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Is My Child Reading on Grade Level? How to Find Out

Strong reading skills play an enormous role in academic success. Kids who struggle with grade level reading lists may fall behind their peers in school. The Lexile framework provides a means to assess your child’s reading abilities and work toward continued literacy growth.

Understanding the Lexile Framework

Even though you may not be a reading expert, you can foster your child’s literacy skills with Lexile.

The Lexile framework provides a way for parents and educators to think about a child’s reading abilities. First, students complete a reading assessment. It evaluates their ability to sound out words and determine their meaning. The score they receive is called a Lexile measure.

Some children in a grade will have lower scores and others will be higher. Most kids will fall within the median range, though. That’s considered reading on grade level.

GradeCommon Midyear Lexile Levels[1]
1BR120L to 295L
2170L to 545L
3415L to 760L
4635L to 950L
5770L to 1080L
6855L to 1165L
7925L to 1235L
8985L to 1295L
91040L to 1350L
101085L to 1400L
11 and 121130L to 1440L

Growing in Accuracy and Comprehension

If your child isn’t yet at grade level, don’t despair. The beauty of the Lexile system is that it meets your children where they are right now and encourages continual progress toward grade level reading.

You see, books receive Lexile scores, too. A text’s Lexile measure tells you how challenging it is to read.

When kids are supplied with books that match their current abilities — from 100 points under their current Lexile measure to 50 points above it — they grow as readers. Both their accuracy and their comprehension increase.

Accuracy means that your child reads words correctly. When you listen to him read aloud, his pronunciation and sentence structure match what is written on the page.

Comprehension refers to understanding. Not only does your child know how to say the words, but they make sense to him.

It takes both accuracy and comprehension to read on grade level. Fortunately, with books in the correct Lexile range, your child can become a fluent reader who excels in both areas.

Using LightSail for your Child’s Reading Growth

LightSail’s platform provides all the tools you need for at-home Lexile reading. Our program includes an initial Lexile assessment and a library packed with grade level reading books. Built-in cloze activities increase your student’s fluency and allow us to continually evaluate Lexile growth. Plus, we keep you up to date on your child’s current metrics so that you’re always in the loop about the progress that’s being made.

[1 ]https://lightsailed.com/reading-at-home/what-is-lexile/

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Posted on 10.Oct.21 in Reading at Home Tips

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How do I know what books are right for my child?

LightSail takes the guesswork out of choosing books for your child by tailoring each child’s library to their precise reading level.

By honing in on a child’s precise Lexile reading score, LightSail can match them with books that are at that “just-right” level to promote optimal reading progress.

And because LightSail contains such a wide-ranging array of content, there is always a vast selection of books for any topic or interest.

What ages/grades is LightSail for?

LightSail’s Premium and Standard subscriptions are designed for children in grades 3 through 12 (ages 8-18).

We also have a World Book Kids subscription for grades 1 through 2 (ages 5-7) and a World Book Early Learners subscription for PreK through K (ages 2-5).

Is LightSail different from an Amazon Kindle or other e-readers?

Unlike static e-readers, LightSail doesn’t just offer children books.

Every book and article in LightSail contains 6 layers of added features that let your child experience books.

By adapting to a child’s precise reading ability, offering them content that is at that “just-right” reading level to promote literacy growth, and providing a fully customizable, rewarding reading experience, LightSail unlocks the magic of reading in ways no physical book or static e-reader can.

What types of parental control do I have over my child’s activity and content?

In short, complete control.

LightSail contains an entire suite of parental control features that govern every aspect of the platform from video viewing, to chats, to what content can be seen and accessed.

Additionally, LightSail’s revolutionary ChildSafe Content Controls lets parents screen and block content according to dozens of nuanced subcategories based on maturity factors, family values, and religious topics.

How can I make reading fun for my child?

LightSail incorporates gamification features into every aspect of the platform, especially reading!

By integrating badges, goals and milestones, social sharing options, motivational messages, and the ability for parents to add customizable gift rewards, LightSail incentivizes reading, writing, and learning just like kids’ favorite games.

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