Matching Kids with Books: From Lexiles to LevelingMatching Kids with Books: From Lexiles to Leveling

Virginia State Reading AssociationMarch, 2008Heidi Anne Mesmer, Ph D.

MATCHING MATTERS MATCHING MATTERS

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Without a good text-reader match, students:Without a good text-reader match, students:• will not learn to read.

• will not advance.

• will not be motivated to read.

• will have different chances at life.

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Zone of Proximal Development

Independent Texts Texts that can be read without assistance. 100-96% word accuracy 76-100% comprehension

Frustrational Texts Texts that cannot be read with or without assistance. 0-89% word accuracy 0-74% comprehension

Instructional Texts Texts that can be read with assistance. 95-90% word accuracy 75% comprehension

Selecting texts to “move” the zone.

How do I make match?How do I make match?

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TextReader

Purpose

Reader Factors • Reading Level • Attention• Memory• Motivation• Interests• Self-efficacy• First Language• Prior Knowledge• Print & Alphabetic

Purposes • Instruction

• Beginning reading• Fluency• Guided reading

• Self-selected, recreational

• At-home• Content area

• Science • Social Studies

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Text Factors• Word Difficulty • Sentence Difficulty• Length of book • Ideas & Concepts • Topic• Genre • Organization • Font• Layout• Spacing

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TOOLS TO ESTIMATE TEXT DIFFICULTY

TOOLS TO ESTIMATE TEXT DIFFICULTY

Traditional Readability Formulas

Second Generation Readability Formulas

Beginning Reading Scaffolds

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Traditional Readability Formulas Traditional Readability Formulas • Deliver grades & increments

(2.3, 2.4)

• Based on two text factors• Semantic/word complexity

• Word lists (easy words) OR • Number of syllables

• Syntactic complexity• Sentence length

• Use at grade 2+9

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New Dale-Chall Fry Graph Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level

Spache Primary Readability

First published 1948 1964 1943 1953 2002Last updated 1995 1977 1971 1974 2002Syntactic Complexity/Sentence

Average number of words per sentence

Average number of words per sentence

Average number of words per sentence

Average number of words per sentence

Average number of sentences per 100 word sample

Semantic Complexity/Words

Number of words not found on the New Dale-Chall List**

Number of syllables

Number of syllables

Number of words not on a list of 1041 words from the Harris-Jacobson Basic Elementary Vocabulary

Number of words not on the Primary Word List –810 frequently occurring first grade words taken from The Educator’s Word List

ValidationMethods

Comparisons to other formulas

Bormuth’s Passages (1971)

DARRTS, Gates/MacGinitie, NAEP passages

Comprehension Tests (unspecified)

Oral reading scores

Comparisons to other formulas

Comparisons to samples of basal readers***

Comparisons to other formulas

Gates-MacGinitie Test

Comparisons to samples of basal readers*

Comparisons to other formulas

Compared to the Fry and Spache using DRA passages (Beaver, 1997).

Increments used Whole grades 1– 4Two-grade ranges for 5-16(e.g. 5-6, 7-8)

Whole grades1- 17

Grade Level: Grades and tenths0-12(e.g. 1.2, 2.3)Reading Ease: 0-100 (0 hardest)

Whole grades and tenths .8 to 3.9

Whole grades

Advantages Recently revisedWell-validatedBest estimates at grade 3+

Not copyrightedEasy to use

Bundled with Microsoft word

Best estimates at grades 1 & 2.

Best estimates at grades 1 & 2Based on the latest word list (1995)

Disadvantages Weaker estimates at grade 1-2

Gray Area on graph does not deliver estimates of readability

May underestimate Not good for grades 1 and 2.

Not recently revisedUnderestimates at grade 3+.

Best used with beginning reading materials

Web site: Intervention Central Web site: Intervention Central

11www.interventioncentral.org

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Title: Boy

Author: Roald Dahl

Total Words in Sample: 99 Total Sentences in Sample: 3Average Number of Words Per Sentence: 33.0Words Not Matched to Dale Familiar 3000-Word List: 10Percentage of Words Not Matched to Dale Word List: 10.10Dale-Chall Readability Index: 6.86 Raw Score; 7-8th Grade Level

My four friends and I had come across a loose

floorboard at the back of the classroom, and when we pried

it up with the blade of a pocketknife, we discovered a big

hollow space underneath. This, we decided, would be our

own secret hiding place for sweets and other small treasures such as conkers, and monkey-nuts, and birds

eggs. Every afternoon, when the last lesson was over, the

five of use would wait until the classroom had emptied, then we would lift up the floorboard and examine our secret hoard, perhaps adding to it or taking something away."

Oleander Solutions Software Oleander Solutions Software

13www.oleandersolutions.com

Second Generation Formulas: Lexiles Second Generation Formulas: Lexiles

• Advances the traditional formulas by harnessing technology and creating more precise units

• Breaks readability into Lexile units (L)• Books range from 200-1700L-• Based on two text factors

• Semantic/word complexity• Word Frequency

• Syntactic Complexity• Sentence Length15

Second Generation Formulas: Degrees of Reading Power

Second Generation Formulas: Degrees of Reading Power • Breaks readability into Degrees of

Reading Power (DRP)• Ranges from 0-65 DRP• Based on two text factors

• Semantic/word complexity• Words on Dale/Chall List• Number of letters per word

• Syntactic complexity• Number of words per sentence

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17Same Units

2nd Generation Advantage: Parallel Text & Reader Measures

2nd Generation Advantage: Parallel Text & Reader Measures

Lexile-Leveled Assessments Lexile-Leveled Assessments • Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test• Iowa Test of Basic Skills• Metropolitan Achievement Test

(MAT-8)• Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI)

and SRI Interactive (Computer-based)• Stanford Diagnostic Achievement

Test 9 & 10 (SAT-9/SAT-10)

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Lexile & DRP Translation Lexile & DRP Translation

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Grade Lexile Text Measures DRP

1 200 to 400 40-43

2 300 to 500 44-47

3 500 to 700 48-49

4 650 to 850 50-51

5 750 to 950 52-53

6 850 to 1050 54-55

7 950 to 1075 56-57

8 1000 to 1100 58-59

9 1050 to 1150 60-61

10 1100 to 1200 62-63

11- 12 1100 to 1300 63-65

Common Books in LexilesCommon Books in Lexiles

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750 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

680 Charlotte’s Web

670 Number the Stars

650 How to Eat Fried

560 and Tall

560 Math Curse

560 Superfudge

490 Boxcar Children

400 Frog and Toad are Friends

330 Shoeshine Girl

260 The Cat in the Hat

220 Clifford the Big Red Dog

210 The Golly Sisters Go West

140 Amelia Bedelia

130 Nate the Great

130 Morris the Moose

3 Green Eggs and Ham BR Are you my Mother?

Caveats Caveats

• Estimate text difficulty

• Know the formula.

• Use with other subjective information.

• Use with connected text.

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CaveatsCaveats

• Formulas can underestimate difficulty.

• Formulas can over- and underestimate difficulty of science and social text materials.

• Be alert for formula-conforming changes that increase difficult.

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BEGINNING READERS BEGINNING READERS

Qualitatively Leveled Text

Decodable Text

Vocabularly-controlled/sight word readers

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Formulas won’t work with beginning readersFormulas won’t work with beginning readers

• Texts are too short to get an adequate sample

• Formulas lose validity at the lower levels

• Formulas do not capture all that makes text difficult for beginners

• Beginners need:• Very common words• Format adjustments• Orthographic simplification

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Qualitatively Leveled Texts Qualitatively Leveled Texts Houses by Joy

Cowley

“By the red house

there is. . . a blue

house. And by the

blue house

there is. . . a pink

house.. . And by the

pink house there is.

. .a yellow house.”

FEATURES• natural language• predictability• picture-to-text match• high content words• low word counts• limited print/page• Shorter sentences

Research indicates that levels do not include attention to word frequency or letter/sound complexity (Cunningham et al. 2005; Hatcher, 2 005)

Qualitatively Leveled Texts Qualitatively Leveled Texts

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Highly Decodable TextHighly Decodable Text

The Lucky Duck(Modern Curriculum Press)

“One wet, wet day a

duck got stuck. A duck

got stuck in the mud. A

bug came and gave the

duck a tug. The duck

and the bug got stuck in

the mud.”

FEATURES

• words matching taught phonics

• words that are phonetically regular clustered and repeated

• single-syllable words(Brown, 2000, Hiebert, 1998,

Mesmer, 1999)

Decodable TextDecodable Text

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Research indicates that students apply letter sound information more in decodable text but that one-on-one tutoring with a strong phonics component makes them no different than other materials (Jenkins et al. 2005; Mesmer, 2001;2005)

Vocabulary-controlled/Sight WordVocabulary-controlled/Sight Word

Fishing

On Saturday I

went fishing with

my grandma.

Grandma and

like to fish. We

fish every

Saturday. We

like to go to the

pond.

FEATURES• vocabulary

controlled by • the most

frequently occurring English words

• repetition

An illustrationAn illustration

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• Words are introduced and repeated throughout the set of books.

• Repeated words are the most frequently occurring

• Ex:

Book 1 Book 2 Book 3the the thesee see see

look lookat at

can

• Use books in order.

Research indicates very few current materials possess this type of scaffold (Foorman et al, 2004)

Vocabulary-controlled/Sight Word Readers

Vocabulary-controlled/Sight Word Readers

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MATCHING FOR BEGINNING READERS

MATCHING FOR BEGINNING READERS

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By the end of first grade readers should be able to: By the end of first grade readers should be able to:

Read: • At about a 2nd grade

level• Have a reading

vocabulary of 300-500 words (Snow et al. 1998)

• High Frequency words

• Decodable words (50 sounds/minute)

Fluency:• Read 40 words correct

per minute (Hasbrouck & Tindale, 1997; Good & Kaminski, 2002)

Vocabulary: • Learn the meanings of

860 new root words (Anglin, 1993; Biemiller, 2005; Biemiller & Slonim, 1993)

Comprehension• Answer comprehension ?

s based on text• Predict and justify

answers• Discuss how, why, and

what-if ?s (Snow et al. 1998)

Phonemic Awareness:• Segment (35 sounds per

minute) (Good & Kaminski, 2002)

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Concept of Word Concept of Word

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Qualitatively Leveled Text Qualitatively Leveled Text

Major Reading strategies

• Memorizing• Using syntax and

semantics• Using sight words• Using some

letter/sound knowledge

Instructional Purposes

• At very early stages• Voice-to-print match• Concepts of word• when readers know

some letter/sound correspondences

Pre and partial alphabetic

Highly Decodable Text Highly Decodable Text

Major Reading Strategies

• Use letter/sound knowledge

• blending• word by word• rely on sight

words

Instructional Purposes

• scaffold letter/sound application

• to follow phonics instruction

Sight Word ReadersSight Word Readers

Major Reading

strategies• Relying on

sight vocabulary

• Relying on repetition

• Using pictures

Instructional Purposes

• to build sight vocabulary

• to build fluency

• at early stages

Teachers reportedly use some text types for specific purposes Teachers reportedly use some text types for specific purposes

0102030405060708090

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PRINTCON

SOUNDOUT

SIGHT COMP FLUENCY STRUGGLING ELLs

Leveled books Children’s Literature Big books

Predictable books Decodable print Vocab-controlled

(Mesmer, 2006)

MATCHING FOR INTERMEDIATE READERS

MATCHING FOR INTERMEDIATE READERS

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Class Text Organizer Class Text Organizer

• Obtain Instructional and Independent reading levels

• Organize the information to find texts for: • whole class (independent) • whole class (instruction)• novel groups• individual (reading workshop or

recreational)• classroom library

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Making Matches for SSRMaking Matches for SSR

Student-driven choices require different considerations • Reading Level• Interests• Genre • Accountability• Metacognitive skills in

text choices

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Reading level Reading level

• Label reading levels of books.

• Stock collections based on reading levels of all.

• Give students information about their reading levels.

• Teach students the metacognitive skill of judging difficulty

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My Zone of Proximal Development is __________________________________.The best books for me are these colors_____________________________.My reading goal is __________________________________.* This card is laminated and filled in using dry erase markers so that changes can be made as students grow.

Books for ____________

5 or more?. . . the choice is poor

The difficulty meterThe difficulty meter

• Rate the difficulty of the book from the hardest 10 to the easiest 1

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Interests- ASK Interests- ASK

Current study of 2-5th grade boys book preferences. . . • Animorphs, Bionicles, Pokemon, Star

Wars, Captain Underpants, and Bone.• Holes. • Topics

• baseball, basketball, football, BMX, snowboarding, animals, how things work, jokes, and game manuals.

• Newspapers (55% v. 27%) • Comics (64% vs. 40%)

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What students like to read isn’t in school (Worthy, Moorman, & Turner, 1999)

Good SSR Practices (Kelly & Clausen-Grace, 2006)Good SSR Practices (Kelly & Clausen-Grace, 2006)

R5

• Read & Relax• Books ready• No getting up

• Reflect & Respond

• Rap

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Best SSR PracticesBest SSR Practices

• Read & Relax• Books must be ready• No getting up (not a bathroom or water break,

no chats with teacher)• Teacher circulates & supports • “State of the class” taken at the beginning

• Reflect & Respond• Log: date, title, author, genre, and a brief

response OR• Post-it: Your favorite part and a part that

made you go hmmmm?

• Rap• Share reflections with the class OR• Conference w/teacher

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Courtesy of K. DredgerCourtesy of K. Dredger

• Students put books in this box that “rock”!

• Attach a post-it telling why.

This Stinks!

• Students put books in this box that “stink!”

• Attach a post-it and tell why they didn’t like it.

• Rule: Have to have read the book

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High Interest/Low Readability High Interest/Low Readability

High/Low Books

• Topics that interest students in the upper grades, but readabilities that match below grade level performance

• Apply formulas to help readers

• Can be good “whole class” texts

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High Interest/Low Readability High Interest/Low Readability

• Wright Group-X-Zone

• Rigby-Gigglers

• MCP Comix

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Accelerated Reading & Reading Counts Accelerated Reading & Reading Counts

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ADVANTAGES + DISADVANTAGES --These programs may motivate apathetic readers who enjoy competition.

Extrinsic rewards based on point totals may lead children to believe that reading has little intrinsic value. Motivation may wane when rewards are removed.

The use of Reading Counts or AR can increase the time and attention that schools give to periods of sustained reading.

These packages are not comprehensive reading programs. They are supplemental and should not replace active teaching.

The quizzing component may help teachers judge whether or not a child has actually read a book.

These programs rely heavily on literal questions.

When overused, these programs can narrow the curriculum squeezing out rich responses to literature like creative interpretations, written responses, and literature circles. If a school does not have a great many AR or Reading Counts books, students may limit themselves to reading only program books.

Accelerated Reading & Reading Counts Accelerated Reading & Reading Counts DON’T• Use points to determine grades• Treat AR as a reading program• Let AR stop book discussions

because the discussions would allow students to “cheat” the quizzing

• www.trelease-on-reading.com

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http://www.soe.vt.edu/elementaryed/mesmer/index.htmlhttp://www.soe.vt.edu/elementaryed/mesmer/index.html

Thank you!

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