

 

Also here is a "]sample search for the hard copies.

 

I want to post the reading levels of and links to Charles Sanders’s and Salem Town’s readers next. We like those a lot too.

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I have now analyzed the reading levels (in the same manner as I did with the McGuffey Readers, thus they are approximations) of all the readers I can read on the internet by Charles Sanders and by Salem Town. I have made the level distinctions more detailed since the books did not fit so neatly into them this time. “Progressive” here means that the difficulty increases throughout the book.

 

Here, and with the McGuffey Readers, the grade levels apply to only the reading selections. There are lessons on elocution in these books generally, and, in certain books, questions about the reading, but a pupil or student may be at different levels in these regards. I think this is probably typical for gifted kids. For example, my daughter can read, pronounce, understand definitions, and understand sentences at about 5th- or 6th-grade level, but could probably analyze the reading at only about 2nd-grade level, and doesn’t quite seem to have the comprehension yet for the beginning elocution lessons. So, you may need to use different parts of more than one book.

 

I think these books will be especially useful for many gifted children to study, because children are often reading at a much higher grade level than they can otherwise work in. I had started to worry, “If she keeps going at this pace, she’ll reach 9th-grade reading by 1st grade, and I can’t have a 6-year-old learning to write letters and who has never composed a paragraph in a high-school literature course…” Using these books, gifted kids can have a reading course each year, like kids normally do, but just at their reading levels, no matter how high they get, and they can move forward at their own paces. (I think I had better cross-post this to the Accelerated Learners board.)

 

Furthermore, since these books can be found free on the internet, you may want to use all the books at a particular level, assigning all or most of the lessons when extra practice is needed, and skipping ahead whenever they get easy. We are doing something like that.

 

McGuffey, Sanders, and Town have assembled what are probably the most wholesome and ennobling (for those who haven’t seen them yet, check out the highest levels, like Sixth and Young Ladies,’ for example) reading books there are, and, contrary to my low expectations of modern reading curricula, I don’t doubt that they will raise any student to his or her highest potential.

 

Charles Sanders Readers

 

 

PROGRESSIVE DIFFICULTY

 

First School Reader: About one-third into 4th grade, through end of 7th/beginning of 8th grade (690L–1060L).

 

First Union Reader: End of 1st/beginning of 2nd grade, through end of 4th/beginning of 5th grade (340L–800L).

 

Second School Reader (Google Books)

Second School Reader (Internet Archive): End of 4th/beginning of 5th grade, through most of 6th (790L–980L)

 

Second Union Reader (A few pages in the beginning are missing.): Last quarter of 5th/first quarter of 6th grade, through 7th grade (910L–1030L)

 

Third Union Reader: End of 6th/middle of 7th grade, through end of 9th/beginning of 10th grade (990L–1020L)

 

 

NON-PROGRESSIVE DIFFICULTY

 

Third School Reader: 12th grade/college-freshman year (1250L–1330L)

 

Fourth School Reader: End of 10th/middle of 11th grade, through beginning of graduate school (1180L–1500L)

 

Fourth New School Reader: End of 7th/beginning of 8th grade, through college-sophomore/junior years (1030L–1380L)

 

Fourth Union Reader (Google Books)

Fourth Union Reader (Internet Archive): End of 5th/beginning of 6th grade, through college-sophomore/junior years 890L–1430L)

 

Fifth School Reader (Google Books)

Fifth School Reader (Internet Archive): End of 7th/beginning of 8th grade, through beginning of graduate school (1020L–1520L)

 

Fifth Union Reader (Google Books)

Fifth Union Reader (Internet Archive): Middle of 8th/9th grade, through beginning of graduate school (1090L–1510L)

 

Rhetorical, Or, Sixth Union Reader (Google Books)

Rhetorical, Or, Sixth Union Reader (Internet Archive): End of 5th/beginning of 6th grade, through college-senior year (810L–1470L)

 

Young Ladies’ Reader: Middle of 8th/beginning of 9th grade, through 12th grade/mid college-freshman year (1060L–1300L)

 

High School Reader: End of 6th/middle of 7th grade, through college-senior year (990L–1480L)

 

 

Salem Town Readers

 

 

PROGRESSIVE DIFFICULTY

 

Child’s First Reader: level unknown

 

First Reader, To Be Used in Connection with Any Speller: level unknown

 

Second Reader: Middle of 4th grade, through middle of 8th/9th grade (740L–1070L)

 

Progressive Second Reader: Middle of 5th grade, through middle of 6th/beginning of 7th grade (820L–950L)

 

Third Reader: End of 10th/middle of 11th grade, through college-sophomore/junior year (1170L–1380L)

 

Progressive Third Reader: Middle of 5th grade, through middle of 10th/11th grade (870L–1150L)

 

Progressive Fourth Reader: About two-thirds through 5th grade, through middle of 10th/11th grade (870L–1140L)

 

Progressive Fifth Elocutionary Reader: End of 12th grade/middle of college-freshman year, through one-third through graduate school (1300L–1530L)

 

 

NON-PROGRESSIVE DIFFICULTY

 

Fourth Reader: Middle of 6th/beginning of 7th grade, through college-senior year (950L–1470L)

 

Grammar School Reader: Middle of 8th/beginning of 9th grade, through middle of 12th grade/college-freshman year (1070L–1280L)

 

Fifth, Or, Elocutionary Reader: End of 10th/middle of 11th grade, through middle of college-freshman/beginning of college-junior year (1190L–1330L)

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  • 2 years later...
For some reason I cannot find the sixth one on the internet again. Sorry. It should still be saved on one drive our other computer, but that’s in the shop with a catastrophic virus on the other drive. So I don’t know if and when we can get it back. If we do, I should just upload the file to the internet and post the link here.

 

Here are the others to download. (Don’t pay attention to the title at the top or on the cover, apparently some sorting convention for Google Books.)

 

The New McGuffey First Reader

The New McGuffey Second Reader

The New McGuffey Third Reader

The New McGuffey Fourth Reader

The New McGuffey Fifth Reader

 

Also here is a "]sample search for the hard copies.

 

I want to post the reading levels of and links to Charles Sanders’s and Salem Town’s readers next. We like those a lot too.

 

Here is the link to the new 6th

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=190AAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 years later...

Eclectic Primer: 1st grade

1st Eclectic Reader: 1st–2nd grades

2nd Eclectic Reader: 3rd–4th grades

3rd Eclectic Reader: 5th–6th grades

4th Eclectic Reader: 6th–8th grades

5th Eclectic Reader: 7th grade–college sophmore

6th Eclectic Reader: 9th grade–college senior

 

 

Does this apply to the following:

McGuffey's First Eclectic Reader

McGuffey's Third Eclectic Reader

McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader

 

 

Just working out what level my children are reading at.

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  • 5 months later...
Guest KittenCatIV

Hi! On the topic of the Blaisdell readers, I own a hard copy of "Child Life: A First Reader" (not, to my knowledge, available online), and used the Lexile Analyzer on its beginning and end. It ranges from about 30L to 560L, or from 1st grade to 2nd or 3rd grade.

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Does this apply to the following:

McGuffey's First Eclectic Reader

McGuffey's Third Eclectic Reader

McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader

 

 

Just working out what level my children are reading at.

Yes, those should be at about those levels.

 

I also have some reading grade level tests if you are interested.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/readinggradeleve.html

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One thing I have learned about reading level with older books is that vocabulary and reading comprehension are not the same thing.

 

Vocabulary can be pushed with some students. Historical background and content can be pushed. Sometimes children are just not developmentally ready in a very deep way that goes beyond vocabulary and context.

 

I don't use machines to rate books anymore. I don't find it helpful.

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  • 11 months later...

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