[LM_NET] HIT on Leveled Books in Elementary School Libraries Pro and Con

[Craig Seasholes <seasholes@GMAIL.COM>]

As of  4.6.10 I have received the following replies regarding leveled books
in elementary school libraries. Many readers have identified it as a
sensitive issue in their schools...and worthy of continued discussion.
Please continue to contribute to the discussion, pro and con, that we may
all benefit from the gains and pitfalls of one another as we strive to
ensure that all students are effective and productive users of ideas and
information.

Craig Seasholes, Teacher Librarian, Seattle WA  seasholes@gmail.com
http://bookmansbytes.blogspot.com/

__

The school I work in (K-12) uses the AR system. All fiction is marked on the
spine with its AR level. We are starting to mark the non-fiction as well.
What I'm learning is that students "shop" for books by AR level primarily.
It is helpful to kids that are beginning/transitional readers and we have a
special section with lower level, younger books. We call them
"Beginning ARbooks." It is frustrating to me because older students
think the leveling is
a grade level comparison, which it is not. I can not see how school
libraries can not level their books if they are using a system like AR.

-Maria Doss, Orcas School Librarian, Orcas Island, WA     mariaedoss@msn.com

 __

Note an article by Carl Harvey,. "Leveling for Leverage", Library Media
Connection <http://www.linworth.com/>, January 2006.

Personally, I was required to have an AR leveled library in one school. AR
was used very inappropriately there--tied to grades and it was a nightmare.
I left after one year and heard that they have finally discontinued the
practice there (their writing scores fell dramatically when teachers only
depended on AR quizzed and stopped tying writing to reading). At another
school, I worked with the reading coach and supported the leveled books
library in a corner of the main library. They were cataloged but she was
responsible for choosing the books and they were not purchased through the
library budget.

-Cheryl Youse, MLS,Media Specialist, Colquitt County High School,Moultrie,
GA, cyouse@gmail.com

 __

My professional insight is that we are NOT an extension of the literacy
bookroom where all books are leveled and blatantly identified as to that
level and even to what kind of genre' the books are. As a library we provide
the supportive environment where a student can PRACTICE locating books at
their level independently, meaning we prompt them to remember how to do this
and then they apply the skill in a realistic setting.
-Mary Tichey-Staack, Teacher-Librarian, Branchville Elementary, Ridgefield,
CT
mticheystaack@ridgefield.org

 __

We pay Mackin to periodically download the Fountas and Pinnell data into our
database. That way teachers or parents can easily search for books by level,
but the books are not labeled in any way or organized by level.

- anonymous submission

 __

We have Reading Counts here, and books in the elementary library have a
colored label placed on them to indicate a specific reading range. Since I
don't have has many kids here needing RC information, I don't label my books
other than with a red dot to indicate that I have verified that we have a
quiz on that title.

It seems to me that trying to level books could end up being more work than
it is worth IF someone decided to sort the book first by level and then by
subject. Obviously a student can get information from a book that is easier
than what he might normally read, and have some difficulty perhaps with one
that is more difficult, but given that sections of a book might vary
somewhat in reading difficulty, I'd be more inclined to let the student take
a look at the book and decide for himself whether or not he can read it.

Indeed, that is one of the standards that Missouri has recently adopted.
Teachers and librarians are to work together to teach students how to select
information that they can actually read.

Putting a colored band on a book can help guide children to books that they
are likely to be successful in reading, but no more than that. I've had kids
come in here asking for books on subjects that I knew they had no interest
in. When I asked them, they said that the book was for a parent who knew
that I had just what they needed. If that child had been limited to checking
out books that were only on his level, I wouldn't have been able to help the
parent.

Remember that this is just my opinion, and worth every penny it cost you.
-David Lininger, kb0zke, MS/HS Librarian, Skyline MS/HS, Urbana, MO 65767
t i g e r l i b r a r i a n  at g m a i l  dot c o m

__

There are 2 roles here and they sometimes conflict. Yes, reading books at
their level helps students to improve their reading, but they also improve
when they are allowed to select books they enjoy and they have the added
benefit of becoming life long readers. We have a leveled library for reading
instruction that includes many titles that are both fiction and non-fiction.
I have resisted strongly anyone leveling the library collection. Students
are asked to choose one book that they can read on their own with little
help from mom and dad and 2 books to share with their parents. I want kids
to like reading and not all reading is for instructional purposes. Classroom
teachers are under the gun to show reading progress and often forget that
recreational reading helps promote that  progress.
-Pamela K. Gelbmann, Media Specialist,  Wilson & Franklin Elementary Schools
Anoka, MN  Pam.gelbmann@comcast.net

__

I am an elementary media specialist in a school with fixed class schedules.
 My primary goal is to get books into kids' hands that they will enjoy
ANDwill help them read more proficiently.  To that end, I have leveled
my
collection (we use F&P guided reading) in this way:

Junior Fiction: Levels A-O alpha by 1 letter, interfiled but leveled in 4
general groups, each group labeled with a color.
Red = levels A-D (target end of K)
Yellow = levels E-I (target end of 1st)
Blue = levels J-L (target end of 2nd)
Green = levels M-O (target NEAR end of 3rd)

Fiction: Levels P and up - alpha by 3 letters, interfiled, not leveled.

This is purely for ease of choosing and to help children narrow the
collection down in the 10-15 minutes they have for book selection.  I can
aim most 1st graders at the yellow-labeled books and feel confident they
will be able to read most of it on their own.  This increases their
confidence and helps them feel good about using the library.

By the time children are in 3rd grade, they can alphabetize by 3 letters.
 They are ready to start using the catalog to find books on the shelf
independently.  3rd grade is the perfect time to transition from the junior
fiction section to the much broader selection on the fiction shelves, where
they must look at size of text, thickness, read blurbs, etc.

This does not mean children only may read "at their level."  They must
choose a book they can read independently, which usually means below their
instructional level.  I ask children to read a bit of a book to me if I
think they've chosen a book that is too complicated.  In addition, they may
also select one or more other books, easy, hard, big, small, whatever.  This
combination of "just right" and "just because" books give them choices and
also ensures they have experience choosing a book they can and want to read.
I am not the book police - if children want to read a challenging book, they
should be permitted.  However, I hope this practice also cuts down on
children checking out too-hard books where they look at the pictures and
have no one to read aloud to them at home.

It also helps me keep young students from checking out transitional chapter
books for their parents to read to them, which is a practice I abhor.  These
books are written with a limited vocabulary and subject matter to appeal to
an early independent reader's palate.  Adults reading these books aloud to
their children will quickly grow bored and kids pick up on this.  There's
nothing to discuss in the nth iteration of Cam Jansen or Rainbow Magic book.
 Better to save these books for kids to read independently when they are
able.  For reading aloud, I recommend lots of other great chapter books in
our fiction collection to parents.

-Maggi Idzikowski, Media Specialist Allen Elementary School, Ann Arbor MI,
librarymaggi@gmail.com

__

Also related to this topic are two articles:

 Dzaldov, B. S. & Peterson, S.  *Book Leveling and Readers*. *The **Reading*
* Teacher.** *222-224.  November 2005.  Retrieved March 2009 from ProQuest
Education Journals.

Abstract:

Book leveling, a way to organize texts to match them with readers, has been
widely implemented in primary classrooms. This article questions whether the
often excessive attention to leveling leads to the neglect of other factors
that influence the reader-text match. The authors present findings from a
small study that aimed to determine the uniformity and variability of texts
purported to be at the same level for instructional or independent reading
in a primary classroom. Specifically, the authors analyzed data related to
book and print features; language and literary features; representation of
gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status; and criteria that fit with
their views on reading as a relationship between readers and texts. On the
basis of their findings, they make recommendations for more critical
examination, as well as appropriate use, of leveled text to support reading
instruction.

Abstract from* **Dzaldov, B., & Peterson, S. (2005, November). Book Leveling
and Readers. *The Reading Teacher, 59*(3), 222–229. doi: 10.1598/RT.59.3.2*

* See also:*

 *Can we trust levelled texts? An examination of their reliability and
quality from a linguistic perspective *

Brandy Pitcher 1 and Zhihui Fang 1

1 Brandy Pitcher and Zhihui Fang, School of Teaching and Learning, 2403
Norman Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-7048, USA.
e-mails: brandypitcher@yahoo.com and zfang@coe.ufl.edu

Over the past decade in the United States, levelled texts, or 'little books'
with finely graduated levelling of text difficulty, have regained their
status as a literacy staple for beginning readers. Despite their resurgence,
questions remain regarding the reliability and quality of these books. In
this study, we conducted a detailed analysis of 20 sample texts at levels 5,
10, 15 and 20, from one series of levelled books published in the United
States. We found that the levelling system used in this series is not a
particularly reliable indicator of text difficulty and that the quality of
these books varies considerably between and within levels. We suggest that
close attention to text levels could be detrimental in the reader–text
matching process. We further recommend that in order to judge and select
quality books that answer the needs of their students, teachers become more
aware of the various factors influencing text comprehensibility and quality.


-----Original Message-----
From: Craig Seasholes [mailto:seasholes@GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 10:17 AM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU

Subject: TARGET: Leveled Books in Elementary School Libraries

In a push to help students more easily find books at appropriate reading
levels, what is the role of school library and librarian in terms of
cataloging, shelving and instructional support?

In 2009 The BCTLA  released a position statement<
http://virtualbookmark.typepad.com/the_virtual_bookmark/2009/0
6/bctla-position-statement-book-levelling-and-school-library-collections
--bctla-annual-general-meeting-april-2009---t.html<http://virtualbookmark.typepad.com/the_virtual_bookmark/2009/0%0a6/bctla-position-statement-book-levelling-and-school-library-collections%0a--bctla-annual-general-meeting-april-2009---t.html>
>

On leveled books and school library collections, and Fountas and
Pinnell have a clear statement on their website FAQs repeated in response to
a

query<http://www.heinemann.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=46> in

their teachers lounge forum.

Pro and Con: What are your experiences and professional insights? I am
looking for examples from schools far and wide, research, and position
statements on best practices regarding levelling books in elementary and
middle school libraries.
--
Craig Seasholes seasholes@gmail.com http://bookmansbytes.blogspot.com/

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