>>A student's lexile score represents what he or she can read with 75
percent comprehension rate.<<
I am not sure that this is true because the lexile is worked out on a
formula based on a sample of sentence and word length (I can't get to
lexile.com because the site is not responding to get the exact quote) and
there is no indication of 'measuring' the complexity of the plot nor
previous understandings that the reader would need to have.
For example, I have just finished reading The Running Man by a new
Australian author which came as part of a Yr 5/6 pack. The cover indicated
a lexile of 850 but the blurb indicated a complex, mature plot - and sure
enough, the things that a student would need to know in order to make real
sense of the story were way beyond anything my students (and probably most
YA readers) would know. My suggestion would be Yr 11/12.
I checked on lexile.com to see what other titles had an 850 lexile and from
memory, The Hobbit was 800 and Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix was 900.
My Year 5/6 students cope with these well - that is, they can read,
understand and enjoy them.
I am against describing students' abilities with quantitative data - what
does a Reading Age of 8 really MEAN. It is much more important that we know
what they know, can do and understand, so we know what they need to move
forward and can provide that for them.
Such a mindshift in measuring student performance in terms of what they can
do is enormous but it can be achieved ... Australia started making the move
in the late 80s with national profiles that described curriculum outcomes
(which of course were later modified by the states) and now it is the way we
plan the curriculum - what do we want the students to know, do, understand
or value five years from now?; how can we move them towards this goal?; what
is the starting point? - and report to parents.
I once wrote an article "A is for Atrocious and E is for Excellent" that has
been oft-quoted to support this argument. Parents can be educated over a
generation that there is a better way to map a child's progress than a
report card with just a grade level, reading age or AR/lexile score.
Off my soapbox
Barbara
Barbara Braxton
Teacher-Librarian
Palmerston District Primary School
PALMERSTON ACT 2913
AUSTRALIA
T. 02 6205 6162
F. 02 6205 7242
E. barbara@austarmetro.com.au
W. http://www.palmdps.act.edu.au
"Together, we learn from each other."
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