2 TOOLS FOR SELECTING TEXT APPROPRIATE TO A GRADE BAND REMEMBER: The difficulty level of a text selection is only ONE of the THREE aspects of “text complexity”. In addition to quantifying the reading level, educators must also consider the QUALITIES of the text selection and the SUITABILITY of the text for your students and for your instructional purpose. A readability score alone is not a determinant of Text Complexity as defined in the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts. These quantitative tools measure aspects of text complexity - such as word frequency, sentence length, and text cohesion – that can be analyzed by a computer and are difficult for a human reader to evaluate. 1. Flesch-Kincaid and Microsoft© Word You can determine the Flesch-Kincaid readability level of text using a feature in Microsoft Word ©. The tool is accessed from your menu bar. You can either calculate the reading level for a reading selection, or for a piece of student writing. You can highlight a section or calculate the reading level of an entire passage. 1. Go to TOOLS (or FILE) and select OPTIONS; then select SPELLING & GRAMMAR (or PROOFING) 2. Select the box CHECK GRAMMAR WITH SPELLING 3. Select the box SHOW READABILITY STATISTICS and select OKAY 4. To generate the readability statistic, select SPELLING AND GRAMMAR from the tool bar at the top of the page. The tool will go through its recommended changes and provide readability statistics at the end. See next page for a sample analysis. 2. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Lexile Analyzer Tool Go to www.lexile.com. Select “Lexile Tools” and then “Lexile Analyzer”. Register as a site user (free). Scan or type a text selection in a separate document, and save it as a “.txt” At the screen Get a Lexile® Text Measure, upload the document. Select “Submit” and get the results of the Lexile analysis. See next page for a sample analysis. Use either one tool or the other (not both) to calculate readability. Then consider the qualities of the text and the suitability of the text for your students and for your purpose in order to complete the text complexity determination. Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level LEXILE READABILITY SCORE COMMON CORE TEXT COMPLEXITY GRADE BAND RANGES FOR BOTH TOOLS Flesch-Kincaid1 N/A K-1 1.98 – 5.34 2-3 4.51 – 7.73 4-5 6.51 – 10.34 6-8 8.32 – 12.12 9-10 10.34 – 14.2 11-CCR
