Text Complexity, Lexile Levels, and Guided Reading Levels: Choosing Just Right Books for Kids - the how and why:
Text Exemplars by grade level online:
http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/docs/acre/standards/common-core-tools/exemplar/ela.pdf
Introduction to text complexity video: (4 min)
http://schools.nyc.gov/Academics/CommonCoreLibrary/CommonCoreClassroom/Literacy/default.htm
Video on Lexile Levels for Parents: (3 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZb9GAjNQcU
Lexile Overview video: (6 min)
http://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/lexile-video/
Information on Lexiles:
https://d1jt5u2s0h3gkt.cloudfront.net/m/cms_page_media/123/Lexiles-at-Home.pdf
Amazon book finder:
http://www.arbookfind.com/UserType.aspx
Barnes and Noble Book Search by Lexile Level:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/reading-level-reading-books-lexile/search.asp
Find a Book by Lexile Level:
What can I do with my child's Lexile measure?
You can easily find "just right" books either for school or for pleasure reading. You can also easily know when a reader might need a little help, or a little more challenge. When you receive your Lexile measure from a test, try not to focus on the exact number. Instead, consider a reading range around the number. A young person's Lexile range, or reading "sweet spot," is from 100L below to 50L above his or her reported measure. Use this range in our Find a Book search. And don't be afraid to look at books above and below someone's Lexile range. Just know that a reader might find these books particularly challenging or simple.
If a student tackles reading material above his or her Lexile range, consider what additional instruction or lower-level reading resources might help. Ask him or her to keep track of unknown words, and look them up together. Or take turns reading aloud to each other to chop up the reading experience into smaller portions. Likewise, you can reward students with easy reading just as adults like to grab a couple of pulp novels to read in the beach chair.
The Common Core State Standards Initiative places a strong emphasis on the role of text complexity in evaluating student readiness for college and careers. To follow are the Common Core Standards' three equally important components of text complexity, along with how Lexile® measures can support them.
Qualitative dimensions of text complexity, such as levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands. Lexile codes provide more information about a book's characteristics, such as its developmental appropriateness, reading difficulty, and common or intended usage.
More on Lexile codes:
http://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/lexile-codes/
Quantitative measures of text complexity, such as word frequency and sentence length, which are typically measured by computer software. The Lexile Analyzer measures text demand based on these two widely adopted variables. This is a scientific process and does not take into account the content or the reader. it is simply counting the words and complexity of the writing itself.
More on Lexile analyzer:
http://www.lexile.com/analyzer/
Reader and task considerations, such as students' knowledge, motivation and interests. The free "Find a Book" search helps readers build custom book lists based on their ability (Lexile measure) and personal interests or school assignments.
Find a Book by Lexile Level: