Lexile Framework for Reading: The Go-To Resource for Quantitative Text Complexity

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The Lexile Framework for Reading is an industry-standard in identifying the quantitative reading score for written texts, and it provides resources for parents, students, and teachers.

To begin, users will need to register and then log into the website. It will then launch the home screen, and three resources for educators will load: Find Just the Right Books, Look Up a Book, and Analyze Text.

For the “Find the Right Books” and “Look Up a Book” options, users will first need to click on one of them from the home screen. Users can then enter a Lexile score. If users do not know their Lexile score, they can input their grade level and answer if the books they read at school are too easy, difficult, or just right. After entering the information and clicking the “submit” button, the website will load different interests, and users can click one or more interests followed by the “submit” button. At this point, several texts aligned to the information submitted into the website will load, and users can scroll the texts. When they find a text of interest, users can click it to read more about it. If they like the text, users can click the “Add to My Reading List” option, and the website will automatically save the text. If users already know the name of the text, an author of interest, or the ISBN for a text, they can enter it into the Quick Book Search field on the top right box in the screen, and the website will load texts aligned to it for users to peruse.

The “Analyze a Text” option allows users to determine the Lexile score of any text that follows conventional sentence structure and punctuation (e.g., poetry, song lyrics, and free verse writing do not follow these conventions). After selecting it from the home screen, a new screen will load that further explains the Lexile Analyzer, and users will have to click the “Sign In to access Lexile Analyzer” in the middle screen. A new screen will then load, and users must click the “Free Lexile Analyzer” option. (A Spanish version of the Lexile Analyzer is available as well.) At this point, users can either click the “Browse” option at the top of the screen and upload a text, or they can copy and paste a text into the box provided. In both cases, users will need to click the “Analyze” button on the bottom of the page. The website will then analyze the text and provide a report that includes the Lexile Measure, the Mean Sentence Length, the Mean Log Frequency, and total Word Count.

Please Note: There is an additional “Monitor Growth” option that will be reviewed in a separate post.

Instructional Ideas for the Lexile Framework for Reading

1. Teachers can have students use the “Find Just Right Books” option to locate books that interest them and that are on their Lexile level. As students find these books, they can then save them by clicking the “Add to My Reading List” option. Students then record the title of the books and check them out from the classroom, school, or community library.
2. When students are presenting a book they read, they can locate additional information about the book using the “Look Up a Book” option and then share the Lexile score in addition to other information as part of their presentation.
3. If students are reading a piece of text and wondering about its Lexile score, they can use the Lexile Analyzer for determining it. Students can then record the Lexile score in a log and explain if they find the text difficult, easy, or just right.
4. After writing a piece of text, students can enter it into the Lexile Analyzer to determine the Lexile level of their own writing. They can then meet with a teacher or peer to discuss ways to increase, decrease, or maintain their writing’s Lexile level.
5. Before reading a text, teachers can discuss the difference between quantitative, qualitative, and reader & task components for analyzing the difficulty of a text, as aligned to the Common Core State Standards three-level approach. In preparation for the discussion, teachers can read the Common Core’s Appendix A for information pertaining to these three approaches.

Screenshots of the Lexile Framework for Reading