What is a Lexile?
Lexile is a score indicating a student’s reading ability or a text’s difficulty.
Find a book's lexile level
*The link above is to a non-HCS website.
What is a book's Lexile?
A book’s Lexile is based on its readability. It’s determined by the length and complexity of words and sentences in the book, rather than by the subject matter. These scores are written with an L after them and may range from 0L to over 2000L, with higher numbers indicating more challenging books
Some books may have a score that begins with “BR,” such as BR100L. The “BR” stands for “Beginning Reader,” and these scores are assigned to books with a Lexile lower than 0. Unlike regular Lexile scores, where higher numbers indicate a greater challenge, BR Lexile scores increase based on how easy a book is to read. For example, a BR200L book is easier to read than a BR100L book, but both are easier than any book whose score doesn’t begin with a BR.
What is a student's Lexile?
A student’s Lexile score is based on their performance on certain standardized tests. The student’s Lexile represents the book Lexile that would be an appropriate difficulty for them. The average 1st grader begins the year with a score around 10L, and the average senior has a score around 1295L by the time they graduate. For more information about grade-level Lexile expectations, visit The Lexile & Quantile Hub (clicking this link will take you to a non-HCS website).
How do I pick a book for a student based on Lexile level?
When selecting a book based on its Lexile, the “sweet spot” for developing reading fluency is a Lexile score no more than 50L below or 100L above the reader’s Lexile score. For example, if a student has a Lexile of 900, books between 850L and 1000L are usually appropriate.
A book with a high Lexile score may have content appropriate for a young child, but it would be very difficult for most young children to read it. On the other hand, a book with a very low Lexile score should be easy to read for most people, but that doesn’t mean its contents are appropriate for all ages. Parents should monitor their children’s books to ensure that both the content and Lexile are appropriate.
If you don't already know a book's Lexile, you can look it up on The Lexile and Quantile Hub's "Find A Book" page (clicking this link will take you to a non-HCS website).