Switch to Lexile Measures Improves Elementary Student Test Scores, Reading Motivation in North Carolina School District

When a school district decides to change its approach to teaching students, the decision has a seismic impact. It affects the administration, teachers, technology staff and parents, before the students even take their seats. Just such a challenge was faced by the elementary school district in Wilkes County, N.C., in 2001. Despite the district's longtime use of a reading management software system, improvement in standardized reading and language test scores was slow. Susan Sidden, Wilkes County's K-5 supervisor of reading and writing, knew they could do better.
Sidden had noticed a disconnect between the classroom activity and results in the End-of-Grade tests required in North Carolina. Concerned that the students weren't being empowered to pursue independent as well as guided reading, she set out to find a program with a balanced literacy approach. (For more information about Wilkes County's success using Lexiles to encourage independent reading, read the case study "North Carolina Students Use Lexiles to Build Reading Skills"). After learning about Lexiles at a professional development workshop, Sidden discovered a success story right in her own district, at an elementary school that was already using Lexiles to help students build reading skills.