Common Core State Standards and Readability

Hello All,

With the implementation of Common Core State Standards, it occurred to me secondary science teachers are likely thinking more about the readability of materials chosen for the classroom.  If you are not familiar with Lexiles or the changes in the Lexile ranges for grade bands, a great place to learn more is The Lexile Framework for Reading.  The site allows one to search for books by Lexile measure or grade level.  The title of a book can also be entered to find the Lexile measure if the information has been documented.  The site further provides the option of a Lexile Analyzer to find the Lexile measure of text from other sources.  Personally,  I prefer Readability-Score.com for analyzing text since I can simply copy and paste the text to be analyzed.  The Lexile Analyzer from the previous site requires one to format the text a certain way before submitting for analysis.  Readability-Score.com also evaluates the text according to a number of readability formulas along with providing text statistics such as words per sentence and sentence count.  Word and Outlook utilize the Flesch Reading Ease formula, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula, and text statistics to determine the readability of the text.  

Readability Statistics in Word

In both Word and Outlook, go to the Review tab, click on Spelling and Grammar, go to Options, and check the Show readability statistics box – may also need to check the Check grammar with spelling box in order for the Show readability statistics box to allow a check.  

Feel free to research the various readability tests further on your own.  There is plenty of debate in the areas of literacy, Lexile, other readability tests, and education within the United States.

Happy analysis,

Mrs. A