madteaparty Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 I've just done a couple of searches (we consume a lot of audiobooks: I prefer them to be just slightly above IR level and DS prefers David Tenant or Tim Curry to narrate them ;)) and I was surprised by the results of this website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 It has been a few years since I checked it out, but I came to the conclusion that it was not reliable. I can't remember why... I use the scholastic book wizard when I want a rough idea of reading level. I say rough because it is still not perfect, but it's better than lexile.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 I didn't think lexile adequately gave an accurate reading level, either, and I also use the scholastic site. Not there aren't issues with that site, but I do find it a bit more accurate. I actually think both sites over-inflate reading capability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Fontas and Pinnell are supposed to be the most accurate. But that leveling system is the most time consuming to do, so not every book will have that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonflyer Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 I like that the Scholastic Book Wizard gives a bunch of the other measures assigned to a book, including the "Guided Reading" letter used by my foster kid's school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Agreeing with previous posters that lexile.com level isn't reliable or accurate in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 I didn't find it accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 It wasn't useful. The scholastic wizard was more user friendly especially on the interest level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Not only do I think it's one of the less reliable systems, I disagree with their basic philosophy, which explicitly states that children should only read books that are at or slightly above their reading level and never books that are below because they will always find those boring and discourage children from reading more. I could not disagree more. This is my basic take on how to use reading levels, if anyone cares... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Not only do I think it's one of the less reliable systems, I disagree with their basic philosophy, which explicitly states that children should only read books that are at or slightly above their reading level and never books that are below because they will always find those boring and discourage children from reading more. I could not disagree more. This is my basic take on how to use reading levels, if anyone cares... Great article, thanks for sharing it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 Here's the problem I have found. There are inconsistencies in the Lexile among books. You might have three books F&P level O but one is Lexile 600 and one is Lexile 1200. The other problem is that there are often different versions of a book. Case in point, the book Swiss Family Robinson. This book has at least ten different versions. Some are condensed, some are not--just differences in the translation. I found it hard to assess the level of the book I was reading to my kids but I was sure it was not Lexile 800 based on the vocabulary used. The trouble is that Lexile doesn't have every version of the book. Neither does Scholastic for that matter. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted December 19, 2014 Author Share Posted December 19, 2014 Not only do I think it's one of the less reliable systems, I disagree with their basic philosophy, which explicitly states that children should only read books that are at or slightly above their reading level and never books that are below because they will always find those boring and discourage children from reading more. I could not disagree more. This is my basic take on how to use reading levels, if anyone cares... Thanks. I care! DS asked to listen to "how to train your dragon" (due solely to narrator)and I was annoyed. Of course we are listening to it now but the temptation to call that car time wasted is great! ;)I was also tempted to tell him, look, Life and Fate is also narrated (full dramatized version) by David Tennant, let's listen to that instead ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meriwether Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Reefgazer, would you clarify what you mean by over-inflate reading capabilities? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Reefgazer, would you clarify what you mean by over-inflate reading capabilities? I assume she meant that both seem to have a lower rating for a book that's actually more difficult - like rating a book 3.0 RL when it's really more of a late 3rd or early 4th grade book. I just take everything from them with a huge grain of salt. Computers aren't the best readers... yet. One day, when our robot overlords have a little more nuance maybe, but thus far they just give a very rough sense of reading level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meriwether Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Thank you, Farrar. I couldn't tell if she meant that or exactly the opposite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Tangentially related, Ruth's thread on developing advanced reading skills has been my guide for advancing reading levels. Read past the initial post for more great info later in the thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.