Remember when you used to go to the library and independently select books that you found enjoyable? There didn’t have to be any rhyme or reason to your choice, because it was a personal decision based on what books fulfilled your reading desires. Are you aware that children today are now having their reading choices – their free time no less – put into a quota system and turned into more standardized testing?
I can’t state enough how much I hate the Common Core system and a new method of measuring our children that seems to go hand-in-hand with it – Lexile levels.
If you are lucky enough to not know what these are, Lexile levels are these numbers that get attached to book titles, and they are supposed to reflect the reading difficulty of that book, including issues such as comprehension and vocabulary. Children take tests on a computer and a mathematical algorithm assigns them a Lexile measure. The books are normally paired with A.R. tests on each book, which can only be done online at your child’s school (and the schools pay a HEFTY fee to access these online tests). In theory, it sounds like a good idea, however, the entire rating process is very cloak and dagger, and, frankly, they system is sucking every ounce of joy that children can find through reading.
These tests also do not help our teachers create great lesson plans, or even require them to supervise that what a student reads is age appropriate. The A.R. tests are just an excuse for teachers to not have to teach. And, it’s not necessarily because the faculty doesn’t want to teach, it’s because they are being deemed too incompetent to help their own students, so standardizing a child’s reading progression through Lexile levels is now a forced part of the curriculum.
What’s worse is that this extra, unneeded stress is usually not for a classroom grade, but is still required to meet “reading goals” at school. To take a test, children answer multiple choice questions to prove that they have read a book. They instantly get a score, which translates to points or a quota demanded by the school, and bam – Reading class is handled on the students time instead of the schools! Wow!
It’s also a way for school boards to be able to wash their hands of moving children up or down. If an 8th grader can only read See Spot Run books, for example, well they’ll just label that student at that corresponding Lexile level and act like that’s helping them achieve greater reading success. If a child in the 2nd grade is reading at the 12th grade level, well, no need to give them special classes or promote them up a few grades in school – just give them books in that Lexile Level! Wonderful, right?
Since each child is measured to read within their given Lexile range (ie if you have a 600L measure, you will likely be given a 550-700 Lexile; a 900L measure may earn a student a 850-950, etc) the plan seems foolproof. However, the Lexile and A.R. testing is too incorporated with the curriculum, and the children are restricted to using their “free time” reading for only books that match their testing needs.
For example, my son was scored to read from 900-1050L. He went to the book fair and purchased a title that caught his interest. Twenty or so pages from the end of the book, his teacher got worked up into a snit, and started demanding to know what the Lexile of that book was. My son said he had no idea, but he bought it from the book fair at school, he was enjoying it, and it seemed like it was on par with his level. Instead of letting him finish the book and move on, the teacher required my son to stop reading that title and to pick up a book in his Lexile level – solely for the sake of taking online tests so that the school can justify paying for the A.R. access (a charter school I toured said the access runs $10,000 a year per school). So, for “free time” reading in the 4th grade, each student must read 2 books in his Lexile level, 2 science books, and 2 picture books each 9 week period. In the 5th grade, each student must read 7 books in their Lexile measure.
That may not sound too out-of-control, but consider the different complexity of the books. If the kid sitting next to you has a picture book Lexile measure, they have to read seven different See Spot Run books (again, just an example of a commonly known picture book title). Even though that child has a lower Lexile level and may struggle to read about Spot, the low amount of pages, words, and content in the book will let a child with a low level finish at least a book a day.
But what if you’re a good reader who is progressing steadily? You have to meet the same classroom requirements by reading 7 thick novels. Even if you are a great, advanced reader, chances are you are going to start spending all of your free time furiously reading to make that quota during a 9-week school cycle.
Depending on the student’s age, kids may very well be punished for having strong reading skills. At my son’s schools, his Lexile for the 5th grade is 900-1050, which excludes him from almost every book title that is deemed as a 5th grade book/reading level. Even more disturbing is that his Lexile level also excludes him from many high school/adult books, such as Agatha Christie, Ernest Hemingway, and even most of Shakespeare. Apparently, having dialogue in a book will steadily lower it’s Lexile level, which makes me worry that, by the time my son gets into middle school, his Lexile measure will be so high that boring, dry college textbooks will be all that’s left to him. And when I try to bring this up to the teacher, she tells me their only goal is for his Lexile level to rise over the year.
That issue brings me to the biggest flaw of the Lexile/A.R. testing issue – the way that these books are rated makes no sense, and the score assigned to books often differs between Lexile.com and the A.R. testing site (which supposedly gets its scores from Lexile.com). No one can explain this inconsistency, not even the teachers, not even the principals, not even the school board. Which, of course, a system full of flaws and confusion should definitely be taking over our children’s reading education, right?
Here are some examples of my own research on https://lexile.com/ :
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck – my favorite book, and, while it can be quite emotional and mature in it’s nature, it has historically been approved for high school level reading and is a fairly simple read. Lexile is 1530L
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking – generally known to be a college level book about the universe, written by one of the greatest scientific minds of all time. Lexile is 1290L.
For anyone unfamiliar with the scores, the higher the number, the harder the book should be to understand. Somehow, reading a narrative about a Chinese man’s life should not rate at a higher difficulty than a factual book about how the universe works. Just saying…
Other examples include:
Fellowship of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien – since we’ve all likely seen the movie, I will just say that the text is pretty dense and long winded in places. It’s also filled with made up names, locations, and characters/words that are not part of daily conversation in real life. Most appropriate for middle school or older readers (due to more complex plots and themes). Lexile 860L.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling – a lot of pages, a lot of unusual names and terms, but overall it is considered to be an easy ready for ages eight and up (although a good bit darker toned than previous books). Lexile 1030L.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl – a simply written children’s book about touring a magical-esc candy factory. Lexile 810L.
Meet Julie by Megan McDonald – an American Girl book with a cute, very simply written story line that is easily understandable to most children. Lexile 770L.
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton – the adult level book that sparked the film phenomenon. Lexile is 710L (the usage of Dinosaur names alone should let this book rate higher than the previous two listed!).
The Lost World by Michael Crichton – the adult level sequel to the Jurassic Park novel. Lexile 670L.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie – I read this in the 11th grade, it’s a murder mystery that takes some moderate comprehension skills to keep tracks of the clues. Lexile 570L.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney – an elementary to possibly middle school level book. Very simple read, and loads of pictures in the book. Lexile 1060L.
Clifford for President by Mark McVeigh – a Clifford the Big Red Dog picture book that is listed at 32 pages. Lexile is 540L, just 30 points lower than Agatha Christie’s adult level/themed novel.
Hopefully that’s a wide enough range that you can see what’s wrong with this picture.
Essentially, the Lexile brand throws numbers, fairly arbitrarily, onto book titles, then sells a test so that school’s can supposedly tell where a students Lexile level is at. Then Lexile sells you a program so that you can test your students on how well they can take a multiple choice test on approved books. This seems like some backroom deal to make a private company billions of dollars a year…
Honestly, this system didn’t initially strike me as odd. Everything is getting standardized, children are not allowed to make choices or think independently, and, at first, the Lexile requirements seemed to make sense. Then I went to tour the local charter school. During the tour a parent asked about A.R. testing, and the Vice Principal proclaimed that they did not use that method because it was insanely expensive and discouraged many children from being able to read for enjoyment. Yes, yes I can certainly see that happening first hand myself! The lack of information or accountability for these scores, and the fact that teachers want their students to progress regardless of what age-appropriate titles are available in a Lexile measure, proves that this is one more broken system that will not help American children be better at anything.
Trying to Mom 