Lexile levels are now being assessed in our schools as well. I've spent a lot of time trying to make sense of them and have more questions than answers (for instance, is the Accelerated Reader lexile measured the same way as the Scholastic Reading Inventory lexile?). However, fwiw, I'll add the following:
There is a significant difference between the two scores in the range shared by kthompson. I was told that readers beyond 1,000 would probably increase only 50-100 pts per year (not sure that applies to gifties, but it at least suggests that the spread between 1095 and 1260 could represent as much as two years difference for a typical advanced reader).
As far as the usefulness of the score: I share the concerns about how books are rated. When content/idea is not figured into text difficulty, the rating is not very helpful in assessing book difficulty. There is no room in a lexile rating (from what I can see) for symbolism, unconventional narrative structures, etc. That said...I would say that from my limited observations of students who have tested for lexile, there is an accurate sorting of general ability and marked difference in the current skills of someone below 1,000 (a strong-proficient reader could finish elementary school around that lexile); the skills of an elementary aged reader over 1,000 (advanced for age at end of elementary school) and the current skills of students who are managing to test into the 1200-1350ish range (clearly outside the norm readers--I have only seen voracious readers who are--at least--moderately/highly gifted hitting this mark in elementary school). I've not yet seen a score above 1350 acheived by a child I know well as a reader (again, limited sample size so far, so I can't speak to anything beyond 1350). All of what I've shared is anecdotal "data", so take it with a grain of salt....
If anyone else has experience with lexile scores, I'm definitely looking for some "gifted norms" and would love to hear what kinds of scores are popping up for gifted readers in elementary school.
