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Text Complexity

Text Complexity. The inherent difficulty of reading and comprehending a text combined with consideration of reader and task variables ( Common Core State Standards for ELA ). WCPSS Elementary Principals December 1, 2011. Remember the Six Shifts?. Increase reading of informational text

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Text Complexity

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  1. Text Complexity The inherent difficulty of reading and comprehending a text combined with consideration of reader and task variables (Common Core State Standards for ELA) WCPSS Elementary Principals December 1, 2011

  2. Remember the Six Shifts? • Increase reading of informational text • Literacy instruction in all content areas • Text complexity • Text-based answers • Increased writing from sources • Academic vocabulary

  3. Desired Outcomes • An understanding of the three features of text complexity • An understanding of why text complexity matters • Knowledge of resources to support consideration of text complexity

  4. Why Focus on It? As the complexity of K-12 texts decreased The complexity of reading demands in college/career increased

  5. Best “Sorter” within the ACT? Not cognitive level of question… Not questions focusing on textual elements… Text Complexity

  6. Not natural… “We were never born to read. Human beings invented reading only a few thousand years ago. And with this invention, we rearranged the very organization of our brain, which in turn expanded the ways we are able to think, which altered the intellectual evolution of our species.” Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain

  7. Not an inoculation…

  8. Students with Disabilities and English Language Learners

  9. Not “if,” but “how” Literacy is a right, not a privilege.

  10. Rank the titles at your table from least to most “complex”

  11. Table Talk: What did you notice?

  12. Text Complexity Common Core State Standards

  13. Three-legged Stool Quantitative Reader and Text Qualitative

  14. Quantitative Analysis of Text • What is a Lexile measure? • How are Lexile measures determined? • How can you find out a student’s Lexile reader measure? • How can you find out the Lexile measure of a text?

  15. Readability Measures A way of quantifying text difficulty… 2000 +

  16. Unique: Matching Readers to Texts ↔

  17. Forecasted Comprehension of Text 1500L 25% 1250L 50% 1000L1000L75% 750L 85% 500L 95%

  18. What does a Lexile measure include? Sentence Length Word Frequency

  19. How are Lexile measures determined?

  20. Most people stay away from snakes. But not Jesus Rivas. He likes to follow them. He follows a snake called the anaconda. It is one of the biggest snakes in the world. Rivas takes the anaconda from the water. He studies it. Then Rivas puts the snake back. His job makes him a snake stalker. (280L) Everyone should stay focused at work, but if Jesus Rivas gets distracted for even a moment, he could be strangled by a 500-pount snake. Rivas, a biologist, is leading the first-ever study of anacondas in the wild. (1120L)

  21. Staircase of Text Complexity Student: 50 above and 100 below At the lowest grade in each band, (for example, 4th grade), students focus on reading texts within the current Lexile band. At the next grade within the band (for example, 5th grade), students must “stretch” to read some texts from the next band. Building + Challenging

  22. How can you find out a student’s Lexile measure? NC EOG

  23. How can you find out the Lexile measure of a text? http://www.lexile.com Book Search Lexile Analyzer

  24. Lexile Codes • AD: Adult Directed • NC: Non-Conforming • HL: High-Low • IG: Illustrated Guide • GN: Graphic Novel • BR: Beginning Reading • NP: Non-Prose

  25. Where are we going?

  26. What a Lexile Measure Cannot Do • Replace professional judgment of teachers • Determine whether or not a student can read a text • Measure content or quality of a text

  27. Qualitative Analysis of Text

  28. Qualitative Analysis

  29. Comparing Three Titles

  30. Sample Science Texts 730L 1020L 1000L

  31. Reader and Task • Variables specific to particular readers (such as motivation, knowledge, and experiences) • Variables specific to particular tasks (such as purpose and the complexity of the task assigned and the questions posed)

  32. Keep in mind… • A student’s ability to read complex text does not always develop in a linear fashion. • Students reading well above and well below grade-band level need additional support. • Even many students on course for college and career readiness are likely to need scaffolding as they master higher levels of text complexity.

  33. Students need opportunities to stretch their reading abilities but also to experience the satisfaction and pleasure of easy, fluent reading…, both of which the Standards allow for. As noted above, such factors as students’ motivation, knowledge, and experiences must also come into play in text selection. Common Core State Standards

  34. Key Word: “GRAPPLE”

  35. Additional Resources • Common Core State Standards for ELA Appendix A and Appendix B • DPI Exemplar Document (contains ordering information for texts listed in CCSS and indicates which are in the public domain)

  36. Implications for Your School?

  37. Questions? Sherri Merritt, Ph.D. Director of K-12 Literacy Wake County Public School System smerritt2@wcpss.net 919.431.7484

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