September 26th Visit to District C

"Never engage in a power struggle with a student 

because you will never win!"

-Words of advice from Kim 

September 26th visit to District C

Kim, one of Dr. JH's contacts at District C, is one of the newer teachers. She is soft spoken and articulate and it is easy to see why her students greet her with enthusiasm and a smile in the halls between classes. As we spoke in a group, along with Principal J and our guest Dr. B, Kim gently advised us to,

"Always take the high road, [and if possible] offer the student a choice to change their bad behavior, let them make the decision to make the right choice."

As educators, we are not only responsible for transmitting knowledge to our students, we must also teach them how to become productive members of a society that unfortunately is not always fair. Showing them that conflicts can be successfully resolved without anger and that they can choose to make positive decisions, also teaches them the lesson of respect. When asked to make the right decision, most will.

During our pre-WalkThrough discussion, I heard Principal J mention the term Lexile, but I didn't quite understand what was being discussed so I jotted it down so I could research it later. When I got home from school I googled it and the website for The Lexile Framework for Reading was the first search result. The website was very informative and I found the Lexile process extemely interesting.

"The Lexile Framework for Reading is a tool to help readers find books and articles at an appropriate level of difficulty and determine how well the reader will likely comprehend a text."

Books, articles, and other texts are analyzed by MetaMetrics, an educational measurement and research organization, and are given a Lexile measure score. Students receive their Lexile measure score from reading tests or programs. MetaMetrics does not offer a propietary test that reports Lexile measures. There is no "Lexile test" on [the] website. Instead, [MetaMetrics] partners with state departments of education and test publishers to create assessments or links to existing assessmnets that can report students' reading scores as Lexile measures.

The Lexile Framework for Reading not only provides educators with an appropriate starting point in the book-selection process for their students but can also assist them in monitoring the progress of advancements in their students' reading ability. I'm curious to know if District C uses this process because it appears to be a great resource for educators and I'd love to know more about how it works in practice.

Typical Reader Measures by Grade
Grade	IQR*
1	Up to 300L**
2	140L to 500L
3	330L to 700L
4	445L to 810L
5	565L to 910L
6	665L to 1000L
7	735L to 1065L
8	805L to 1100L
9	855L to 1165L
10	905L to 1195L
11 & 12	940L to 1210L
*IQR=Interquartile Range: the middle 50% of reader and text measures for each grade. Data for the reader measures came from a national sample of students. **The Lexile Measure is shown as a number with an "L" after it: 880L is 880 Lexile.

There is no direct correspondence between a specific Lexile measure and a specific grade level, which typically has a range of readers and reading materials. The Lexile Framework for Reading is intended to match readers with texts at whatever level the reader is reading. MetaMetrics has studied the ranges of Lexile reader measures and Lexile text measures at specific grades in an effort to describe the typical Lexile measures of texts and students of a given grade level.

This information is for descriptive purposes only. It should not be interpreted as a prescribed guide about what an appropriate reader measure or text measure should be for a given grade.

Typical Text Measures by Grade
Grade	IQR*		2012 CCSS Text Measures**
1		230L to 420L	190L to 530L
2		450L to 570L	420L to 650L
3		600L to 730L	520L to 820L
4		640L to 780L	740L to 940L
5		730L to 850L	830L to 1010L
6		860L to 920L	925L to 1070L
7		880L to 960L	970L to 1120L
8		900L to 1010L	1010L to 1185L
9		960L to1110L	1050L to 1260L
10		920L to 1120L	1080L to 1335L
11 & 12		1070L to 1220L	1185L to 1385L
*IQR Text Demand Study 2009: 25th to 75th percentile **COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS, APPENDIX A, 2012

                                                                                                       

New research released on August 15, 2012 refers to the three-part model defined in Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards, which combines the quantitative and qualitative measures of text complexity with reader and task considerations. The study provides information regarding the variety of ways text complexity can be measured quantitatively and ways to examine text complexity tools that are valid, transparent, user friendly, and reliable. The updated Lexile map includes CCSS text exemplars and ranges. The Lexile text measure is based on two well-established predictors of how difficult a text is to comprehend: word frequency and sentence length and does not address the content or quality of the book. The real power of The Lexile Framework for Reading is in matching readers to text, no matter where the reader is in the development of his or her reading skills, and in examining reader growth. When teachers know Lexile reader and text measures they can match their students with texts that will maximize learning and growth.

Info Cited From: http://www.lexile.com/