I have been to a number of trainings by Scholastic and Read 180 ... which uses Lexiles. I was told by the trainers that Lexile measures the entire book. All the pages are scanned in and analyzed, while other readibility measures only use selections from the text.
________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of CAG Sent: Tue 2/13/2007 6:55 PM To: A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades. Subject: Re: [LIT] Difference between Fry Readibility and Lexile Lexiles also don't take into account appropriateness of subject matter. A student's lexile range might include books whose subject matter is beyond their maturity level. quote from lexile.com: "The Lexile measure of a book refers to its text difficulty only. A Lexile measure does not take the subject matter or content of the book into consideration. Lexile measures are based on two well-established predictors of how difficult a text is to comprehend: word frequency and sentence length. Many factors other than these affect the relationship between a reader and a book, including its content, the age and interests of the reader, and the design of the actual book. The Lexile measure is a good starting point in your book-selection process, with these other factors then being considered. " It sounds as though books are lexiled through a Fry or Fry-like process. You can certainly find the student's independent reading level and then work backward to find other possible titles - a good idea! Don't forget that grain of salt, though! Cathy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Petra Moran" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades." <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 8:53 AM Subject: Re: [LIT] Difference between Fry Readibility and Lexile > WOW! What a fabulous explanation! Teachers asked me: What is the > difference? (Implying; Lexile is nothing new, we've had Fry for a while). > I thought lexile was more nuanced than Fry (of course, nothing is as > precise as Fountas/ Pinnell or Reading Recovery levels.) > > So it seems lexile gives you a range and Fry a grade, both of which are > arbitrary. So, does the group feel that they are really six of one half > dozen of another? > > Can you only determine lexile range with a test (such as NWEA)? Or would > you just find a book at a kid's independent reading level and search the > lexile database at lexile.com to get a "feel" for their lexile? > > I am going to do a staff development for many knowledgeable teachers on > Friday and want to thoughtfully answer their questions. > > THANK YOU! This listserv is a gold mine! > > Ashli and Paul Andersen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I'm very impressed > with myself that I actually know this one. We have > discussed both in my master's. (Did you hear that, Ms. Maddox? I'm > almost > finished with my MASTER'S is reading!) > > Lexile- is a score that a person has based on a computer program. That > program offers all kinds of suggestions for independent reading that is on > the studen'ts individual lexile. the lexile levels range from BR > (beginning > reader) to 1700, which is college level. The student's lexile score may > be > 768, but the books in her range may be 600-800. That may be on a 5th > grade > up to 7th grade level. (don't quote those exact numbers, I can't remember > the chart- but if you go to lexile.com, it will be on there) Pros are > that > the read 180 program uses the lexiles to formulate the program for each > student. The cons, is that the lexile itself is just a guide and should > be > used with discression. some books on a students interest level may be out > of the lexile range, but that student may perfectely understand the text > because the interest is there. > > Fry- the guy who created the readibility chart in the 70's. For that > chart > the teacher would select a sample of the text that is 100 syllables. > count > the bumber of words in those syllables and the bumber of sentences. where > they intersect is the grade level at which the book is. kathyshrock's > gude > for educators has a good chart with directions. > > Hope this helps. > > > > > On 2/12/07, Petra Moran > wrote: >> >> Can anyone answer this question for me: >> >> What are the main differences between Fry (which I believe is used on >> Microsoft word) and Lexile leveling? My guess is Lexile is more nuanced >> than Fry, but someone asked me and I wasn't 100% sure how to respond.. >> >> Thank you! >> >> Petra >> >> _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
