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Is There a Science to Finding the Right Book?

A tennis racquet has one. So does a baseball bat. Could it be that a beginning reader has a sweet spot, too?
     

    The reading sweet spot is that perfect balance between a child's ability and a text's difficulty, that place where a child can skim across the page without realizing she's decoding symbols into ideas and stringing them together to create meaning.

    It should be an experience of ease and comprehension.

    More Readability Measures

    If a book is a part of Amazon.com's Search Inside program, you can see concrete examples of readability measures by clicking on the Text Stats link. You will be able to see how the book is ranked according to these measures:

    • The Fog Index. Developed by Robert Gunning, author of How to Take the Fog Out of Writing, the Fog Index analyzes a passage by using this formula: (w/s + hw/w x 100) x 0.4, where "w" is the number of words in the passage, "s" is the number of sentences, and "hw" is the number of hard words (words with three or more syllables). The resulting number represents the minimum grade level a reader needs in order to understand the passage.
    • The Flesch Index. Developed by Dr. Rudolf Flesch, the author of Why Johnny Can't Read, the Flesch Index is in widespread use among many governmental agencies.
    • The Flesch-Kincaid Index. A modification of the Flesch Index, The Flesch-Kincaid results in a score that indicates the grade level at which the text would be understood by the average student.

    Users of Microsoft Word will find both the Flesch and the Flesch-Kincaid already on their computers. To access them in Word:

    1. Go to Tools and then Options
    2. Select Spelling and Grammar
    3. Check "Show readability statistics"
    4. Run a Spelling and Grammar check on the passage you'd like to measure. A message will appear with your readability score. This article, for example, has a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score of 10.2, meaning that it's written at a 10th grade level.

     

    Over the past several decades many systems have evolved with the goals of measuring the reader and the text. But, how accurate are they?

    Readability Measures

    Researchers have been working on readability measures since at least the 1940s. In the United States, the measure in the widest use is the Lexile Framework, which has been adopted by book publishers, educational testing companies and state Departments of Education.

    The Lexile Framework measures a text by analyzing sentence length and word frequency. Once these factors are determined, they're fed into the Lexile equation and, presto, chango!, we have the Lexile ranking, a number ranging from 200L for beginner texts up to 1700L for advanced ones.

    How Is The Lexile Framework Different From Other Measures?

    What makes the Lexile Framework unique, and what has led to its widespread adoption, is that it also measures the reader. "Readability formulas have been around for at least 50 years, but no one had ever put the reader and the text on the same scale like we did," says Malbert Smith, president of MetaMetrics, the developer of the Lexile Framework.

    "We actually linked with the state tests so that whenever they report out their scores they can also report out a Lexile measure on the student," says Smith. "When we developed the Lexile Framework we really wanted to give something to parents that would be actionable. Parents don't know how to take action on a "stanine" or a "NCE score" or a "percentage rank."

    "Once you know your child's Lexile measure, you can come to our Web site, where we have 110,000 books that we've measured. The Lexile database is updated with new titles every month," continues Smith.

    How to Find Your Child's Lexile Rank

    Lexiles are used in some fashion in every state, although not all students in a state are measured. "In the U.S. there are about 52 to 53 million students in the K-12 space in public schools. About 25 million of those students get a Lexile measure from one of the test publishers," says Smith.

    Find out how your state uses The Lexile Framework.

    California does things a little differently in that the results of its Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program are mailed to parents with the Lexile measure reported as a "California Reading List Number." A parent can use their child's Reading List Number when referring to a list of leveled books on the California Department of Education Web site.

     
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    Comments from GreatSchools.net readers

    09/25/2008:
    "'The Lexile Framework has its detractors, such as Stephen Krashen, Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Southern California. Krashen asserts that the money states are spending on The Lexile Framework would be better spent on acquiring books for schools and districts with limited financial resources. Teachers and librarians, he says, are already trained to match readers with books and don't need the added nuisance of readability formulas.' --some teachers have not been trained or trained well on matching readers with books - they just go along with the program for the grade level. Also with budget cuts, librarians are pulling more lunch monitor duty or yard duty then actual hours in the library and some 'librarians' are not actually trained in the library sciences but hired just to check out and reshelve books. "
    07/25/2008:
    "Why worry about all this reader stuff ... with 'No Child Left Behind' ... their teachers will just give them an easier and easier version of the required test until they can pass it. Thus producing a graduating class in just a few more years ... THAT CAN'T READ OR COMPREHEND IT IF THEY CAN! My newly PLACED into 5th Grade special needs son can read a 10th grade book ... word for word ... and out loud ... but he has ZERO comprehension of 90% of those very words ... and yet they keep shortening his assignments and PLACING him in the next grade! Well ... this year we are going to suck it up and try it another way ... he's going INTO the 5th grade ... no law requires that I have him in a special needs class ... just that it be available. SOOOO ... I wonder what it's going to do to the TEKS testing scores in his class room when he's melting down on the floor like a 2 year old and won't even bubble in his own name?!?!? I'm betting that the other kids won't be able to do much beyond that either ... so much for their funding based on TEKS test scores ... but it should prove my point. "
    07/24/2008:
    "For an example of what is wrong with this computer generated syntactical analysis of literature, look up Doctor Zhivago, a great book (and a popular movie when I was a teen). It is rated for a strong 8th grader reader. I wonder what 8th graders think of the depiction of a girl their age molested by her stepfather, her mother's attempted suicide when she finds out, etc. The love child Lara and Zhivago have is the least of the hard to explain adult situations in this book. Don't recommend a book to a child which you haven't read. Yet schools had out these lists unedited and demand that children read at their level. The high level reader has few choices that are age appropriate - a national problem - but one that the schools ignore when giving out points for having read books. "
    09/25/2007:
    "I agree with your assessment that having the Lexile Level is just the beginning. Here's a real example for you. I have a son that just started Second Grade that is good at reading. I was checking some of my books for Lexile levels to use at school and found I had a couple that should be in his range (these would become an addition to his book shelf, if he liked them). He wanted to try the Journey to the Center of the Earth by Becky Cheston based on the Jules Verne novel (which is near the 1000 Lexile level). Becky's book is supposed to be a 340 Lexile level, which would be in range with where he is right now. After two pages he became frustrated and quit because of the readability of the text. If this is how a normal reader reacts to the book, I have to wonder how reading recovery students will react to this book and other ones like it. Knowing that a book is on your reading level and not being able to enjoy reading it is frustrating for readers and parents alike."
    06/8/2007:
    "I am a reader. I read stories to 13 different classes at 4 different schools each week and I am familiar with most of your suggestions. I note with interest that you suggest 'Sideways Stories From Wayside school' for the fourth grade but I also note that you suggest, the 3rd book in the series, 'Wayside school gets a Little Stranger' for the 3rd grade. No matter what the grade, I think that it is always a good idea to start at the beginning. By the way, kids LOVE all three books in this series by Sachar."
    06/8/2007:
    "How do I find appropriate books for an 8 year old with a reading level of 10+(Accelerated Reader and STAR levels established during the school year) There must be a list for immature readers with very mature reading levels."
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