Spring 2015 NYSESLAT Passage Review Criteria Appendix
Glossary of terms—NYSESLAT Phase II Passage Review Criteria
Narrative text
Broadly defined as literature, fiction, drama and poetry.
For K-5: Includes stories such as children’s adventure stories, folktales, legends, fables, fantasy,
realistic fiction, and myth; Drama includes staged dialogue and brief familiar scenes; poetry
includes nursery rhymes and the subgenres of the narrative poem, limerick, and free verse
poem.
For 6-12: Includes the subgenres of adventure stories, historical fiction, mysteries, myths,
science fiction, realistic fiction, allegories, parodies, satire, and graphic novels; Drama includes
the subgenres of adventure stories, historical fiction, mysteries, myths, science fiction, realistic
fiction, allegories, parodies, satire, and graphic novels; poetry includes the subgenres of
narrative poems, lyrical poems, free verse poems, sonnets, odes, ballads, and epics.
Informational text
Broadly defined as: literary nonfiction and historical, scientific, and technical texts.
For K-5: 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.
For 6-12: Broadly defined as literary nonfiction: includes the subgenres of exposition, argument,
and functional text in the form of personal essays, speeches, opinion pieces, essays about art or
literature, biographies, memoirs, journalism, and historical, scientific, technical, or economic
accounts (including digital sources) written for a broad audience.
Tiers of Vocabulary:
· Tier 1—words found in everyday conversations (you, teeth, animals, walls, plants, trees, world,
place)
· Tier 2—words found in writing but seldom in conversations and that can have multiple
meanings (e.g., characteristics, nurse, control, property, discovered, vanished)
· Tier 3—technical words (e.g., dinosaurs, mammals, Anglo-Saxons)
· Figurative—words that produce an image in the reader’s mind
Connotative—words that have a positive or negative connotation
Appendix: NYSESLAT Passage Review Criteria Checklist
NYSESLAT07_2014.05.01
Page 1
Text Complexity: Quantitative measures
1. Updated Text Complexity Grade Bands and Associated Ranges from Multiple Measures1
ATOS
Degrees of
Reading
Power®
FleschKincaid2
The Lexile
Framework®
Reading
Maturity
SourceRater
2nd – 3rd
2.75 – 5.14
42 – 54
1.98 – 5.34
420 – 820
3.53 – 6.13
0.05 – 2.48
4th – 5th
4.97 – 7.03
52 – 60
4.51 – 7.73
740 – 1010
5.42 – 7.92
0.84 – 5.75
6th – 8th
7.00 – 9.98
57 – 67
6.51 – 10.34
925 – 1185
7.04 – 9.57
4.11 – 10.66
9th – 10th
9.67 – 12.01
62 – 72
8.32 – 12.12
1050 – 1335
8.41 – 10.81
9.02 – 13.93
11th – CCR
11.20 – 14.10
67 – 74
10.34 – 14.2
1185 – 1385
9.57 – 12.00
12.30 – 14.50
Common Core
Band
Find links and instructions for using these quantitative analysis tools at
achievethecore.org/text-complexity.
2. Resources to determine qualitative measures
Access to Quantitative Analysis Tools
To run a text through these tools, you will need to “scrub” the text in order to rid it of any non-ASCII
characters. Use the following directions as a guide:
1. Copy and paste original text into a Word document.
2. Eliminate any extraneous information other than the passage, title, and author.
Delete any tables, graphs, or other illustrations.
3. Make the text a uniform font, size, and paragraph scheme (single spacing, no spaces
after paragraphs, etc.).
4. Save file as .txt file.
5. Close Word and open newly saved .txt file using TextEdit or Notepad.
6. Proofread text for typos.
7. Eliminate any non-ASCII characters ("curly" quotation marks, em dashes, question
marks that took the place of apostrophes, etc.). Use find and replace to streamline
this process.
8. Re-save newly scrubbed file.
1
The band levels themselves have been expanded slightly over the original CCSS scale that appears in Appendix A at both the top and bottom
of each band to provide for a more modulated climb toward college and career readiness and offer slightly more overlap between bands. The
wider band width allows more flexibility in the younger grades where students enter school with widely varied preparation levels. This change
was provided in response to feedback received since publication of the original scale (published in terms of the Lexile® metric) in Appendix A.
2 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.
Appendix: NYSESLAT Passage Review Criteria Checklist
NYSESLAT07_2014.05.01
Page 2
9. Certain tools only allow you to run texts that are 1,000 words or less. Cut down your
word count as necessary.
ATOS Analyzer –
Renaissance Learning
http://www.renlearn.com/ar/overview/atos/
Degrees of Reading Power® –
Questar
http://www.questarai.com
(Contact Questar with requests for text analysis.)
The Lexile Framework® –
MetaMetrix
http://www.lexile.com/analyzer/
Coh-Metrix Easability Tool –
University of Memphis
(For Flesch-Kincaid3 measure)
http://141.225.42.101/cohmetrixgates/Home.aspx?Login=1
(Beta site)
Reading Maturity – Pearson
Knowledge Technologies
http://www.readingmaturity.com
(Beta site)
SourceRater – Educators
Testing Service
http://naeptba.ets.org/SourceRater3/
(Beta site)
Find updated grade bands and associated ranges for these quantitative analysis tools at
achievethecore.org/text-complexity.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn. UDL
provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for
everyone--not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and
adjusted for individual needs. SEE: http://www.cast.org/udl/ and http://udlonline.cast.org/guidelines
Text Complexity: Qualitative measures
http://parcconline.org/sites/parcc/files/Combined%20Passage%20Selection%20Guidelines%20and%20
Worksheets_0.pdf (see following pages)
http://achievethecore.org/page/657/finding-ccss-grade-levels-for-texts-qualitative-scales-list-pg
3
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.
Appendix: NYSESLAT Passage Review Criteria Checklist
NYSESLAT07_2014.05.01
Page 3
Appendix: NYSESLAT Passage Review Criteria Checklist
NYSESLAT07_2014.05.01
Page 4
Appendix: NYSESLAT Passage Review Criteria Checklist
NYSESLAT07_2014.05.01
Page 5
Appendix: NYSESLAT Passage Review Criteria Checklist
NYSESLAT07_2014.05.01
Page 6