Text Complexity Strategy Tools

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  Readability Formulas

  Welcome to ReadabilityFormulas.com, a free website to help you: 1) score your texts (documents, books, policies, technical materials, etc.) and 2) find the reading level and grade level that readers need to read and comprehend your text.
  
  
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  Directions to Enable Reability Check in Word.docx

  When Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Office Word finish checking the spelling and grammar, you can choose to display information about the reading level of the document, including readability scores according to the following tests:
  • Flesch Reading Ease
  • Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level
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  Lexile Framework for Reading

  The Common Core State Standards Initiative places a strong emphasis on the role of text complexity in evaluating student readiness for college and careers. To follow are the Common Core Standards' three equally important components of text complexity, along with how Lexile® measures can support them.
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  Lexile Codes

  Sometimes a Lexile measure by itself is not enough information to choose a particular book for a particular reader. This is why some books get Lexile codes—two-letter designations that appear before the Lexile measure (for example, AD580L).
  
  The Lexile code gives you more information about a book that relates to its developmental appropriateness, reading difficulty, and common or intended usage. Word frequency and sentence length—the two text characteristics that determine a Lexile measure—do not describe all of the content of a book. Lexile codes provide some context to the numerical measure to further help you guide readers toward fruitful reading experiences.
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  Lexile Analyzer ®

  The Lexile ® measure of text is determined using the Lexile Analyzer ®, a software program that evaluates the reading demand—or readability—of books, articles and other materials.
  
  The Lexile Analyzer ® measures the complexity of the text by breaking down the entire piece and studying its characteristics, such as sentence length and word frequency, which represent the syntactic and semantic challenges that the text presents to a reader.
  
  The outcome is the text complexity, expressed as a Lexile ® measure, along with information on the word count, mean sentence length and mean log frequency
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  Lexile "Find a Book"

  The free "Find a Book" search helps readers build custom book lists based on their ability (Lexile measure) and personal interests or school assignments.
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  Lexile-to-Grade Correspondence Charts

  There is no direct correspondence between a specific Lexile measure and a specific grade level. Within any classroom or grade, there will be a range of readers and a range of reading materials. For example, in a fifth-grade classroom there will be some readers who are ahead of the typical reader (about 250L above) and some readers who are behind the typical reader (about 250L below). To say that some books are "just right" for fifth graders assumes that all fifth graders are reading at the same level.
  
  The Lexile® Framework for Reading is intended to match readers with texts at whatever level the reader is reading.
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  Comparison Chart for Readability Levels and Grade Levels

  Use this simple chart to see approximate equivalents to other ready program readability measures.
  

  • ATOS Book Levels
  • Lexile Text Measures
  • Guided Reading Levels
  • Reading Recovery Levels
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  Lexile Reading Framework: Video

  Recognized as the most widely adopted reading measure, Lexile measures are used at the school level in various capacities in all 50 states. Each year, more than 28 million Lexile measures are reported from state and national assessments, classroom assessments and reading programs, representing about half of U.S. students.
  
  The Lexile Framework is an educational tool that connects readers with reading materials using a common measure called a Lexile. What makes the Lexile Framework unique, and what has led to its widespread adoption, is that it measures both reading ability and text difficulty on the same developmental scale.
  
  When used together, Lexile reader measures and Lexile text measures enable educators, parents and students to find books and other materials that will provide an appropriate level of challenge, while still maintaining interest and learning. For more information on the Lexile Framework, visit www.Lexile.com.
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  Common Core State Standards (ELA) Appendix A: Supplemental Information

  New Research on Text Complexity - Supplemental Information for Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy
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  Common Core State Standards (ELA) Appendix B

  Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
  
  Appendix B: Text Exemplars and Sample Performance Tasks
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  Increasing Text Complexity

  
  Article: A Discussion of "Increasing Text Complexity" by Karin Hess and Sue Biggam, 2004
  
  This article includes a summary of the research surrounding quantitative and qualitative measures of text complexity. It offers grade span tables to describe specific ways in which text material generally increase in difficulty over the grade span of grades 1 through high school. The tables include sample texts to benchmark progress at the end of each grade.
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  ELA Text Complexity Rubric Guide

  The text complexity rubric is intended to assist educators in evaluating multiple dimensions of a text in order to determine the proper placement of that text within the curriculum.
  
  The rubric addressees the three aspects of text complexity required for consideration in Common Core Appendix B: qualitative, quantitative, and reader/task match. Each of these three dimensions includes specific relevant categories, each of which is listed with a short explanation to assist users in making the best possible determination.
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  Text Complexity: Qualitative Measures Rubric and Planning Questions

  Developed by Kansas Department of Education: Qualitative Measures Rubric
  

  • Meaning
  • Text Structure
  • Language Features
  • Knowledge Demands
  • General