Leon County Schools Leon County Schools

Understanding Text ComplexityUnderstanding Text ComplexityAugust 2012August 2012

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Why all the fuss Why all the fuss about text about text

complexity?complexity?

Text Complexity - ACT StudyText Complexity - ACT Study

Purpose: Determine what distinguished the reading performance of students likely to succeed in college and not.• Process:Set benchmark score on the reading test shown to be predictive of success in college (“21” on ACT composite score).

Looked at results from a half million students.Divided texts into three levels of complexity: uncomplicated, more challenging, and complex.

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Performance on the ACT Reading Test by Comprehension Level

(Averaged across Seven Forms)

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Performance on the ACT Reading Test by Textual Element (Averaged across Seven Forms)

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Text Complexity MattersText Complexity Matters

Performance on complex texts is the clearest differentiator in reading between students who are more likely to be ready for college and those who are less likely to be ready.

Only 51% of students taking the ACT had a high probability (75% chance) of earning a C or better in an introductory, credit-bearing course in U.S. history or psychology.

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Performance on the ACT Reading Test by Degree of Text Complexity(Averaged across Seven Forms)

In this figure, performance on questions associated with uncomplicated and morechallenging texts both above and below the ACT College Readiness Benchmark forReading follows a pattern similar to those in the previous analyses. Improvement on each of the two kinds of questions is gradual and fairly uniform.

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Recap of ACT FindingsRecap of ACT Findings

Question type and level (main idea, word meanings, details) is NOT the chief differentiator between student scoring above and below the benchmark.

The degree of text complexity in the passages acted as the “sorters” within ACT. The findings held true for both males and females, all racial groups and was steady regardless of family income level.

What students could read, in terms of its complexity--rather than what they could do with what they read—is greatest predictor of success. FCAT has complex passages and highly cognitive demanding questions.

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Text Requirements Text Requirements in Middle and High Schoolin Middle and High School

Many students are engaged in shallow reading, skimming text for answers, focusing only on details and failing to make inferences in order to integrate different parts of the text. Years of reading in this superficial way will cause a student’s reading ability to deteriorate.

For many students the decline of text demands in the courses that they take has both an immediate and long term impact on student achievement.

Our Challenge: Provide students with

exposure to more complex texts in our classrooms.

Text Complexity

Text complexity is defined by:

Qua

litat

ive

Qualitative measures – levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands often best measured by an attentive human reader. Q

uantitative

Quantitative measures – readability and other scores of text complexity often best measured by computer software.

Reader and Task

Reader and Task considerations – background knowledge of reader, motivation, interests, and complexity generated by tasks assigned often best made by educators employing their professional judgment.

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Step 1: Quantitative MeasuresStep 1: Quantitative Measures

Measures such as:• Word length• Word frequency• Word difficulty• Sentence length• Text length• Text cohesion

Quantitative Measures

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To determine a quantitative score To determine a quantitative score you can: you can:

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• Determine Lexile score by going to the Lexile Frameworks for reading web site, or

• Use Microsoft Word’s readability measure, Flesch-Kincaid, which provide a great level readability formula.

GradeBand

CurrentLexile Band

"Stretch"Lexile Band*

 K–1  N/A N/A

 2–3  450L–725L 420L–820L

 4–5  645L–845L 740L–1010L

 6–8 860L–1010L 925L–1185L

9-10 960L–1115L 1050L–1335L

11–CCR  1070L–1220L 1185L–1385L

Quantitative Complexity ExampleThe “Stretch” Lexile Band was created to work from college/career texts backwards.

Quantitative MeasuresQuantitative Measures

Remember, however, that the quantitative measures is only the first of three “legs” of the text complexity triangle.

Our final recommendation may be validated, influenced, or even over-ruled by our examination of qualitative measures and the reader and task considerations.

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Step 2: Qualitative Measures

Measures such as:• Structure• Language Demands and

Conventions• Knowledge Demands• Levels of

Meaning/Purpose

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Common Core StandardsCommon Core StandardsQualitative Features of Text Complexity Qualitative Features of Text Complexity

Structure (could be story structure and/or form of piece)

Simple Complex Explicit Implicit Conventional Unconventional Events related in chronological order Events related out

of chronological order (chiefly literary texts) Traits of a common genre or subgenre Traits specific to

a particular discipline (chiefly informational texts) Simple graphics sophisticated graphics Graphics unnecessary or merely supplemental to

understanding the text Graphics essential to understanding the text and may provide information not elsewhere provided

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Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Text Structure Text Structure

At your tables, complete the structure chart. Be prepared to share with the rest of the

group.

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Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Language DemandsLanguage Demands

Language Demands: Conventionality and Clarity

Literal Figurative or ironic Clear Ambiguous or purposefully misleading Contemporary, familiar Archaic or otherwise unfamiliar Conversational General Academic and domain specific Light vocabulary load: few unfamiliar or academic words

Many words unfamiliar and high academic vocabulary present Sentence structure straightforward Complex and varied

sentence structures Though vocabulary can be measured by quantifiable means,

it is still a feature for careful consideration when selecting texts

Though sentence length is measured by quantifiable means, sentence complexity is still a feature for careful consideration when selecting texts

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Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Language DemandsLanguage Demands

At your tables, complete the “language demands” chart. Be prepared to share

with the rest of the group.

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Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Knowledge DemandsKnowledge Demands

Knowledge Demands: Life Experience (literary texts)

Simple theme Complex or sophisticated themesSingle theme Multiple themesCommon everyday experiences or clearly

fantastical situations Experiences distinctly different from one’s own

Single perspective Multiple perspectivesPerspective(s) like one’s own Perspective(s)

unlike or in opposition to one’s own

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Common Core StandardsCommon Core StandardsQualitative Features of Text ComplexityQualitative Features of Text Complexity

Knowledge Demands: Cultural/Literary Knowledge (chiefly literary texts)

Everyday knowledge and familiarity with genre conventions required Cultural and literary knowledge usefulLow intertextuality (few if any references/allusions to other texts) High intertextuality (many references/allusions to other texts

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Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Knowledge DemandsKnowledge Demands

At your tables, complete the “knowledge demands” chart. Be prepared to share

with the rest of the group.

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Common Core StandardsCommon Core StandardsQualitative Features of Text ComplexityQualitative Features of Text Complexity

Levels of Meaning (chiefly literary texts) orpurpose (chiefly informational texts)

Single level of meaning Multiple levels of meaning

Explicitly stated purpose Implicit purpose, may be hidden or obscure

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Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Qualitative Features of Text Complexity:Levels of Meaning/PurposeLevels of Meaning/Purpose

At your tables, complete the “levels of meaning/purpose” chart.

As a group, discuss the three questions at the bottom of the levels of meaning/purpose

handout. Be prepared to share.

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Text Complexity: Qualitative MeasuresText Complexity: Qualitative Measures

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Text Complexity: Text Complexity: Qualitative MeasuresQualitative Measures

The excerpt on “The Grapes of Wrath” has a Lexile score of 680L.

At what grade band does this Lexile measure place this text?

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Text Complexity: Text Complexity: Qualitative MeasuresQualitative Measures

Together let’s use the text complexity rubric to determine an appropriate placement for The Grapes of Wrath.

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Step 3: Reader and Task

Considerations such as:•Motivation•Knowledge and experience•Purpose for reading•Complexity of task assigned regarding text•Complexity of questions asked regarding text

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Step 3: Reader and Task Considerations

At this point, you have a Lexile score and a qualitative assessment.

Consider your students, their age, their experiences, their background, etc.

Consider your learning goals and standards.

How may these two factors impact your decision about placement? 30

Evaluate complexity of The Grapes of Wrath

Based on the quantitative features (Lexile), qualitative analysis, and reader/task considerations, at what grade level would you place this as a stretch text?

Discuss at your table and be prepared to share.

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Determining Text ComplexityDetermining Text Complexity

A Four-step Process:

QuantitativeQ

ualit

ativ

e

Reader and Task

4. Recommend placement in the appropriate text complexity band.

3. Reflect upon the reader and task

considerations.

2. Analyze the qualitative measures of the text.

1. Determine the quantitative measures of the text.

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Where do we find texts in the appropriate Where do we find texts in the appropriate text complexity band?text complexity band?

Choose an excerpt of text from Appendix B as a starting place:

We could….

or…

Use available resources to determine the text complexity of other materials on our own.

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