Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Lexile level question

We have met with our daughter's 3rd grade teacher and are now gearing up for the next meeting with the principal to discuss how we are going to challenge our 8 year old. I remembered that she took a beginning of year reading test (3rd grade), and thought that maybe that assessment could show at what level she is working. I checked out her score, and she received a 1145L. I just looked it up, and my take on it is that she is reading at a high level for her age. The company takes great pains to state that it does not indicated grade level. Well, what should I take away? Can I use it to point out that she is somewhat above 3rd grade, 4th, 5th, what is it telling us?
Thank you!

PS - I will assume that because that test was done back in September that my 8 year old is doing even better now.

The score is telling us that a reader with a 1145L may be best matched to books with lexile levels from about 100 points below to about 50 points above 1145L: books from about 1050L to 1200L.

You may have already read these links:
http://www.lexile.com/findabook/,
http://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/grade-equivalent/,
http://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/grade-equivalent/grade-equivalent-chart/.

Playing with the find-a-book link by entering various grade levels shows that a 6th grade student who finds school books easy may be reading at a lexile level from 1040L to 1270L.

Yes, she is reading at a high level for her age of 8 years old.

The beauty of lexile levels is that one does not need to compare by grade levels or age, in fact some may say that doing so may seem to indicate a sense of using others in a grade level or age as foils or being less-than in contrast to a strong reader.

What some may take away is the selection of titles and genres of books available at your daughter's lexile level... screening for interest and content... voila! a potential reading list which is highly individualized.

Yes you can use this lexile level to help show that she is reading above grade level. As the previous poster mentioned this puts her probably at least 2 years above grade level. Keep in mind this is only one way to measure reading level.

What I would talk about is what else but this lexile system you can use to challenge her in reading. Why? IMO this program is good for emerging readers, those who are still learning to read. My experience (and that of my kids elementary school) is it's best for students reading till about 4th grade and at max this lexile level. The problem, is this system sets levels based on complexity of the words & sentences. This works well when a student is still learning to decode. But it doesn't really pay much attention to interest, subject matter and age appropriateness. I found when my son got to this level (in 2nd grade) it started to become harder to find books that he wanted to read & that I thought were of appropriate.

In addition somewhere about the 4th-5th grade, most 'reading' programs move from 'learning to read' to 'reading to learn'. Most of the excellent children literature for 8-12 yrs old are in the 700-1000L. And there is a lot to be gained from reading many of these well crafted books and talking about the themes in the book, the motivations of the characters, and how a well crafted story is written.

My son's 4-6th grade self contained gifted program, encouraged reading of Newbery Medal books for a book "review/analysis" (not a book report) they had to do once a month. http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal

I had read one of those pages and really didn't believe it. That's why I posted here!!!!

I am leaving the Lexile page open so when she gets home tonight she can have fun picking out books!! She likes fiction, but REALLY likes non-fiction. She loves this encyclopedia we have. Maybe because it has lots of different info?? All I know is that it's hard to get her to sleep at night because she wants to keep reading (like mommy).

I 100% agree with all of this. Your daughter's results show that she is an excellent and fluent reader. I would not focus too much on numbers on this measure from this point on. Look for books that are interesting to her and thematically appropriate. You can assume she can read pretty much any children's book out there as far as difficulty goes. This is great--there is so much great stuff out there now! But don't spend a lot of time trying to find books at exactly this level or assume she has to keep "progressing" with harder books at this age, though--you probably will have trouble and it isn't worth it. There is a lot of great, complex children's literature in the range blackcat mentioned.

All this said--yes, she is well above grade level with that kind of a score.

Thank you for the Newbery list. I am leaving that page open as well for my daughter! We love the library !!

My husband and I are trying to wrap our heads around this. This knowledge makes me more determined than ever to get the school to respond to her need. That's why I was up late last night checking out this score! This is something that the school can't ignore because they gave the test. Or maybe they can ignore it. They gave us this info last Fall and acted blasé about it. I took their word that she was humming along nicely just a bit above level. Then I got back the IQ, the Cogat, and the Iowa and went into shock. I am still mad at myself for not seeing her gifts sooner or looking into the Lexile level last Fall (I am back in school myself so life is a bit crazy).
I should add this to the folder that we will take to the school. Is there some research I can attach to the Lexile score sheet? I am all about evidence-based info to prove my point.

Last post from me - need to get back to homework - I do note your warning about "pushing" her to read. I definitely do not. She picks all her own books from the library. She and her sister do not need any added pressure from mom and dad when they are so hard on themselves. I have seen her pick some books that I didn't think were emotionally appropriate (not sex or violence, just dating issues), but I am not one to screen books (within limits). I remember a librarian telling me as a kid to go to the little kid section of the library because I was "too young for this (big kid) section". Made me so mad.

Or maybe they can ignore it.

Yeah-- glad that you know that. Our school ignored the fact that DD's lexile scores were topping out into college levels back in 3rd-4th grade. They simply ignored it and went on about their insistence that she do all of the "reading" that the "curriculum" asked of her.

So I wouldn't discount the possibility. Sounds like your philosophy about reading material is about what ours has been-- and assuming that your DD isn't particularly emotionally sensitive, honestly, I think that has worked out very well for my DD. We haven't pushed, and she reads all over in terms of level-- but her ABILITY has been "adult" since she was about seven or eight, and no way was I going to send her into the picture books and easy readers when she wanted to read John Grisham.