Our district is looking into using Lexile data to help students who are =
not reading on grade level. I shared some of the e-mails from thread on =
Lexiles with our Library Department Manager, Mr. Jim Hundemer. Most of =
the comments that I shared were fairly negative. Mr. Hundemer asked that =
I share his viewpoint with you.=20
A Response to Target: Lexiles
=20
On a recent visit to one of our high school libraries I was visiting =
with the librarian and she related to me the following incident. A =
young man had finished his assignment and had his head down on the table =
so she went over to the shelves, selected a book she thought might =
interest him and gave it to him to read. He opened the book and began =
to read. About 10 minutes later he threw the book across the room and =
walked out of the library and left the campus. The next day she saw the =
student and asked him what "that" was all about. He said, "You gave me =
book I can't read." The student was a junior and she had given him a =
book that she felt any high school student could read and was a popular =
title. She later discovered that he is reading at the 5th grade level. =
She also found out this student had been abandoned by his mother and was =
sleeping on the streets. This is just one of the realities facing an =
urban school system that challenges our librarians. =20
=20
I asked the librarian later about how she found out about the reading =
levels of her students and of the over 2,500 kids on her campus, how =
many of them did she know. She said that she would know if she worked =
on a project with the student or the teacher shared the information if =
the teacher knew it. She said that she only knew the reading levels of =
the students that used the library on a regular basis, and that =
represented only about a fourth of all students.
=20
This got me wondering how serious a problem this might be so I contacted =
the "best of the best" librarians in my district, elementary, middle, =
and high school, and asked if they knew the reading levels of their =
students. Even librarians with 500 students at an elementary school =
said that they knew maybe half of the students reading levels. All =
shared that there were many students that were not reading anything =
especially in middle and high school. We have severe academic =
deficiencies in this large, urban school system and the data clearly =
points to poor reading skills. In talking with teachers, they face =
reading levels all across the board and they indicated having reading =
level data for all of their students would be very helpful.
=20
I determined to do something about this and the first task is to get =
reading levels for 212,000 students. The best way is to use a test that =
all of our students had taken and that is the SAT 10 test. I will =
receive lexile scores for every student in the district. I am =
challenging all of my librarians to know the reading level of every =
child in their buildings, and to help them select books that are =
appropriate and on a subject that interests them. I am really concerned =
about students that are not reading anything. If a student is a reader =
I don't care what he or she is reading. There should be no restrictions. =
Test/Don't test-that is not the focus. Further, I am working to =
automate the entire process so librarians don't have to label any book =
in the library. The student lexile information will be in the student =
record of the library automation system that we use. I am also working =
with our automation vendor to match lexiled books with lexile scores of =
our children. The student will put in their student I.D. and click on =
"Give Me Five Books" or something like that, and seamlessly the books =
will appear on the screen. The books will be at lexile level, above and =
below. If he or she doesn't like the selection, the student can ask for =
another group to look at. I want to challenge all of my librarians to =
ensure that every child in our system is reading and to help them become =
better readers. The librarian will become the true partner with the =
principal and the staff to improve reading on the campus for ALL =
children. Too many children are dropping through the cracks and nobody =
is doing any thing about it.=20
=20
Now, why lexiles. Our state has adopted the use of lexiles as a measure =
determined from the results of our statewide test, the TAKS. I refer you =
to the Texas Education Agency's website and the letter of endorsement =
from Deputy Commissioner, Susan Barnes. So with the state signed on it =
seemed logical to continue with lexiles. I looked at the website for =
lexiles, www.lexile.com, and it made it very clear that the Lexile =
Framework has been designed to determine the degree to which a reader =
can access the text-it places a reader and text on the same scale. The =
website further states, "The student's interests, parental views on what =
constitutes age-appropriate material and teacher's instructional aims =
are also vital issues in managing a reader's growth." Lexiles are just =
another tool to help with the reading experience. The various grade =
levels that are assigned refer to text demand at each level, not what is =
recommended for each grade, and gives me and 276 libraries, staffed by =
almost 300 librarians, a way to get a handle on this and help all of our =
students. The whole idea is to make our readers better readers, to get =
our non readers reading, and to help librarians make a better match for =
those students that need the help. In the future, I look forward to our =
students having lexiled databases and textbooks as additional resources.
=20
So if you are a librarian in a school district where everyone is reading =
don't stop doing anything you are doing. Just buy more books.
=20
Jim Hundemer
Manager,
Library Services
Houston Independent School District
jhundeme@houstonisd.org
Deborah A. Hall
Library Technology Supervisor
Houston ISD
debhall@swbell.net
http://www.hisdlibraryservices.org
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