Examine students with proprietary tests to determine the Lexile level at which they are reading. The Lexile Measures sort books by grade level. This is a basic and understandable system used for basal readers. A more precise reading level is required for Guided Reading, but the Lexile scores provide guidelines. Lexile measures and grade equivalents are fundamentally different. Lexile represents a student's level on a developmental scale of reading ability. Grade equivalency is a student's ability level in comparison to other students on a specific test. It does not represent appropriate grade placement or proper level of reading material. Lexile levels are more appropriate for science or social study texts since they are grade-level specific.
Choose a benchmark book from Guided Reading leveled materials. For example, if the student is in second grade, choose a book that is considered standard for that grade level. Sit one-on-one with the student as he reads from the book and answers questions about the text or retells the story. Use a Reading Record to calculate any oral reading mistakes. Make notes regarding the student's comprehension of the story. If the first book chosen for the student proves to be too difficult, choose one from the next level down. This strategy helps determine a suitable Guided Reading level.
Correlate the two levels determined by the Lexile and Guided Reading indicators to determine the appropriate reading level for the student. For example, Guided Reading uses letters to level texts, while Lexile uses numbers. Levels "L-M" in Guided Reading correlate to "400-499" in Lexile. These indicators allow you to connect students with appropriately challenging books that help promote reading progress by assigning the right level of material.