Lexile Scores

The Lexile Framework is a tool for looking at a reader's achievement in relation to the difficulty of specific texts. For example, given three books, The Cat in the Hat, Charlotte's Web, and Ivanhoe, you would easily be able to sequence these in terms of difficulty. However, given Harriet the Spy, Little House on the Prairie, and The Boy Scout Manual, the task becomes a bit more difficult. The Lexile Framework handles this for you. By the same token, readers can be ordered by their achievement, and there are many methods, formal and informal, for accomplishing this.

Until now, there has never been a way to put the two together - measuring readers and text using the same scale. The Lexile Framework provides a single scale that can be used for targeting readers with text that provides an appropriate challenge.

When readers are reading material at their appropriate Lexile level, they will comprehend the material at the rate of 75%. When a student reads material 250 Lexile points above his or her level, comprehension drops to 50%. When a student reads material 250 Lexile points below his or her level, comprehension increases to 90%.

The Lexile Framework affords the teacher and parent a useful tool for programming success into the reader's experience. When readers read well-targeted texts, they report confidence, competence, and control of the text. When teachers listen to readers read targeted text aloud, they report that the reader comprehends what he or she is reading. By predicting the match of readers to books, the Lexile Framework can locate the level at which a student is being challenged by exposure to new vocabulary and concepts without being frustrated. This match between readers and books is the reading level at which reading practice will promote maximum development.

For more information, visit the Lexile Framework site.