Spotlight on Special Education

Lexile approach makes reading "just right"

Reading a good book can be one of life’s most satisfying of activities. Yet for many students with special needs, particularly those to whom reading does not come easily or make much sense, the printed word can be a true frustration.

 With so much of the information needed for day-to-day living and work-world success in written form, a solid grounding in the basic skill of reading is something students of all abilities need to achieve before leaving school.

Educational research has shown time and again that students who are eager and frequent readers of all types of printed materials are those most likely to improve their reading skills and comprehension. Sparking such an interest in reading and inspiring greater learning success is at the heart of a recent move in a number of BOCES Special Education classrooms toward the Lexile Framework for Reading.

The Lexile Framework is an approach to reading measurement that matches students to appropriately challenging reading materials. The framework is used to measures both reader ability and text difficulty on what is called the Lexile scale.

Two years ago, BOCES Special Education teacher Robin Gibelius, who had embraced the Lexile approach, enlisted the help of her students in her SE class based in Niskayuna High School, Principal Carol d’Estienne and reading specialist Donna Lamkin in reorganizing her classroom’s reading program and library around it.

Gibelius now begins each school year by conducting a Lexile assessment of each student, new and returning, to determine his or her Lexile reading level. This ensures the books students select are ones they can successfully decode, comprehend and read with fluency.

Gibelius also maintains running records that track students’ interests, achievement and reading stumbling blocks they encounter throughout the school year. This is information she and the students use to guarantee the most pleasure and success with the books they choose and help them trouble-shoot around reading skills that challenge them. Gibelius will re-assess students from time-to-time to determine whether their Lexile levels remain appropriate.

Students have also had an active role in redesigning the classroom library to maximum effect. Books are now pleasingly organized and identified by genre—from horror to poetry, with nearly two dozen other subjects in between—with a variety of Lexile-ranked books in each category.

“Organization by genre, with books of many Lexile levels included, helps erase the stigma around choosing a ‘just right’ book,” explains Gibelius.

“It’s no longer about ‘good’ readers selecting from the top shelf and less skilled readers picking from the bottom shelves, since,” Gibelius semi-seriously jokes, “we all know teenagers would rather die than choose a book from the bottom shelf!”

“Everything we have done, from the physical set-up and the clearing of the shelves to the sorting and categorizing of the books themselves, has been done with the kids,” Gibelius continues, noting that all of the books on the shelves have been handled, and in many cases chosen, by the kids. Quite a few include handwritten reviews and recommendations inside their front covers.

“Students now have much more ownership around their learning, as well as the books they chose to read and they are really benefiting from this approach,” Gibelius says.

Taking a page from Gibelius’ book, this summer teachers at the Page Avenue School in Cohoes began a similar move toward the Lexile Framework in their ICDSII classrooms.

With half a school year’s worth of experience to reflect on, teachers Chris DePoy and Jessica Walthers reports their project is moving steadily ahead. New books have been Lexile- and genre-ranked and are up for selection from the classroom’s library.

“It has been very rewarding to see our students independently choosing level-appropriate books based on genre,” says Walthers. She explains that the class now has a daily reading time during which students can choose books that interest them most, read quietly and follow-up with book reviews.

“They are all enjoying this and are doing very well,” Walthers reports.

 For more information about the Lexile Framework in BOCES Special Education classrooms, please contact Carol d'Estienne principal, at (518) 464-6305 or cdestienne@gw.neric.org.
 

Did you know...

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), students in classrooms with well-designed libraries:
• Interact more with books.
• Spend more time reading.
• Demonstrate more positive attitudes toward reading.
• Exhibit higher levels of reading achievement.