Glossary of Lexile & Quantile Terms

Lexile Terms

Beginning Reader (BR) Codes

are Lexile codes given to both texts and student scores below 0L. A Lexile measure of BR100L indicates that the Lexile measure is 100 units below 0L. See Lexile Codes.

Early-Reading Indicators

help identify important text features in K-2 content that could present more or less of a challenge for a reader. There are four types of early-reading indicators that appear along with BR (Beginning Reader) Lexile measures:

• Structure indicator – looks at what is going on with text as a whole by evaluating the degree of repetition and patterning (e.g. repeated phrases) in the text. Repeated phrases lower the structure indicator.
• Syntactic indicator – looks at what is going on at the sentence level by evaluating the complexity within sentences and across sentences.
• Semantic indicator – looks at what is going on with the words used by evaluating the challenge of word meanings in a text.
• Decoding indicator – looks at word parts such as vowel and consonant patterns, and sounds by evaluating the patterns of letters in a word.

Lexile® Find a Book

enables users to find books that match a student’s reading level and interests and can be used to check the availability of books at the local library. There are more than 300,000 titles to search on Find a Book at hub.lexile.com/find-a-book.

Lexile® Text Analyzer

enables registered users to analyze text and generate a Lexile® text measure. For early-reading texts (through grades K-2 or 650L and below), the Lexile Text Analyzer generates information about text complexity and indicators dealing with structure, syntax, semantics and decoding. A free, limited version is available at Hub.Lexile.com.

The Lexile® Text Analyzer Editor Assistant

is a tool to more efficiently and effectively develop leveled text at a particular Lexile level. Users can write and edit text while receiving Lexile measures on-demand, as well as access information on important text characteristics, view revision history, and collaborate with colleagues. More information is available at lexile.com/enhance-your-products-with-lexile-tools/licensing-lexile-analyzer-editor-assistant/

The Lexile® Career Database

contains Lexile measures for over 250 careers across numerous fields, as well as important descriptive information for each career. With this tool, the reading ability needed for a desired career can be determined and used to inform goal setting.

Lexile Codes

are a two-letter designation before a Lexile text measure that provide more information about the type of book and its age appropriateness. The Lexile codes are:

• AD: Adult Directed – Better when read aloud to a student rather than having the student read independently.
• BR: Beginning Reader – Appropriate for emerging readers with a Lexile reader measure below 0L.
• GN: Graphic Novel – Graphic novels or comic books.
• HL: High-Low – Content to engage older students who need materials that are less complex and at a lower reading level.
• IG: Illustrated Guide – Nonfiction materials often used for reference.
• NC: Non-Conforming – Good for high-ability readers who still need age-appropriate content.
• NP: Non-Prose – Poems, plays, songs, recipes and text with non-standard or absent punctuation.

The Lexile® Framework for Reading

evaluates reading ability and text complexity on the same developmental scale. Unlike other measurement systems, the Lexile Framework determines reading ability based on actual assessments, rather than generalized age or grade levels.

Lexile measures match readers with text, providing an ecosystem for building reading comprehension skills. With Lexile measures, state departments of education, school districts, educators and families have a powerful tool for supporting learners as they navigate the path to academic success in reading.

Recognized as the standard for matching readers with texts, more than 35 million students in all 50 U.S. states and from 180 countries around the world receive a Lexile measure that connects them with targeted readings from the more than 100 million articles, books and websites that have been measured. Today more than 65 popular reading assessments and programs and 25 state assessments report Lexile measures. For more information about the Lexile Framework, visit Lexile.com. 

The Lexile Framework for Reading for Spanish Speakers / El Sistema Lexile® para Leer

is the Spanish version of the widely adopted Lexile Framework for Reading. It provides its own developmental scale and measure to connect Spanish readers with resources at the right level of difficulty and in their native language. Spanish Lexile measures help educators, librarians and families select targeted materials and activities that can improve reading ability and monitor reading growth in school, the library and at home. Spanish Lexile measures are available from a growing number of reading assessments and programs, and the number of resources with Spanish Lexile measures continues to increase.

The Lexile® Growth Planner

is a tool to forecast a student’s reading growth and determine if that student is on track to graduate college- and career- ready. If a student is projected to fall short of this goal, the Lexile Growth Planner will identify the growth path that is needed to graduate college- and career- ready.

Lexile Map (Poster)

provides a graphic representation of texts matched to appropriate levels of reading ability.

The Lexile® PowerV® Vocabulary Tool

uses a book or piece of text to generate vocabulary lists within a desired Lexile range to aid comprehension. The tool develops book specific vocabulary lists that contain words that students should know when reading the book. Generated vocabulary lists can be targeted to different reading levels for over 125,000 popular books.

Lexile® Reading Measure

represents a student’s reading ability on the Lexile scale. A student receives a Lexile measure from a variety of reading assessments or a state assessment. The Lexile reading measure can be used to monitor a reader’s growth in reading ability over time. When used together with the Lexile text measure, it can help a reader choose a book or other reading material that is at an appropriate challenge level.

Lexile® Text Measure

represents a text’s difficulty level on the Lexile scale. A Lexile measure is represented by a number followed by an “L” such as “800L.” Over 100 million books and articles have Lexile measures. When used together with the Lexile reading measure, it can help a reader choose a book or other reading material that is at an appropriate challenge level.

Lexile® Titles Database

is comprised of over 275,000 fiction and nonfiction titles with Lexile measures.

Lexile range

spans 100L below to 50L above a student’s Lexile measure, and is the optimal range for successful reading practice.

Lexile scale

ranges from below 0L for beginner level readers and texts to above 2000L for more advanced level readers and texts.

Quantile Terms

Emerging Mathematician (EM)

denotes “Emerging Mathematician” for material and student measures at the early grade levels below 0Q.

Foundational QSC

Describes a Quantile skill or concept (QSC) that only requires readiness to learn. Readiness is based on the learner’s cognitive experiences rather than knowledge of specific mathematical concepts. Most often these QSCs appear in the pre-K level.

Higher Mathematical Content (HMC)

is content for which there are Quantile Skills and Concepts (QSCs) but the QSCs have not yet been researched to identify their measures. These QSCs are currently in statistics and precalculus.

Impending QSC

is a Quantile Skill and Concept (QSC) that has a relationship to a focus QSC such that the focus QSC is a prerequisite to a new skill or QSC that students will likely learn in their future mathematics studies as they logically progress through their coursework. This insight provides a more global perspective of the process, connections and relationships that support a student’s understanding of mathematics.

Knowledge Clusters

are assembled to a single focus Quantile Skill and Concept (QSC) with supporting, prerequisite and impending QSCs. These connections to the focus QSC are built to inform both the content and the measure of the mathematical progression of skills and concepts.

Quantile® Math Skills Database

enables educators to search Quantile Skills and Concepts (QSCs) by keywords, mathematics strand or state curricular alignments.

Quantile® Math@Home

provides Quantile measured resources and activities to reinforce classroom learning at home at Quantiles.com/math-at-home.

Not Measurable in Quantile Measures (NMQ)

indicates content that is extensively diverse in Quantile Skills and Concepts (QSCs) or strands so it cannot be classified within the Quantile Framework. Some examples are quizzes, tests, riddles, review sheets/activities, and process skills such as working backwards, justifying, drawing pictures, etc.

Prerequisite QSCs (Quantile Skills and Concepts)

describe skills and concepts that are important for students to learn before beginning instruction on the focus QSC. For example, the focus QSC described as “Use patterns to continue numerical sequences; identify the rule” has prerequisite QSCs that expect students to be able to identify missing addends among addition facts and use various counting strategies and manipulatives. The various QSCs are combined from different content strands which demonstrates the interconnectivity and the developmental progression in the study of mathematics.

The Quantile® Framework for Mathematics

is a unique measurement system that uses a common scale and metric to assess a student’s mathematical achievement level and the difficulty of specific skills and concepts. The Quantile Framework describes a student’s ability to solve mathematical problems and the demand of the skills and concepts typically taught in kindergarten mathematics through Algebra II, Geometry, Trigonometry and Pre-calculus. Quantile measures take the guesswork out of instruction by describing which mathematical skills and concepts the student has learned and is ready to learn.

With Quantile measures, state departments of education, school districts, educators and families have a powerful tool for supporting learners as they navigate the path to academic success in mathematics.

For more information about the Quantile Framework, visit Quantiles.com.

The Quantile® Growth Planner

is a tool to forecast a student’s growth in mathematics and determine if that student is on track to graduate college- and career- ready. If a student is projected to fall short of this goal, the Quantile Growth Planner will identify the growth path that is needed to graduate college- and career- ready.

Quantile Map (Poster)

provides a graphic representation of how Quantile Skills and Concepts (QSCs), Knowledge Clusters and student Quantile measures work together. It provides examples of how The Quantile Framework for Mathematics works at various difficulty levels on the Quantile scale from basic mathematics concepts at EM400Q to more advanced mathematics skills at 1600Q.

Quantile Scale

spans a developmental continuum from kindergarten mathematics to Pre-calculus, from below 0Q (Emerging Mathematician) to above 1600Q.

Quantile® Skill and Concept (QSC)

is a description of almost 500 mathematics skills and/or concepts and their Quantile measure. Each measure shows how difficult one skill is in relation to the others. The QSCs connect to each other forming a web of mathematics content from kindergarten through secondary school.

Quantile® Student Measure

describes a student’s understanding of mathematical skills and concepts in the areas of Geometry, Measurement, Number Sense, Numerical Operations, Algebra and Algebraic Thinking, Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability. The developmental continuum ranges from below 0Q (Emerging Mathematician) to above 1600Q.

Quantile® Teacher Assistant

supports differentiated instruction by providing access to resources on specific mathematical skills and concepts that are aligned to state learning standards. This tool can help teachers to plan lessons and develop formative assessments.

Supporting QSCs

represent skills that are not necessary but could be useful to enrich a lesson, make connections across topics as well as strands and help students integrate different mathematical concepts.