Using Lexiles with PASeries

Many PASeries users have now administered at least the screener tests to determine incoming student ability levels. As the last blog entry focused on Quantiles, let’s take a look at Lexiles and some of the great resources available.

Let’s start with an example. Say we have a student named, oh I don’t know, Chris. Chris was administered the a screener test and received a Lexile score of 650. As we learn from our Reading Teacher’s Manual, this indicates that Chris is reading below level for his cohort.

One instructional strategy would have us use Chris’ Lexile score to match him to texts that fit his interests and would keep him engaged in the reading process. Armed with his Lexile score and the knowledge that Chris is a big fan of trucks (gleaned from his frequent discourses on them), we can use the Lexile Book Database to find titles that will both challenge and engage Chris.

In the Lexile Book Database we enter 600 as our minimum and 700 as our maximum in the Lexile Range fields. In the Keyword field we enter “trucks” and click Search. The Lexile Book database yields a number of works that would be appropriate to Chris’ Lexile level and his interest in trucks. This search yields the following:

0689715161
Diggers
and Dump Trucks
Royston, Angela
IG620L

157505311X
Get
Around with Cargo
Hill, Lee Sullivan
610L

0590023810
Highway
Trucks
Korman, Justine
AD690L

0805052968
Isaac:
The Ice Cream Truck
Santoro, Scott
AD660L

155037592X
Load
'Em Up Trucks
Pearson, Debora
AD650L

1560654635
Military
Trucks
Green, Michael
680L

0802784631
Milkman's
Boy, The
Hall, Donald
AD660L

1560653728
Pickup
Trucks
Koons, James
690L

Armed with this information, we can direct Chris to the school library with this list of appropriate titles or print this list and send it home to Chris’ family along with the helpful Lexiles at Home fact sheet. Now, Chris will surely be engaged by the subject matter while simultaneously continuing to grow as a reader.

Using this strategy, we can continue to provide appropriate materials throughout the school year as Chris’ interests change and his reading achievement grows as monitored through PASeries.

What is a Quantile anyway?

Most educators are familiar with the industry-standard Lexile Framework for Reading. Millions of students receive a Lexile score every year. More and more states are now adopting Lexiles and including them in their confidential student reports from their statewide summative assessments.

For those who may be unfamiliar with Lexiles, the Lexile score is a standard measure of reading ability (for students) and text difficulty (for written works). Students receive Lexile scores from PASeries and other assessment instruments. Texts can also be analyzed and given a Lexile score of their difficulty. When students are matched to texts with a similar Lexile level, they will comprehend approximately 75% of the material. This challenges students but insures that the text is not so difficult that they become frustrated readers. MetaMetrics Inc., the creators of Lexiles, maintains a host of Lexile resources on their Lexile website.

The Quantile Framework for Mathematics is a new standard measure of mathematics achievement also created by MetaMetrics.

PASeries is the first formative assessment instrument to use Quantiles.

Quantiles are similar to Lexiles in that they provide a standard measure of achievement that may be applied across student populations locally, statewide, and nationally. Once a student’s Quantile score is known, instructors may view the QTaxons (specific mathematical concepts, skills, or topics) and relate a student’s score to the curricula to determine if a student is on pace with instruction.

The Quantile achievement level of a student also provides a view into the precursory QTaxons that the student has demonstrated mastery of. That is, it indicates the skills, topics, or concepts that a student needed to master in order to achieve the Quantile level demonstrated. This is particularly useful when examining the achievement of struggling students. Precursory skills, topics, and concepts can be reviewed with the student to identify areas of weakness and aid in putting them back on target. States are also beginning to adopt Quantiles as they have Lexiles as a standard measure of achievement.

More information and links to the Lexile and Quantile websites can be found in the PASeries Resource Library.

New training tools added

Several new PASeries training tools have been added this school year to make PASeries easier to use and understand. Any of these tools can be incorporated into classroom planning time to assist educators as they use PASeries.

The PASeries Training Center provides a training environment where administrators can create test sessions, modify student rosters, add or move students, and start sessions without affecting live student data.

The PASeries Train the Trainer Presentation has been added to the online Resource Library. The Train the Trainer Presentation is a PowerPoint presentation that was developed to assist district or school personnel that choose to go through the PASeries training in a group setting. The presentation is a pre-made PowerPoint for presenters that provides an overview of the PASeries products and primary administrative functions required to use PASeries. Speaker notes are included on most slides to aid the presenter in providing a complete training.

The PASeries Online Testing Readiness Checklist is also now available on the Resource library. This two-page reference will give you a quick checklist of the steps that need to happen for your schools to be ready to test.