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Please see Secretary Murphy's letter regarding Lexiles®.

What Is the Lexile® Framework for Reading? 

The Lexile Framework for Reading is an educational tool that links text complexity and reader ability on a common scale metric known as the Lexile.  At the request of the Delaware Department of Education, MetaMetrics®, the developers of the Lexile Framework for Reading, established the relationship between the Delaware Comprehension Assessment System (DCAS) and the Lexile scale.  Students who take the reading DCAS now receive Lexile measures along with their DCAS scale scores.  These Lexile measures can be used to match readers with texts targeting the student’s reading ability.  Such targeted reading material is essential for growth in reading ability and helps to monitor student progress in reading within the Lexile ranges of the Lexile Framework for Reading.

What Is a Lexile?

A Lexile is a standard score within the framework that matches a student’s reading ability with the difficulty of text material.  A Lexile can be interpreted as the level of book that a student can read with 75% comprehension.  Experts have identified a 75% comprehension level as offering the reader a certain amount of comfort and yet still offering a challenge.  The Lexile Framework Map shows Lexiles ranging between approximately 200 and 1700.  However, some reading materials and readers do have Lexiles below 200 and may have a code in the 100s or a code of BR for beginning reader.

Where Can I Find a Student’s Lexile?

A student’s Lexile score is included on the spring DCAS student report for reading, which is mailed to parents each summer.  A child’s Lexile score is also available through Home Access and the teacher during the school year.

What Does a Student Do With a Lexile Score?

A student Lexile score can be entered into the "Find a Book, Delaware!" search engine.  This site will automatically generate a student book list based on the individual student Lexile range and interests.  Books will be identified by the Lexile level and may also have a Lexile code providing additional information regarding the content of the book.  In order to be successful, the student should read content-appropriate text within a range that is no more than 50L higher than the student’s Lexile and no more than 100L below the student’s Lexile.  It is also important for the student to select books based on interest.  Once the Lexile score is established, it is time to find a book!  Students can find books on their list while visiting their school or local libraries and media centers or by doing a library search using UDLibSEARCH.

How Do Lexiles and the Common Core Go Together?

The goal of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is to ensure that students are ready for college and career after high school.  The most important factor for readiness is a student’s ability to read and understand texts of steadily increasing complexity as they progress through school.  The Lexile Framework provides valuable insights into student readiness by measuring both the complexity of college and career texts and a student’s ability to comprehend these texts.

The Lexile Framework has been realigned to match the CCSS’s text complexity grade bands.  These Common Core bands of the Lexile Framework show an upward trajectory of reading comprehension development through the grades to indicate that all students should be reading at the college and career readiness level by no later than the end of high school.

Grade Band

Updated Common Core Lexile Bands*

K–1

n/a

2–3

420L–820L

4–5

740–1010L

6–8

925L–1185L

9–10

1050L–1335L

11–CCR

1185L–1385L

* Grade bands reflect the 2012 Revised Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.

These grade and Lexile bands are the basis for determining at what text complexity level students should be reading—and at which grades—to make sure they are ultimately prepared for the reading demands of college and careers.  This information was part of the research conducted during the Common Core State Standards Initiative with MetaMetrics.

Where Can I Find Out More About Lexiles?

The Delaware Department of Education, in conjunction with MetaMetrics, has set up the following additional resources and information on Lexiles.