International Center for Leadership in Education

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International Center for Leadership in Education
Developing 21st Century Literacy in Students

• Nicole Hochholzer

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Literacy in the 21st century is more than reading
and writing . . . . . . Its the ability to
learn, unlearn, and relearn.
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1900 Workplace Demands
Highly skilled
Low skilled

• Avg. age to enter work force

14

• Avg. age to leave work force

47

• Life expectancy

47
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1980 Workplace Demands
Highly skilled
Semi skilled
Low skilled
18

• Avg. age to enter work force

• Avg. age to leave work force

65

• Life expectancy

78
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2010 Workplace Demands
Highly skilled
Low skilled

• Avg. age to enter the workplace
• Number of times change jobs

21
5-8

• Est. Life expectancy in 2100

107 to 124!
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21st Century Skills for Success

• Strong Academics
• Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Technology
  Skills
• Career Skills
• Workplace Attitudes Ethics
• Character Virtues
• Honesty, Responsibility, Integrity

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Reading Literacy

• National Adult Literacy
• Study (NALS)
• International Adult Literacy
• Study (IALS)

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Three Scales

• Prose
• Document
• Quantitative

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Results

• 20 Nations
• 16-65 Year Olds
• Prose 9th
• Document 14th
• Quantitative 13th

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So what do we do?

• Have a plan
• Have some buy-in
• Listen to your staff
• Have a back-up plan
• Give it time
• Be prepared to change the plan!

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How do I create a plan?

• Must look at your schools DNA
• Dont try to take on too much
• Decide WHO is responsible for WHAT and WHEN it
  will happen
• Must give it time
• Must reassess frequently

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Four types of literacy

• Functional Literacy
• Content Literacy
• Technological Literacy
• Innovative Literacy
• Where will you start?

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If you do nothing else

• Stop guessing about your students reading
  abilities!

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Grade Levels

• Do I want to buy a 5th
• grade shoe?
• Why would I want to buy a 5th
• grade book?

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Lexile Framework

• Wow! I didnt know I could figure out how kids
  are
• reading in my class!

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So whats a Lexile?

• The Lexile Framework is a widely adopted method
  to measure reader ability and text difficulty.
• A Lexile is determined for each student, based on
  the students performance on a given assessment
  (TAKS, SRI)
• source MetaMetrics

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The Lexile Framework consists of two main
components

• A Lexile MEASURE the numeric representation of
  a readers ability or a texts difficulty
• The Lexile SCALE a developmental scale for
  reading ranging from 200L for beginning readers
  to above 1700L for advanced text
• The measure and scale are the same, so users can
  match text with ability
• Source MetaMetrics

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What does a Lexile measure?

• Syntactic Complexity
• -number of words per sentence
• -longer sentences more complex, require
• more short-term memory to process
• Semantic Difficulty
• -the frequency of words in a corpus of
• written text
• -corpus have over 400 million words

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Why use the Lexile score?

• When reader and text are appropriately matched, a
  reader can enjoy a comprehension rate of about
  75
• The 75 comprehension level corresponds to the
  balance of skill and difficulty that allows
  reading to be a positive, but adequately
  challenging experience, and encourages the reader
  to grow in proficiency and motivation

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In other words

• You can figure out if what your students are
  reading is too easy or too hard!
• You can determine if the students wont read, or
  if they CANT read!

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Important to know..

• Theres no direct translation from a specific
  Lexile measure to a specific grade level
• The real power of the Lexile Framework is to meet
  readers where they are and to help them grow
• So1100 doesnt equal 11th grade?

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Lexile Literature

• 1500 - On Ancient Medicine
• 1400 - The Scarlet Letter
• 1300 - Brown vs. Board of Ed.
• 1200 - War and Peace
• 1100 - Pride and Prejudice
• 1000 - Black Beauty
• 900 - Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders
• 800 - The Adventures of Pinocchio
• 700 - Bunnicula A Rabbit Tale of Mystery
• 600 - A Baby Sister for Frances
• 500 - The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth
• 400 - Frog and Toad are Friends
• 300 - Cliffords Manners

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Lexile Texts

• 1500 - The Making of Memory From Molecules to
  Mind Doubleday
• 1400 - Philosophical Essays Hackett Publishing
• 1300 - Psychology An Introduction Prentice Hall
• 1200 - Business Prentice Hall
• 1100 - America Pathways to Present Prentice
  Hall
• 1000 - Writing and Grammar Gold Level Prentice
  Hall
• 900 - World Cultures A Global Mosaic Prentice
  Hall
• 800 - Word 97 Glencoe/McGraw-Hill
• 700 - World Explorer The U.S. Canada
  Prentice Hall
• 600 - Science (Grade 4) Addison-Wesley
• 500 - People and Places Silver Burdett Ginn
• 400 - Imagine That! Scholastic Inc.
• 300 - My World Harcourt Brace

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Good to know.

• As of 2006, every textbook published has been
  Lexiled
• Go to lexile.com, and click on book database to
  find the Lexile score for a particular textbook

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Personal Use

• Aetna Health Care Discount Form (1360)
• Medical Insurance Benefit Package (1280)
• Application for Student Loan (1270)
• Federal Tax Form W-4 (1260)
• Installing Your Child Safety Seat (1170)
• Microsoft Windows User Manual (1150)
• G.M. Protection Plan (1150)
• CD DVD Player Instructions (1080)

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Newspapers

• Reuters (1440)
• NY Times (1380)
• Washington Post (1350)
• Wall Street Journal (1320)
• Chicago Tribune (1310)
• Associated Press (1310)
• USA Today (1200)

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16 Career ClustersDepartment of Education
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Reading RequirementsFindings

• Entry-level
• Highest in 6/16
• Second Highest in 7/16
• Consistent Across Country

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Human Services
 
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Construction
 
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Manufacturing
 
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2005-06 Lexile Framework for Reading Study
Summary of Text Lexile Measures
Interquartile Ranges Shown (25 - 75)
1600
1400
1200
Text Lexile Measure (L)
1000
800
600
High School Literature
College Literature
High School Textbooks
College Textbooks
Military
Personal Use
Entry-Level Occupations
SAT 1, ACT, AP
Source of National Test Data MetaMetrics
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2005-06 Lexile Framework for Reading
StudySummary of High School Textbook Lexile
Measures
Interquartile Ranges Shown (25 - 75)
1400
1300
1200
Text Lexile Measure (L)
1100
1000
900
800
ELA
Science
Social Studies
Arts
CTE
Math
Subject Area Textbooks
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Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI)

• Lexile test developed by Scholastic
• Computer-based test
• Takes about 20 minutes to complete
• Students receive book list according to lexile
  score and interests
• Can test as often as desired

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KHS testing plan

• 2004-2005 test all freshmen, CD and KARE
  (at-risk) students
• 2005-2006test all freshmen, sophomores, CD and
  KARE students
• 2006-2007test all freshmen, sophomore, juniors,
  CD and KARE students
• 2007-2008 all students

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SRI Testing

• Freshmen year physical science classes
• Sophomore year English 10 classes
• Junior year US World 11 classes
• CD and KARE students tested through their primary
  teachers
• Test in September and February each year

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But what does it all mean?

• The number one question parents (and students)
  ask about the Lexile Framework is My child
  scored ______. What does this mean?

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When communicating with students and parents,
remember

• Dont get too focused on numbers ranges are
  more important
• To give examples of books and other text
  materials appropriate for the student
• To give examples of how parents can HELP the
  student
• To talk about where the student is going
  emphasize progress!

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Common teacher questions

• How do I find out the Lexile of my textbook?
• How do I know if the novel were reading is too
  easy or too difficult?
• How can I find books for a student at the
  appropriate lexile?

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Lexile Book Database

• 1. Go to www.Lexile.com
• 2. Click Find Titles Using the Lexile Book
  Database
• 3. Choose a search field
• 4. Click Search

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Another conundrum.

• A 10th grade biology teacher with 120 students in
  five sections uses a 1000L textbook. One third of
  her students are reading below 1000L.
• What can she do?

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Use the Lexile Analyzer!

• Register or sign in at Lexile.com
• 2. Find or create a .txt file (ON DESKTOP)
• Create a word document
• Save as .txt to desktop

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Lexile Analyzer

• Click on Lexile Analyzer
• Click on Browse
• Double-click on your document
• 4. Click on Analyze

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Or..use a search engine

• SIRS
• Ebscohost
• Proquest
• Makes differentiating easy!

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Uses at KHS

• Self-selection of books in English classes
• Math textbook example
• Helped teachers understand need for strategies
  and differentiation
• Part of textbook selection process
• Snapshot test for special ed

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Literacy in the 21st century is more than reading
and writing . . . . . . Its the ability to
learn, unlearn, and relearn.
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Nicole Hochholzer

• nhochholzer_at_hotmail.com
• [phone]

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International Center for Leadership in Education,
Inc.

• 1587 Route 146
• Rexford, NY 12148
• Phone [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• E-mail - info_at_LeaderEd.com
• www.LeaderEd.com