Talk to me about Lexile Measures...

[PeachyDoodle]

Do you find them helpful at all when it comes to choosing literature for your student(s)? How do you use them?

 

I thought this would be a much easier way for me to select books for my dd's assigned reading, but it confuses the heck out of me! The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is the same reading level as The Hobbit -- really?!?

 

What am I missing?

[Ms.Ivy]

I found them to be of no use to me. I think they are designed with certain assumptions about reading instructional methods in mind. They must not be MY reading instructional methods, because those measures don't work for my kids!

Edited February 24, 2016 by Ms.Ivy

[MerryAtHope]

The criteria used to develop the measures means that longer sentences and words of lower frequency lead to higher Lexile measures; shorter sentences and words of higher frequency lead to lower Lexile measures. 

 

Sure seems like something is off when Diary... and The Hobbit can seem the same, LOL!

[EKS]

I find that they work best when paired with other measures.  For example, if you look on the Scholastic Reading Counts site, you'll find that Diary is 950L but that they list the reading level as 5.1 and the interest level as being for grades 3-5.  The Hobbit, on the other hand, has a Lexile level of 1000, a reading level of 8.1, and an interest level of "high school."  This tells me that the content in Diary targets the upper elementary crowd, but that the sentence length and/or unusual word count is on the high side.  The Hobbit's grade level, interest level, and Lexile level are more in line with one another.

 

I used Lexile levels when I wanted to find more or less difficult books for a given interest level.  So, for example, they helped when my dyslexic son needed easier books with a higher level interest, and they also helped when my precocious reader needed harder books to read but was still in the picture book stage.

[OnMyOwn]

I used to use them, mostly to make sure my kids were progressing with their reading from year to year and to aid me in selecting books. It's been awhile, but I think the IOWA scores can be convertd to a lexile level which was helpful to me.

[rwilk]

We prefer using guided reading levels.  I find they are more reflective of what my child can read. 

[MistyMountain]

I use the scholastic book wizard which lists other criteria besides lexile level plus interest level but it can definetely be off. I looked up a step into reading classic and it was listed at 8.1. It had step into reading and the author who redid it on the cover. It is definetely no more then 3rd grade reading level and is full of sentence fragments like a Magic Treehouse book. It must have put the level off the unabridged version by mistake or something. I do think the level for a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book is a little high. I use levels mostly when they are still progressing to see if something seems like it would be in their decoding reach.

Edited February 24, 2016 by MistyMountain

[PeachyDoodle]

We prefer using guided reading levels.  I find they are more reflective of what my child can read. 

 

Can you explain more about guided reading levels? Or provide a link?

 

I use the scholastic book wizard which lists other criteria besides lexile level plus interest level but it can definetely be off. I looked up a step into reading classic and it was listed at 8.1. It had step into reading and the author who redid it on the cover. It is definetely no more then 3rd grade reading level and is full of sentence fragments like a Magic Treehouse book. It must have put the level off the unabridged version by mistake or something. I do think the level for a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book is a little high. I use levels mostly when they are still progressing to see if something seems like it would be in their decoding reach.

 

This is what I typically have done as well. It's not foolproof, but it does help.

 

It seems like LM's should be more useful than they are, though. DD has always read above grade level, but I've had trouble deciding exactly where to place her, especially her challenge level. Now that she is moving into more complex literature, I find it increasingly difficult to pinpoint what's too hard. I had hoped LM's would give me a better picture of where she is (based off things she's read already) and what else might be the same or slightly higher level. Mostly we just use trial and error (if something is too hard, we put it aside for later) but I wish I could be more accurate. She will plow through practically anything without complaining, so it's hard for me to know when I've crossed the line.

[Tsuga]

Do you find them helpful at all when it comes to choosing literature for your student(s)? How do you use them?

 

I thought this would be a much easier way for me to select books for my dd's assigned reading, but it confuses the heck out of me! The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is the same reading level as The Hobbit -- really?!?

 

What am I missing?

 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid and certain other tween serials are intentionally written to incorporate difficult sentence structure and unusual vocabulary in an unthreatening way for kids.

 

I think the style ends up sounding very contrived and the books are incomparable to things like the Hobbit artistically, but in terms of what a kid can read if they can read that book, Lexile Measures capture part of that.

 

However, like anything, Lexile Measures can be gamed. Bad Kitty got both of my girls to improve their reading of longer texts and move towards chapter books and it also has a glossary. It's ridiculous and mildly irritating (but funny at times), not literature, however as reading practice, it works. It moves them forward.

 

I don't choose books for my kids. I let them work with librarians, who seem to be very skilled at keeping them in their comfort zone and slowly teasing out the latent reader in a child. I love librarians. They're like brain midwives or something.

[Rachel]

I don't use Lexile levels. I do use the scholastic book wizard to gauge interest level if I see a book I think my son will like. It's not a perfect guide but it works.

[Hunter]

I found them to be of no use to me. I think they are designed with certain assumptions about reading instructional methods in mind. They must not be MY reading instructional methods, because those measures don't work for my kids!

 

:iagree:

[rwilk]

Here's a link to an explanation of guided reading levels.  http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/book-selection-tips/parents-guide-to-guided-reading

 

And here's a place you can find the level of a book: http://www.fountasandpinnellleveledbooks.com/

 

I find that my child doesn't progress smoothly between the different levels. There's a chunk of levels that are appropriate for her at any given time, usually a band of about 3 levels at a time.  

[PeachyDoodle]

Here's a link to an explanation of guided reading levels.  http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/book-selection-tips/parents-guide-to-guided-reading

 

And here's a place you can find the level of a book: http://www.fountasandpinnellleveledbooks.com/

 

I find that my child doesn't progress smoothly between the different levels. There's a chunk of levels that are appropriate for her at any given time, usually a band of about 3 levels at a time.  

 

Thank you -- this is what dd's teachers used when she was in public school. I remember now. Not as helpful for her now, unfortunately, as most of what she reads is at the Z level, and it seems like more or less everything from 6th grade-ish up is given a Z.

 

But, this will be helpful for ds as he moves into independent reading!

[Targhee]

Lexile rating is an imperfect tool but can be helpful in finding books for your reader. I just wouldn't make it the litmus test of appropriateness.

 

You get your Lexile range through an assessment; often it is derived from other standardized tests.

 

Another imperfect tool that I find slightly more helpful when searching for books is Accelerated Reader. You can go to ARBookfind.com to search for books at certain reading levels (based on grade level), certain topics/genres, and *interest level.*. It also crudely gives you another dimension (the number of AR points) which usually has to do with the book length or reading stamina required.