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Leon County Schools Leon County Schools
Understanding Text ComplexityUnderstanding Text ComplexityAugust 2012August 2012
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Why all the fuss Why all the fuss about text about text
complexity?complexity?
Text Complexity - ACT StudyText Complexity - ACT Study
Purpose: Determine what distinguished the reading performance of students likely to succeed in college and not.• Process:Set benchmark score on the reading test shown to be predictive of success in college (“21” on ACT composite score).
Looked at results from a half million students.Divided texts into three levels of complexity: uncomplicated, more challenging, and complex.
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Performance on the ACT Reading Test by Comprehension Level
(Averaged across Seven Forms)
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Performance on the ACT Reading Test by Textual Element (Averaged across Seven Forms)
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Text Complexity MattersText Complexity Matters
Performance on complex texts is the clearest differentiator in reading between students who are more likely to be ready for college and those who are less likely to be ready.
Only 51% of students taking the ACT had a high probability (75% chance) of earning a C or better in an introductory, credit-bearing course in U.S. history or psychology.
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Performance on the ACT Reading Test by Degree of Text Complexity(Averaged across Seven Forms)
In this figure, performance on questions associated with uncomplicated and morechallenging texts both above and below the ACT College Readiness Benchmark forReading follows a pattern similar to those in the previous analyses. Improvement on each of the two kinds of questions is gradual and fairly uniform.
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Recap of ACT FindingsRecap of ACT Findings
Question type and level (main idea, word meanings, details) is NOT the chief differentiator between student scoring above and below the benchmark.
The degree of text complexity in the passages acted as the “sorters” within ACT. The findings held true for both males and females, all racial groups and was steady regardless of family income level.
What students could read, in terms of its complexity--rather than what they could do with what they read—is greatest predictor of success. FCAT has complex passages and highly cognitive demanding questions.
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Text Requirements Text Requirements in Middle and High Schoolin Middle and High School
Many students are engaged in shallow reading, skimming text for answers, focusing only on details and failing to make inferences in order to integrate different parts of the text. Years of reading in this superficial way will cause a student’s reading ability to deteriorate.
For many students the decline of text demands in the courses that they take has both an immediate and long term impact on student achievement.
Our Challenge: Provide students with
exposure to more complex texts in our classrooms.
Text Complexity
Text complexity is defined by:
Qua
litat
ive
Qualitative measures – levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands often best measured by an attentive human reader. Q
uantitative
Quantitative measures – readability and other scores of text complexity often best measured by computer software.
Reader and Task
Reader and Task considerations – background knowledge of reader, motivation, interests, and complexity generated by tasks assigned often best made by educators employing their professional judgment.
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Step 1: Quantitative MeasuresStep 1: Quantitative Measures
Measures such as:• Word length• Word frequency• Word difficulty• Sentence length• Text length• Text cohesion
Quantitative Measures
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To determine a quantitative score To determine a quantitative score you can: you can:
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• Determine Lexile score by going to the Lexile Frameworks for reading web site, or
• Use Microsoft Word’s readability measure, Flesch-Kincaid, which provide a great level readability formula.
GradeBand
CurrentLexile Band
"Stretch"Lexile Band*
K–1 N/A N/A
2–3 450L–725L 420L–820L
4–5 645L–845L 740L–1010L
6–8 860L–1010L 925L–1185L
9-10 960L–1115L 1050L–1335L
11–CCR 1070L–1220L 1185L–1385L
Quantitative Complexity ExampleThe “Stretch” Lexile Band was created to work from college/career texts backwards.
Quantitative MeasuresQuantitative Measures
Remember, however, that the quantitative measures is only the first of three “legs” of the text complexity triangle.
Our final recommendation may be validated, influenced, or even over-ruled by our examination of qualitative measures and the reader and task considerations.
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Step 2: Qualitative Measures
Measures such as:• Structure• Language Demands and
Conventions• Knowledge Demands• Levels of
Meaning/Purpose
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Common Core StandardsCommon Core StandardsQualitative Features of Text Complexity Qualitative Features of Text Complexity
Structure (could be story structure and/or form of piece)
Simple Complex Explicit Implicit Conventional Unconventional Events related in chronological order Events related out
of chronological order (chiefly literary texts) Traits of a common genre or subgenre Traits specific to
a particular discipline (chiefly informational texts) Simple graphics sophisticated graphics Graphics unnecessary or merely supplemental to
understanding the text Graphics essential to understanding the text and may provide information not elsewhere provided
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Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Text Structure Text Structure
At your tables, complete the structure chart. Be prepared to share with the rest of the
group.
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Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Language DemandsLanguage Demands
Language Demands: Conventionality and Clarity
Literal Figurative or ironic Clear Ambiguous or purposefully misleading Contemporary, familiar Archaic or otherwise unfamiliar Conversational General Academic and domain specific Light vocabulary load: few unfamiliar or academic words
Many words unfamiliar and high academic vocabulary present Sentence structure straightforward Complex and varied
sentence structures Though vocabulary can be measured by quantifiable means,
it is still a feature for careful consideration when selecting texts
Though sentence length is measured by quantifiable means, sentence complexity is still a feature for careful consideration when selecting texts
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Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Language DemandsLanguage Demands
At your tables, complete the “language demands” chart. Be prepared to share
with the rest of the group.
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Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Knowledge DemandsKnowledge Demands
Knowledge Demands: Life Experience (literary texts)
Simple theme Complex or sophisticated themesSingle theme Multiple themesCommon everyday experiences or clearly
fantastical situations Experiences distinctly different from one’s own
Single perspective Multiple perspectivesPerspective(s) like one’s own Perspective(s)
unlike or in opposition to one’s own
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Common Core StandardsCommon Core StandardsQualitative Features of Text ComplexityQualitative Features of Text Complexity
Knowledge Demands: Cultural/Literary Knowledge (chiefly literary texts)
Everyday knowledge and familiarity with genre conventions required Cultural and literary knowledge usefulLow intertextuality (few if any references/allusions to other texts) High intertextuality (many references/allusions to other texts
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Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Knowledge DemandsKnowledge Demands
At your tables, complete the “knowledge demands” chart. Be prepared to share
with the rest of the group.
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Common Core StandardsCommon Core StandardsQualitative Features of Text ComplexityQualitative Features of Text Complexity
Levels of Meaning (chiefly literary texts) orpurpose (chiefly informational texts)
Single level of meaning Multiple levels of meaning
Explicitly stated purpose Implicit purpose, may be hidden or obscure
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Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Levels of Meaning/PurposeLevels of Meaning/Purpose
At your tables, complete the “levels of meaning/purpose” chart.
As a group, discuss the three questions at the bottom of the levels of meaning/purpose
handout. Be prepared to share.
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Text Complexity: Qualitative MeasuresText Complexity: Qualitative Measures
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Text Complexity: Text Complexity: Qualitative MeasuresQualitative Measures
The excerpt on “The Grapes of Wrath” has a Lexile score of 680L.
At what grade band does this Lexile measure place this text?
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Text Complexity: Text Complexity: Qualitative MeasuresQualitative Measures
Together let’s use the text complexity rubric to determine an appropriate placement for The Grapes of Wrath.
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Step 3: Reader and Task
Considerations such as:•Motivation•Knowledge and experience•Purpose for reading•Complexity of task assigned regarding text•Complexity of questions asked regarding text
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Step 3: Reader and Task Considerations
At this point, you have a Lexile score and a qualitative assessment.
Consider your students, their age, their experiences, their background, etc.
Consider your learning goals and standards.
How may these two factors impact your decision about placement? 30
Evaluate complexity of The Grapes of Wrath
Based on the quantitative features (Lexile), qualitative analysis, and reader/task considerations, at what grade level would you place this as a stretch text?
Discuss at your table and be prepared to share.
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Determining Text ComplexityDetermining Text Complexity
A Four-step Process:
QuantitativeQ
ualit
ativ
e
Reader and Task
4. Recommend placement in the appropriate text complexity band.
3. Reflect upon the reader and task
considerations.
2. Analyze the qualitative measures of the text.
1. Determine the quantitative measures of the text.
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Where do we find texts in the appropriate Where do we find texts in the appropriate text complexity band?text complexity band?
Choose an excerpt of text from Appendix B as a starting place:
We could….
or…
Use available resources to determine the text complexity of other materials on our own.
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