Lexile

One of the things educators are going to address with Common Core is the new expectations for reading level.  Common Core uses Lexile level  to determine to appropriate grade range for a text.  Lexile, simply put, is a measure of how many syllables you find per number of words and how many words you find per sentence. More syllables and/or more words will generally give you a higher Lexile. Text with lots of dialogue is usually a lower Lexile.   

If you look at Page 8 of Appendix A of the Standards you see this chart:    

You can see that starting in about 4th grade, Lexile level changes significantly and continues through 12th grade.  

How can you find the Lexile of a given text? Here’s one resource: in the upper right is a quick book search. I plugged a couple of books in I used to teach 11th grade with. The Great Gatsby is a 1070L, middle of the road now for 9th-1oth grade CC range.  Same with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest- an 1110L.  

Give it a try. Start thinking about reading materials.