The Lexile Framework® for Reading
What Is It?
The Lexile Framework® for Reading is a reading measurement that matches readers to text. Two Lexile® measures form The Lexile Framework for Reading:
- Lexile reader measure
- Lexile text measure
The reader measure shows a person’s reading performance on the Lexile scale. A higher Lexile reader measure represents a higher level of reading comprehension and vice versa.
The text measure shows the reading difficulty of a selected text on the Lexile scale. The lower a book’s Lexile measure, the easier it will be to comprehend and vice versa.
Lexile text measures are available for JourneyForth books to assist parents and teachers in the goal of developing strong and discerning readers.
How Are Lexile Measures Determined?
A Lexile measure is based on two strong predictors of how difficult a text is to comprehend:
- Word frequency
- Sentence length
A Lexile measure also evaluates factors such as font size and clarity as well as the amount of white space on the page.
Measurement
A Lexile measure will be between a low of 0L or BR (for beginning reader) to a high of 2000L (L for Lexile).
An individual reader’s Lexile range is 100L below to 50L above his Lexile measure.
- Example: A reader with a Lexile measure of 1000L would have a Lexile range of 900L–1050L.
Why Is This Useful?
When the reader and text measures are both used, a teacher or parent may do the following:
- Choose independent reading material that is at an appropriate difficulty level.
- Estimate how well a student will comprehend a certain textbook or other printed material.
- Determine how a certain textbook or other printed material will contribute to the growth of a reader.
- Encourage the growth of reading skills by providing content based on the complementary Lexile reader and text measures.
- Choose BJU Press JourneyForth books based on your child’s Lexile measure.
Limitations
The Lexile measure of a book refers only to its text difficulty, not to its content or quality.
Testing & Evaluation Products
The following products show Lexile measurements on test results when all reading sections are completed.
Stanford
All achievement results for Primary 1–TASK 3 will list a Lexile measure in the top section of the student’s Profile with Objectives report.
The Iowa Assessments®
All achievement results for Level 6–Level 17/18 will list a Lexile range at the bottom of the student’s Performance Profile report.
For more detailed information about Lexiles, visit www.lexile.com.