Lexile® Measure ? reader measure from a reading test or program.

What is a 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.

A student gets his or her Lexile reader measure from a reading test or program. For example, if a student receives an 880L on her end-of-grade reading test, she is an 880 Lexile reader. Higher Lexile measures represent a higher level of reading ability. A Lexile reader measure can range from below 200L for beginning readers to above 1700L for advanced readers. Readers who score at or below 0L receive a BR for Beginning Reader.
A book, article or piece of text gets a Lexile text measure when it's analyzed by MetaMetrics. For example, the first "Harry Potter" book measures 880L, so it's called an 880 Lexile book. A Lexile text measure is based on two strong predictors of how difficult a text is to comprehend: word frequency and sentence length. Many other factors affect the relationship between a reader and a book, including its content, the age and interests of the reader, and the design of the actual book. The Lexile text measure is a good starting point in the book-selection process, with these other factors then being considered. Lexile text measures are rounded to the nearest 10L. Text measures at or below 0L are reported as BR for Beginning Reader.

The idea behind The Lexile Framework for Reading is simple: if we know how well a student can read and how hard a specific book is to comprehend, we can predict how well that student will likely understand the book.
When used together, Lexile measures help a reader find books and articles at an appropriate level of difficulty (visit Find a Book ), and determine how well that reader will likely comprehend a text. You also can use Lexile measures to monitor a reader's growth in reading ability over time.

Lexile Measures Help Readers Grow, and Help Parents and Teachers Know

Teachers and parents can best serve a student's literacy needs when they treat him or her as a unique individual, rather than as a test score or a grade-level norm or average. The reading abilities of young people in the same grade at school can vary just as much as their shoe sizes. However, grade-leveling methods commonly are used to match students with books.
When a Lexile text measure matches a Lexile reader measure, this is called a "targeted" reading experience. The reader will likely encounter some level of difficulty with the text, but not enough to get frustrated. This is the best way to grow as a reader—with text that's not too hard but not too easy.

When you receive a Lexile measure, try not to focus on the exact number. Instead, consider a reading range around the number. A person's Lexile range, or reading comprehension "sweet spot," is from 100L below to 50L above his or her reported Lexile measure. Use this Lexile range in our Find a Book search. And don't be afraid to look at books above and below someone's Lexile range. Just know that a reader might find these books particularly challenging or simple.

If a student tackles reading material above his or her Lexile range, consider what additional instruction or lower-level reading resources might help. Ask him or her to keep track of unknown words, and look them up together. Or take turns reading aloud to each other to chop up the reading experience into smaller portions. Likewise, you can reward students with books that fall below his or her Lexile range for an easier reading experience.

What is a Lexile measure?
There are two kinds of Lexile measures: the Lexile reader measure and the Lexile text measure. Students receive a Lexile reader measure as a score from a reading test - it describes his or her reading ability. Books and other texts receive a Lexile text measure from a software tool called the Lexile Analyzer - it describes the book's reading demand or difficulty.
When used together, these measures can help match a reader with reading material that is at an appropriate difficulty, or help give an idea of how well a reader will comprehend a text. The Lexile reader measure can also be used to monitor a reader's growth in reading ability over time. Lexile helps readers grow, and helps parents and teachers know.

When a Lexile text measure matches or is in the range of a Lexile reader measure, this is called a targeted reading experience. The reader will encounter some level of difficulty with the text, but not enough to get frustrated. This is the best way to grow as a reader - reading text that's not too hard but not too easy.

What can I do with my Lexile measure?

You can easily find "just right" books either for school or for pleasure reading. You can also easily know when a reader might need a little help, or a little more challenge.

When you receive your Lexile measure from a test, try not to focus on the exact number. Instead, consider a reading range around the number. A young person's Lexile range, or reading "sweet spot," is from 100L below to 50L above his or her reported measure. Use this range in our Find a Book search. And don't be afraid to look at books above and below someone's Lexile range. Just know that a reader might find these books particularly challenging or simple.

If a student tackles reading material above his or her Lexile range, consider what additional instruction or lower-level reading resources might help. Ask him or her to keep track of unknown words, and look them up together. Or take turns reading aloud to each other to chop up the reading experience into smaller portions. Likewise, you can reward students with easy reading just as adults like to grab a couple of pulp novels to read in the beach chair.

Where can I receive a Lexile measure?

MetaMetrics does not publish tests that report Lexile measures. Neither is there an online test on our Web site. Instead, we partner with state departments of education and test publishers to create assessments or link existing assessments to report Lexile measures. Currently, students can receive Lexile measures from many different tests and reading programs.

What is the relationship between grade equivalents and Lexile measures?

There is no direct correspondence of a specific Lexile measure to a specific grade level. Within any classroom or grade, there will be a range of readers and a range of reading materials. For example, in a fifth-grade classroom there will be some readers who are ahead of the typical reader (about 250L above) and some readers who are behind the typical reader (about 250L below). To say that some books are "just right" for fifth graders assumes that all fifth graders are reading at about the same level. The Lexile Framework for Reading is intended to match readers with texts at whatever level each individual reader is reading.

With that said, we have a more detailed explanation and a chart available that shows Lexile ranges from actual test scores across the nation in each grade. Please keep in mind, the "Reader Measures" column of this chart is not to be taken as recommended ranges. This is simply where young readers are reading. And know that students scored above and below these ranges as well -- the ranges in the table are the middle 50% of students in each grade

Click here to visit:  lexile