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Lucrece MedlicottMedia CoordinatorWrightsville Beach ElementaryFall 2011

HEY, I DIDN’T MAKE THE RULES SO DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER!

Common Core Paradigm Shifts in ELA

• Literacy begins in the earliest grades, but needs more non-fiction focus

• Literacy is a K – 12 Road (not just elementary)

• Text Complexity matters

• Text-Dependent Questions (Questions that require students to pay attention to the text itself)

• The ability to write an argument based on evidence and complex information

• Focus on Vocabulary

BUILDING COMMON KNOWLEDGE

… in kindergarten through 5th grade, the general knowledge that you develop in those years plays a crucial predictive role in not only your performance in those other disciplines, like science and history, but your ability to read more complex text itself. That is, the elementary school’s a magnificent place for students to learn about the world through reading. Whoever thought otherwise.

(Coleman, D. , 2011)

WHY

COMPLEXIT

Y

MATTE

RS

Reading scores have remained relatively flat.

According to ACT’s Reading Between the Lines,

“what appears to differentiate those who are

more likely to be ready from those who are

less likely is their proficiency in understanding

complex texts.”

How do you know if a student is college - or career – ready?

Many students are underprepared for college and career literacy demands.

There is a significant gap between the text complexity of high school texts and those required by many post-secondary pursuits.

A continuum of text readability for the transition fromhigh school to postsecondary experiences. The box and whiskersare constructed to display the 5th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 95thpercentiles of the distributions of readability measures.

IMPL

ICAT

IONS F

OR

INSTR

UCTION

We must systematically expose students to increasingly complex texts.

The Common Core State Standards require students to meet more rigorous expectations

regarding text complexity.

For more information regarding Lexile Ranges, go to Lexile.com

Text complexity is determined by more than a readability measure.

Qualitative evaluation of the textLevels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands

Quantitative evaluation of the text Readability measures and other scores of text complexity

Matching reader to text and task Reader variables (such as motivation, knowledge, and experiences) and task variables (such as purpose and the complexity generated by the task assigned and the questions posed)

1. Does our school’s curriculum provide multiple opportunities for students to read texts that meet the expectations of the Common Core Standards?

2. Do students reading below grade-level receive adequate support to grapple with challenging texts?

3. Is the library prepared to serve your students and meet your needs?

Key Considerations

THE LE

XILE F

RAMEWORK

WHAT ARE LEXILES?

• Scientific approach to reading and text measurement

• Matches reader ability and text difficulty, allowing individualized monitoring of progress

• Research shows improves reading skills

HOW DO LEXILES WORK?

Two parts to Lexiles:

• Lexile measure (the TEXT): Reading ability or text difficulty score followed by

an “L” (e.g. “450L”) Measures how difficult a text is to comprehend

o semantic difficulty (word frequency) o syntactic complexity (sentence length)

• Lexile scale (the READER): Developmental scale for reading Range from

below 200L (beginning-reader material) to above 1700L (advanced text).

HOW DOES LEXILE COMPARE TO GRADE LEVEL?

• Lexile scores in a range of numbers

• More accurate than grade level

• Compare to “shoe size”

WHAT LEXILE DOES NOT MEASURE:

• Content complexity of plot complexity of character(s)

• Quality “good” books books to “hook” reluctant readers

• Developmental suitability Age-appropriateness Prior knowledge required for comprehension

HOW DO WE MEASURE STUDENTS?

• Currently WBS students are only made aware of their Lexile scoreat the end of the school year when they take the NC EOG Test of Reading Comprehension.

• To insure growth throughout the school year more frequent assessments are needed.

What assessment tools are available?

• Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) a“research-based, computer-adaptive reading assessment … that measures students’ level of reading comprehension and reports it using the Lexile Framework® for Reading”. This program is currently being used at other NHCS.

• DIBELS ORF scores can be converted into corresponding

Lexile® measures for grades 1 - 3. To get started, download one of the conversion tables below:

Grade 1 (PDF, 123KB) Grade 2 (PDF, 124KB) Grade 3 (PDF, 124KB

This six-minute animated video on the basic concepts and uses of the lexile framework for reading is the perfect resource for educators and parents who are new to lexile measures.

Lexile Framework for Reading Overview

TOOLS

YOU C

AN USE N

OW

Exemplar Texts and Sample Performance Tasks of the Common Core State Standards

• exemplify the level of complexity and quality that the Standards require all students in a given grade band to engage with

• suggestive of the breadth of texts that students should encounter

• serve as useful guideposts to help educators select texts of similar complexity, quality, and range

• do not represent a partial or complete reading list

WBS Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC)

• Go to the WBS OPAC to find a book within a specific lexile range. 

• Click on Reading Program Search button.

• Enter your Lexile number.  (The search results will find books within a range of 100 points below and 50 points above your Lexile score.)

• Typing in a keyword or phrase narrows your search and may help you more easily find the right book for you.  Be sure to spell correctly or your search will not work. 

• Click on Search button to see how many books within your lexile range match your request.  Underneath the book title and next to the author's name you will see the Lexile score of the book.  Now you can choose the books that are available that you would like to check out. .

• contains full text for more than 60 popular, elementary school magazines

• all full text articles are assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles)

• exciting and easy way for kids to experience online searching

• uses an animated interface with a dinosaur theme that encourages students to enhance and develop basic search methodologies

• Includes more than 50 full text student reference books including Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia and American Heritage® Children’s Dictionary, Full text for over 100 student pamphlets, Encyclopedia of Animal, Image Collection: 107,135 photos, maps and flags, The

American Heritage, Children’s Dictionary by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries

Primary Searching for Young Researchers

• Find the Right Book for You!

• enter your Lexile measure

• select your interests

• find books you'd like to read!

“Find-a-Book” feature at www.lexile.com

Designed to help parents match their child's Lexile range with books by interest

• find or enter reading level

• select interest

• find books your child would like to read

• choose your favorite reading format (traditional or digital)

Lexile Reading Level Wizard at www.b&n.com

WHAT

ARE T

HE NEXT

STEPS

?

WHAT DOES GETTING READY INVOLVE?

• OPAC will be converted to reflect Lexile levels instead of AR

• MTAC will evaluate and choose a Lexile assessment tool to insure student growth throughout the year

• Students will be taught to find books in their lexile range

• Collaboration with the Media Coordinator will ensure success in your classrooms

CONCLUSIONS

• Don’t rely totally on lexile stickers (numbered or color-coded) placed on the books

• Teach students how to use OPAC or Find-a Book programs to search for books in lexile range.

• Respect confidentiality

• And remember that…

Lexile is a good measuring tool, but it is just one factor in great book selection!

Mystery

Interest

“Boy” Books

Awards

BiographyQuality Literature

Picture Books

Fantasy

REFERENCES & SUGGESTED READING: 

ACT, Inc. (2006). Reading Between the Lines: What the ACT Reveals about College Readiness in Reading http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/reading_report.pdf Coleman, D. (2011, April 28). Introduction to the common core state standards for English language arts & literacy [Part 4]. Bringing the common core to life. Podcast retrieved from http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/resources/bringing-the-common-core-to-life.html MetaMetrics. (2011). The Lexile framework for reading. Retrieved from http://lexile.com. Williamson, G. L. (2008). A Text Readability Continuum for Postsecondary Readiness. Journal of Advanced Academics, 19(4), 602-632.