It's Easy to Set Goals for Individuals or Reading Groups

Common Core Lexile bands are designed to ensure that students comprehend texts of increasing complexity as they move through each grade level. You can easily track progress according to this metric with Total Reader reports and reading groups.

Reading groups show whether students need intervention, are proficient or are advanced, depending on where their current Lexile measure falls on the "stretch" Lexile bands defined by Common Core.

The Common Core Lexile bands, first defined in 2010 through studies related to the development of standards for English Language Arts, were updated in 2012. The updated Lexile bands communicate what is expected of students at each grade level and help ensure that students will be college and career ready when they graduate.

Research shows high school graduation no longer guarantees that students are ready for postsecondary challenges. According to MetaMetrics, the company that developed the Lexile Framework for Reading, the complexity of typical high school textbooks is no higher than about 1165L. The new "stretch" Lexile bans shows a range of 1185L to 1385L for grades 11 through "college and career ready." For more information on college and career readiness, please click here.

Figure 1

More Choices for Tracking Progress

Teachers have a choice of two additional metrics for grouping students. With each metric, student reading measures fall within a range for each grade level.

The metric in column 1 of Figure 2 aligns student progress using typical reader measures. Data for the reader measures came from a study conducted by MetaMetrics on a national sample of students.

Figure 2

The metric in column 2 of Figure 2 aligns student progress to typical text measures. Data for the text measures came from a research study designed to examine collections of textbooks designated for specific grades (MetaMetrics, 2009).

Metrics and Reading Practice

Each student needs reading practice at the right level to promote reading growth. In addition to providing targeted online practice, Total Reader recommends three ranges of reading practice individually targeted to each student, to promote the best reading growth. You can work with students to choose easy, targeted or challenging books.