Lexile Measures versus Guided Reading Levels

Have you ever heard of the terms Lexile level or Guided Reading level when discussing your child’s reading ability with a teacher? Have you ever wondered what it means for your child? Today, I will provide a brief overview of Lexile level versus Guided Reading levels to clear up any confusion you may have. Lexile measures (levels): There are two types of Lexile measures or levels: The Reader and The Text. A Reader’s Lexile measure or level provides insight as to where a person’s reading ability is on the Lexile scale. Reader measures are reported from 0L (0 Lexiles) to 2000L (2000 Lexiles). The higher the number, the higher the reading ability of your child. A reader’s Lexile measure is usually obtained by having the student take a test of reading comprehension. A Text’s Lexile measure or level refers to the difficulty of the written text. It does not address the content or quality of the book. The Lexile measures of a book are based on how difficult or complex a text is in order for it to be comprehended. Simply put, the frequency of challenging vocabulary words combined with the average length of sentences determines the Lexile measure of a text. It is important to note that many other factors, other than a reader’s and text’s Lexile measure, affect the relationship between a reader and a book. The content, age, interests of the reader, and the design or layout of the actual book is just as important as text complexity. For instance, a book may seem “just right” for your child because it’s a perfect Lexile match. However, if your child has no interest in the genre or if the content is inappropriate (i.e. too mature), the Lexile measure is of less importance. Although knowing your child’s and the text’s Lexile measure is a good starting point when selecting a book, you should always consider other factors, such as the Guided Reading level, when making a decision about which book to choose. Thus, when I recommend books to students I consider their Lexile measure, the Lexile measure of the book, as well as the Guided Reading level of the student and the text they are interested in reading. Using this method helps to ensure that the book he/she is about to read is the most appropriate fit. Guided Reading Levels: Your child’s Guided Reading level is assigned based on his/her word-knowledge, comprehension, and fluency. The levels range alphabetically from A to Z, with level A representing the lowest level (Kindergarten) and level Z the highest (typically mastered by the end of 8th Grade). Similar to the Lexile measure, your child’s Guided Reading level is obtained by having the student take a reading comprehension assessment (i.e. Teacher’s College or TC Reading Assessment). Guided Reading levels for texts are based upon the increasing complexity of common book characteristics. As the Guided Reading levels progress, texts become more difficult. Guided Reading levels, similar to Lexile measures, determine text difficulty by analyzing sentence length and difficult vocabulary. However, Guided Reading levels are also based on the complexity of letter-sound patterns and many other characteristics as discussed below. Ten Book Characteristics Considered When Determining a Guided Reading Level:

Genre: The type of the book
Text Structure: How the book is organized and presented
Content: The subject matter of a book
Themes and Ideas: The big ideas that are communicated by the author
Language and Literary Features: The types of writing techniques employed by the writer
Sentence Complexity: How challenging the syntax is of each sentence
Vocabulary: The frequency of new words introduced in the book
Words: The ease at which the words in the book can be figured out or decoded by a reader
Illustrations: The correlation and consistency of images and pictures in the books to the words printed on the page
Book and Print Features: The physical aspects of the printed word on the page

Although Lexile measures and Guided Reading levels both serve the same purpose of matching students to texts or vice-versa, it is essential to keep in mind that they work together to find the best “just right” book for your child. When “match-making” be mindful of both systems and get all the information on the book that you can. (Amazon and Scholastic generally list both the Lexile and Guided Reading levels as well as a brief description of the book.) Lexile measures really address the concern of whether or not your child will be able to read the text – are the words or sentence structures too easy/difficult? Guided Reading levels go a step beyond – is the theme, content, structure, etc. appropriate for your child? Keep in mind, especially at the middle school level, a text may be accessible to your child in terms of Lexile level, but the content may be more appropriate for an older student (i.e. content dealing with sensitive matters like alcoholism, eating disorders, child abuse, dystopian societies, etc.). Thus, you may notice a higher Guided Reading Level (i.e. X, Y, Z) due to one or more of the book’s characteristics. For more information on Lexile measures or Guided Reading levels, please visit the following websites: Lexile Measures: https://www.azed.gov/wp-content/uploads/PDF/FAQ_WhatdoestheLMmean.pdf https://legacysupport.nwea.org/sites/www.nwea.org/files/resources/FAQ_Lexile.pdf Guided Reading Levels: http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/book-selection-tips/parents-guide-to-guided-reading http://www.fountasandpinnellleveledbooks.com/aboutleveledtexts.aspx http://www.heinemann.com/fountasandpinnell/handouts/TextLevelLadderOfProgress.pdf As always, Happy Reading!