What's a Lexile Measure?
Many schools in the United States use Lexile Measures to rate students' reading comprehension levels, and then use these measures to create curriculum and assignments. A Lexile Measure "scores" the difficulty of text and the reading level of readers. A student gets his or her Lexile measure from a reading test or program. The Lexile measure is a part of the "Lexile Framework for Reading." According the Lexile website,
The Lexile Framework for Reading is a system that can help determine the reading level of any written material—from a book to a test item. The Lexile Framework can also be used to assess a readers' reading comprehension level. After test results are converted into Lexile measures, readers can be matched to reading materials on their own level and comprehension rates of readers can be forecasted to determine how well a reader will comprehend thousands of texts that have been measured in the Lexile metric.
Lexile and Grade Level Conversion Charts
Students, parents and teachers often wonder how their Lexile Measure translates to their general grade level. This chart compares Lexile Measures with another popular reading assessment tool, the "Accelerated Reader tool.
Although Lexile and Accelerated Reader are among the more popular reading comprehension tools used by many schools, dozens of testing tools compete in the marketplace to measure reading comprehension. This chart shows a correlation between Lexile, AR, and a couple of other tools.
An Introduction to the Lexile Framework
Additional Reading Assessment Tools
- Accelerated Reader Tool, a Product of Renaissance LearningThis is a commercial site designed for an audience of teachers and school administrators who are looking for tools to measure and monitor reading comprehension.
- AR BookFinderDesigned for students, parents, teachers, and librarians, this website allows users to find books that are both appropriate and interesting to individual students who use the Accelerated Reader program in their schools.
- Fountas & Pinnell ToolsIrene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell developed a systematic approach to small-group reading instruction as described in their book, Guided Reading. Since then, their extensive research has resulted in a framework of professional development books, products, and services built to support children's learning. This is their commercial site, with links to additional information regarding their story and research.