Literacy with Lafferty

Integrated Life and Literacy

I can’t wait to get out of school – no more reading!!!

August19

A fellow teacher sent me this info-graphic recently and it surprised me.

 

reading

Click to enlarge.

I would want to know where this data came from, but as a literacy teacher, this is not what I wanted to find!  Never read another book?  And the percentage is even higher for college graduates?  That is hard for me to understand.

I often talk to my students about reading after they finish school.  I tell them that they will never “have” to read a fiction book again. There is no required adult reading list (although I wish there was!).  Some cheer when they find that out. However, they will READ all day, everyday. While they don’t have to read the newspaper, they are required to read and understand medical diagnoses, tax forms, contracts, etc.  And as we know, this formal reading can be difficult to understand if we aren’t strong readers – and our lives and money can depend on understanding before we sign.

There is an objective process, free of charge, to help us know the level of our children’s reading and the track they need to remain on for life success. The Lexile reading system is a difficulty ranking of nearly every piece of literature and informational text to match the texts’ difficulty with the ability level of the reader. Ranking is done by both word and sentence lengths.   STAAR tests include a student’s Lexile rank, based on the score achieved, on the student’s Confidential Report.  Once that level is known – parents and teachers can help students choose books tailor made for their level to ensure deep comprehension. On the free Lexile page, there is a “Search by Lexile” function which allows anyone to find books on a particular level.  We can also search by book for its Lexile.

You can access the Lexile level chart here: Lexile Map  It includes examples of both literature and informational reading in each level, as well as a sample text.  While the Lexile system does not like to include grade equivalents for levels – they do include a chart here with typical measures. A person’s Lexile range, or reading comprehension “sweet spot,” is from 100L below to 50L above his or her reported Lexile measure.

Not only is this a strong tool for students to use to improve their own comprehension, we learn that some of our most important documents were written at the post-college level.  The Constitution of the United States of America? Level 1560 – beyond college level.  The Declaration of Independence?  College Level Reading. These documents we certainly want to deeply comprehend and not base our freedoms on what someone tells us they mean.

A Lexile of 1200 is considered senior high school level reading. A senior should graduate able to read at this level.  What in our real life reading matches?

Lexile Real Work Application

While some may believe their reading stops with school – we realize it continues at post-high school levels for everyday and important required text. Even in careers we might assume don’t requires reading,  we see that manuals in careers such as construction and ag. train with manuals that are post high school level reading.

The target level for college/career readiness (CCR) in 6-8th grade readers is 925L-1185L.  This needs to be the target to meet for every middle school reader to ready them for high school.  Does your student fall in that range?  If not, as in all skills – it just takes practice.  And simply reading at school is not enough.  Family reading times, trips to the library, reading at the park and then talking about what’s read would benefit the entire family.  We all need to make sure we are challenging ourselves with reading that will keep our skills fresh. We need to encourage our children to read often and to realize the necessity of  life long reading. Don’t be part of that uninformed adult majority shown in the graphic above!

Florida has good ideas for secondary parents to encourage reading at home and includes questions for good family discussions. If you would like more ideas, let me know!

(Quantile is a similar system for math.  You can access it here.)

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