Short Guide to Quantitative Tools
The following quantitative tools can be used to acquire a quantitative measure for a text:
The Lexile Framework® – Metametrics
http://www.lexile.com/analyzer/
Coh-Metrix Easability Tool –
http://www.commoncoretera.com
University of Memphis
(For Flesch-Kincaid1 measure)
ATOS Analyzer – Renaissance Learning
Reading Maturity – Pearson Knowledge
Technologies
Degrees of Reading Power® – Questar
http://www.renlearn.com/atos/textanalyzer
http://www.readingmaturity.com
(Beta site)
http://www.questarai.com
(Contact Quester with requests for text analysis)
See below for simple steps to obtain quantitative measures using each of the analyzers.
1 Since Flesch-Kincaid has no ‘caretaker’ that oversees or maintains the formula, the research leads worked to bring the measure in line with
college and career readiness levels of text complexity based on the version of the formula used by Coh-Metrix.
Simple Steps for Using the Lexile Analyzer
Before using the Lexile Analyzer, remember that you may be able to find the Lexile for your text through
the Quick Book Search tool on www.lexile.com.
If you need to run a text through the Lexile Analyzer, follow these simple steps to prepare the text:
1. Create an account at www.lexile.com by answering a few simple questions. Once logged into your
account, scroll down to My Tools. Under the tools you can access, click English Lexile Analyzer.
2. Copy and paste original text (up to 1000 words) into a Word document. Eliminate any extraneous
information other than the passage, title, and author. Delete any tables, graphs, or other
illustrations. Make the text a uniform font, size, and paragraph scheme (single spacing, no spaces
after paragraphs, etc.). Save file as .txt file with ASCII character encoding. Be sure to check the Allow
Character Substitution box.
3. Close Word and open newly saved .txt file using TextEdit or Notepad. Proofread text for typos.
Eliminate any non-ASCII characters ("curly" quotation marks, em dashes, question marks that took
the place of apostrophes, etc.). Re-save newly scrubbed file as a .txt file.
4. Upload the prepared text file and run the quantitative analysis. Given the Lexile measure, locate the
grade band based on the updated table below:
Simple Steps for Using the Coh-Metrix Easability Tool
The Text Ease and Readability Assessor (T.E.R.A.) consists of two tools: 1) Library Tool: Collection of titles
already analyzed and stored for your access; 2) My Texts: Analyzer for new texts that you submit online.
Before running a text, check the Library Tool database to see if your title has already been analyzed. You
can filter by grade band, title, length, and text type.
1.
Create an account at http://www.commoncoretera.com by answering a few simple questions.
Log in to your new account.
2.
Click on My Texts to analyze a new passage. Click Input New Text (small green button in upper
left corner of screen). Enter title, approximate grade level, genre, and text type (full or excerpt).
Then, copy or type the text into the content text box and click Submit.
3.
As soon as your text has been analyzed, the status will change from pending to done, at which
point you can view the analysis and grade band recommendation. Note: Press refresh next to
the green Input New Text button to update status.
Simple Steps for Using the ATOS Analyzer
You can use www.arbookfind.com as a quick search tool to find books that have already been assigned
an ATOS value.
You have two choices for how to submit text through the ATOS Analyzer.
1.
Type or copy text directly into the text box (review for correct spelling and punctuation) under
Option 1 at: http://www.renlearn.com/atos/textanalyzer and click Submit.
Results are returned in seconds and include the CCSS grade band chart correlation.
(OR)
2.
Create and save a file (.txt, .doc, or .docx) by either typing, copying and pasting, or recognizing
scanned text with OCR software.
a. Review for correct spelling and punctuation, use single spacing format, and separate
headings from sentences with two hard returns.
b. Under Option 2 at http://www.renlearn.com/atos/textanalyzer, click on Browse, select your
file and click Submit.
Results are returned in seconds and include the CCSS grade band chart correlation.
Simple Steps for Using Reading Maturity
1.
Go to http://www.readingmaturity.com/. Answer a few simple questions to create your own
account to run and store passage analyses. Log in to your account.
2.
Click Analyze Passage in the top left corner of the page. Type or copy text directly into the text
box (up to 2,500 words). Click Analyze.
Results are returned within seconds. They include an Overall RMM score and CCSS grade band
chart correlation, as well as difficult vocabulary pulled from the passage.