Lexiles have the same limitations as any measure of the difficulty of a text. I, too, tried to correlate them to Fountas & Pinnell levels and / or grade equivalents from publishers. It really didn't correlate. However, both our Illinois state test and the MAP test give lexile measures. I explain to both parents and teachers that the lexile is a good screening measure--that is it does give us some idea about how to match students to the difficulty of text.
But, as we have previously discussed, that matching is only ONE criteria in matching students to text. Background knowledge, motivation, and interest also need to be considered. There is a website www.lexile.com that provides students and parents with lists of books and purports to help match students to appropriate text. The site does provide a lot of information, but it does seem to give the idea that the lexile is the end all of matching students to text. There is a section for parents and students that provides students with lists of appropriate. It does ask students to take a survey to identify their interests. I don't know, though, of any teachers that use it. Has anyone tried this? I suppose it would be one help for classroom teachers. Has anyone use it? Just as with any text measure, I caution to use it judiciously. Carol La Grange, Il Carol On Jul 4, 2008, at 2:05 PM, gina nunley wrote: > I too have just accepted a new job, working as a Literacy > Specialist for the state. I'll travel to different districts with > my focus being the use of the Strategic Instruction Model (out of > University of Kansas). > > My biggest sadness and concern is leaving the classroom and KIDS. > Everything we do boils down to how kids react to what we do, and I > am more than a little concerned about losing that direct contact, > though I will have lots of opportunities for coaching in the > classroom. I'll be all the more passionate about coming here to > listen to teachers in the classroom > > Right away I have a topic to research and I wondered what > understandings some of you may have. How many of you use lexile > levels in your reading program? I did but have to admit they never > totally made sense to me. The ranges were difficult to understand > and hard to correlate to other programs. Basically I used them to > determine who to give a QRI to. > > Can anyone share their thoughts on lexiles? I apologize if this is > off the list topics. I am thinking though that in all our strategy > comprehension work we're very concerned about matching kids to the > right book, and always looking for a good way to measure that. > _________________________________________________________________ > Making the world a better place one message at a time. > http://www.imtalkathon.com/?source=EML_WLH_Talkathon_BetterPlace > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ > mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
