Text Preparation Guidelines

This guide is intended for authorized users of the Lexile Text Analyzer who are accessing and using the tool for personal classroom, home, or research purposes. The goal of this document is to communicate the text preparation procedures and formatting conventions needed for successful use of the tool. Every effort has been made to ensure that this document is an accurate representation of the Lexile Text Analyzer.

A Lexile reading measure is a measure of an individual’s reading ability. A Lexile text measure is a measure of the text complexity for a book or piece of text. A Lexile text measure only offers information about text complexity, not the reading ability of a student. To determine student reading ability, a Lexile-enabled assessment must be administered. Lexile text measures cannot be used to determine the reading abilities of students.

• You may not publish or distribute the Lexile measure.
• You may not enter the Lexile into a library or media center database or catalog.
• Your Lexile measure is not a certified Lexile measure of that text.

If a user measures published text in the Lexile Text Analyzer, the measure generated will not be a certified Lexile measure. Only trained MetaMetrics' staff can certify a Lexile measure. If the published text has a certified Lexile measure, the measure generated from the Lexile Text Analyzer may be different. Modifications to content, such as sentence combining or removing, can have an impact on the Lexile measure. While modifications usually do not cause significant differences, there have been instances of significant impacts from what was perceived as a minor change. Furthermore, certified Lexile measures are precise measures, while the Lexile Text Analyzer reports a Lexile measure range.

The Lexile Framework for Reading is a scientific, proven approach to reading and text measurement. A Lexile measure is the numeric representation of a reader’s ability or a text’s difficulty, both followed by an "L" (for Lexile measure). The Lexile scale is a developmental scale for reading ranging from Beginning Reading measures (measures below 0L on the Lexile scale denoted by a BR prefix to the measure, e.g., BR100L) to above 1600L for advanced text and abilities. All Lexile Framework products, tools and services rely on the Lexile measure and scale to identify the Lexile levels of both the reader and text.

When a reader and text are appropriately matched, the reader experiences a comprehension rate of about 75 percent. The 75 percent comprehension level corresponds to that 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. A unique feature of the Lexile Framework is that both student ability and text difficulty are measured on the same scale in the same units. The Lexile Framework provides a distinctive approach for matching readers with texts based on the following assumptions:

• Texts can be ordered according to the difficulty each presents for a reader.
• Readers can be assessed according to the success each will have with any particular text.

The Lexile Framework determines a Lexile reader measure for the student and a Lexile text measure for the reading material, which can then be compared to match a reader with appropriate text. After this basic comparison, it is possible to adjust the reader’s expected comprehension of the reading material by taking other factors into account, such as the particular reader, text and context. By placing readers and texts on the same scale, Lexile measures allow readers to make consistent and accurate book selection judgments. They assure that every reader can select books that are based on reading ability, yielding successful individualized reading experiences.

The Lexile Text Analyzer, located within the Lexile® and Quantile® Hub, is designed to evaluate the complexity of text and assign to it a 200L range. This allows educators to determine the reading demand of a given text or to modify a text such that it falls within a target Lexile range. The Text Analyzer can measure any conventionally punctuated prose. Texts such as lists, recipes, poetry, and song lyrics lack conventional punctuation and therefore will not be assigned a valid Lexile measure. To obtain a specific Lexile text measure instead of a Lexile range for text, use the Lexile Text Analyzer Content Creator, available by subscription through our Partner Portal.

There are a few exceptions to this list. For example, narrative poetry that is conventionally punctuated may be measured with the Lexile Text Analyzer. Text written in rhyme does not necessarily qualify as poetry and may still be measured. Texts that are appropriate for use with the Lexile Text Analyzer will still require text editing, as detailed in the Prepare Your Text section.

Plain text (.txt) is a type of digital file that is free of computer tags, special formatting, and code. This is the only file type recognized by the Lexile Text Analyzer.

Note: Copying and pasting text files other than plain text may include computer tags, special formatting, and code. These elements can cause an inaccurate measurement of the text.

In a Windows Microsoft Word document, click the Save As button from the File menu. Select Save As Type from the drop-down list, then select Plain Text (*.txt). Click the Save button, and a File Conversion window will open. Click the Other Encoding radio button and select US-ASCII from the list of formats to the right. Select Allow Character Substitution. Click the OK button to save the document in plain text format.

Note: Spanish language files should be saved with UTF-8 encoding so that symbols and accents appear.

In a Macintosh Microsoft Word document, click the Save As button from the File menu. Select Save As Type from the drop-down list then select Plain Text (*.txt). If the warning box appears, click the Yes button to save the file and disregard the remainder of this procedure. Otherwise, a File Conversion window will open. Select the MS-DOS radio button. Select Allow Character Substitution. Click the OK button to save the document in plain text format.

Note: Spanish language files should be saved with UTF-8 encoding so that symbols and accents appear.

The Lexile Text Analyzer limits the length of text that can be entered by a user. Premium users have a 500 word limit. When the word limit is exceeded, the word counter at the top of the text entry box will display the number of words used out of the 500 word limit in red.

To submit text for Lexile measure analysis, click inside the text entry box and paste the plain text from your source document, or type the text directly in the box. Click the Analyze button to view the results.

To submit text for Lexile measure analysis, click inside the text entry box and paste the plain text from your source document, or type the text directly in the box. Click the Analyze button to view the results.

Remember that the primary objective for measuring text using the Lexile Text Analyzer is to preserve complete sentences in the text while removing all incomplete sentence content. Before you click the Analyze button, make sure that only complete sentences are captured. Inclusion of non-prose will negatively impact the Lexile measure range result. Use the lists below to guide your text preparation process.

In order to have the best estimate of text complexity, there are certain editing guidelines that must be followed:

Remove ellipses in the middle of sentences and make sure they are flush when used as end punctuation.

Example 1
                    Original    The dog was done running… hot, thirsty, and exhausted.
                    Edited       The dog was done running hot, thirsty, and exhausted.
Example 2
                   Original     She thought about it but could she . . .
                   Edited        She thought about it but could she…

Remove parenthesis that surround complete sentences.

Example

                    Original   (The conclusion covers all the major points from the argument.)
                    Edited      The conclusion covers all the major points from the argument.

Em dashes (—) should be changed to dashes with a space on both sides.

Example
                   Original     Cats are great—furry, cuddly, playful.
                   Edited       Cats are great - furry, cuddly, playful.

Symbols should be removed ($, %, @, #, * ©, °). Some of these are due to plain text conversion issues while others are due to the Lexile Text Analyzer not recognizing them.

Example

                    Original    *Horses are related to hippopotamuses.
                    Edited       Horses are related to hippopotamuses.

Every sentence must end with only one designated punctuation mark (period, question mark, exclamation mark, semicolon, colon). Remove any repetitive marks.

Example 1
                     Original    What do you mean!?
                     Edited       What do you mean?
Example 2
                    Original     And when the door closed…?
                    Edited        And when the door closed…

You are ready to analyze your text when you have:

• Included only plain text
• Retained all text items appropriate for measurement
• Removed all text items inappropriate for measurement
• Applied the editing guidelines

Educators may find it helpful to evaluate the reading demand of the assessments they develop for and administer to their students. Getting an estimated Lexile text measure range for the overall assessment can provide insight into whether reading challenges are likely to affect student performance on the assessment. If the reading demands of the assessment are substantially higher than the Lexile measure of the student, a poor performance on the assessment may be due to reading comprehension issues rather than a sign of weak content knowledge.

When measuring reading comprehension tests, all complete sentences in all reading passages should be measured all together as one document. You should not measure sample items, directions, or the test items themselves. Depending on the format of the test item, you may also measure the complete sentences in the items in order to compare their difficulties to that of the reading passage, but do not measure the item text together with the passage text.

When measuring text from websites, be sure to remove the non-prose and web page-specific elements. Embedded computer tags, special formatting, and code is often present in web content. The Lexile Text Analyzer cannot recognize many of the elements which can result in a computing error. Be sure to use plain text, txt.files, and remove any odd characters before clicking Analyze.