Primary Teachers’ Views of Text-Complexity

This article discusses one of the studies that was used to obtain educators’ judgments on text complexity. The result of the study and findings for how educators assess text complexity were incorporated into the enhanced Lexile Analyzer. It addresses how:

• The study focused on what concepts of reading instruction teachers could identify. Educators (teachers and reading specialists) were surveyed about which text characteristics they considered most when they were making judgments on text complexity for K–2 books. Educators reported that word decodability and high-frequency of words were most important in choosing a text.
• There was also a positive correlation between text complexity concepts reading specialists used and those used by classroom teachers.
• There is a positive correlation between participation in professional development workshops and educators’ understanding of text complexity.
• The algorithm powering the enhanced Lexile Analyzer uses variables that educators agreed were important for early-reading text complexity.