Why Text Complexity Matters

Understanding Text Complexity

August, 2012

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19243288@N00/1460489655/

Text Complexity Matters

“Being able to read complex text independently and proficiently is essential for high achievement in college and the workplace and important in numerous life tasks.”

*From Appendix A, page 4 of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.

Why Text Complexity Matters

“Over the last 50 years, the complexity of college and workplace reading has increased, while text complexity in K-

12 has remained stagnant.”

Adapted from Appendix A, page 2 of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.


“Research indicates the demands that college, careers, and citizenship place on readers have either held steady or increased over roughly the last 50 years.”



“The difficulty of college textbooks has increased since 1962.”



“Students in college are expected to read complex texts with substantially greater independence than are students in typical K12 programs.”



“A 2005 College Board study found that college professors assign more readings from periodicals than do high school teachers.”



“The word difficulty of scientific journals and magazines from 1930 to

1990 has increased.”



“Workplace reading, measured in

Lexiles, exceeds grade 12 complexity significantly, although there is considerable variation.”


WHAT’S MY LEXILE???

Application for student loan

College Textbooks

W4 Forms

CD-DVD Instructions

Wall Street Journal

Where the Wild THings Are

Grapes of Wrath

Applications for Student Loans: 1270

College Textbooks: 1215

W4 Forms: 1260

CD-DVD Instructions: 1080

Wall Street Journal: 1320

Where the Wild Things Are: 740

Grapes of Wrath: 680

Lexile Levels of Occupational Reading

Materials

Lexile Levels of Occupational Reading

Materials

Understanding Text Complexity-Rusin

http://www.ksde.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=2wkKhBwdZJ0%3D&tabid=4778&mid=11507

Visual Representation of the range of complexity of text in existing Core

Compared to Common Core

Jigsaw Activity http://www.flickr.com/photos/10361931@N06/4273913966/

So what is text complexity anyway?

Defining and Describing Text

Complexity

What is a lexile?

What does Lexile measure?

A Lexile® measure is a valuable piece of information about either an individual's reading ability or the difficulty of a text, like a book or magazine article. The Lexile measure is shown as a number with an "L" after it — 880L is 880

Lexile.

From: http:// www.lexile.com/about-lexile/lexile-overview/

The idea behind the Lexile

Framework for reading is simple: if we know how well a student can read and how hard a specific text is to comprehend, we can predict how well that student will likely understand the text.


When used together, Lexile measures help find books/articles at appropriate level of difficulty and determine how well that reader will likely comprehend a text. You can also monitor growth over time.


How do students get a lexile level?

A student gets his or her Lexile reader measure from a reading test or program.

Lexile measures can range from below 200L to above 1700L.

http://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/lexile-overview/

Key Points to remember...

It is best to select books based on a reader’s Lexile range rather than focus on one reader measure. "The

“Lexile range” is the suggested range of Lexile measures that a reader should be reading —50L above to 100L below his or her

Lexile measure.

CCSS: Appendix A


CCSS: Appendix A

CCSS: Appendix A

Now let’s practice!


Let’s summarize our learning thus far...

What are the three factors to consider when determining text complexity?

Qualitative

How must our instruction change?

Reading Framework for NAEP

2009 www.nagb.org/publications/ frameworks / reading 09.pdf

Stories:

Includes children’s adventure stories, folk tales, legends, fables, fantasy, realistic iction, and myth

Literary

Dramas:

Includes staged dialogue and brief familiar scenes

Poetry:

Includes nursery rhymes and the sub-genres of the narrative poem, limerick, and free verse poem

INFORMATIONAL TEXT

Includes biographies and autobiographies; books about history, social studies, science, and the arts; technical texts, including directions, forms, and information displayed in graphs, charts, or maps; and digital sources on a range of topics.


“Students need to be taught how to read and think about complex texts.”

Fisher, Frey, and Lapp: Text Complexity: Raising Rigor in Reading, p. 105

So how do we do it?

www.fisherandfrey.com


http://youtu.be/dWYceSEPC-8


Debrief

Select short, worthy passages

Reread

Read with a pencil

Note confusions

Model the Text

discuss the text

ask text dependent questions























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