Better Match Beginning Readers to Texts With New Lexile Enhancements

Finding the most appropriate books for beginning readers just got easier.

To better encourage and measure reading growth for even the youngest learner, we’ve made several exciting enhancements. With these enhancements, Lexile® measures are now more precise for content used in K–2 classrooms and provide readers with a superior match to texts. Now beginning readers can more easily find books that are matched to their skill level, fostering more rapid reading growth. 

Here is what’s new:

• The Lexile® scale is extended for beginning readers. Previously, all books measuring below 0L were given a standalone “BR” (Beginning Reader) code. Now, texts with a measure below 0L receive a Lexile measure (e.g., BR100L).
• K–2 content is now measured across more dimensions. Through our research on the reading behaviors of young students, a nine-variable model was identified as most accurately and reliably measuring the text complexity of K–2 content. This nine-variable model is now incorporated into the algorithm that is used to determine the Lexile measure of a book or piece of text.
• New information called “early-reading indicators” is now offered to help determine where the challenge is coming from in a text. Now, early-reading indicators are provided for text with Lexile measures of 650L or below in order to help identify important text features in early-reading materials that could present more or less of a challenge for a reader.