The Reading Level system, developed
by Drs. Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell,
evaluates book and print features, text
structures, themes and ideas, vocabulary,
language and literary feature to provide
instructional levels, grades K-8. Your child's
RL is assigned by his or her teacher, who
the provide instruction geared to take
students to the next level of difficulty.

Average grade breakdowns are as follows:

• Kindergarten: A-C
• 1st Grade: C-I
• 2nd Grade: I-M
• 3rd Grade: M-P
• 4th Grade: P-S
• 5th Grade: S-V
• 6th Grade: V-Y

Lexile measures for texts are determined by
sentence complexity and word frequency.
Your child receives a Lexile measure after
taking a standardized exam. When selecting
just right books for your child, select texts
that fall within your child's Lexile range (50L
above and 100L below his or her Lexile
measure). While Lexile measures represent
the readability of a text, only you can
determine if a book is suitable for your child.
A text's Lexile measure may be accompanied
by a Lexile Code which provides additional
information.

The codes are as follows:

 

 

 

• AD: Adult Directed-Refers to picture books that are usually read to a young child, rather than a child reading them independently.
• NC: Non-Conforming-Applied to books that have a Lexile measure markedly higher than the publisher's intended audience. The NC code can be used to match high-ability readers with a book that's still at an appropriate developmental level.
• HL: High-Low-Used to indicate when a text has an appropriate difficulty level and developmental level for older struggling or reluctant readers.
• IG: Illustrated Guide-Applied to books that are usually nonfiction and are often used as reference or to look up fun facts.
• GN: Graphic Novel-Indicates that a book is a graphic novel or comic book.
• BR: Beginning Reader-Applied to books that are appropriate for the emergent reader.
• NP: Non-Prose-Indicates that a book has more than 50% non-standard text, for example plays, poems, songs, recipes, and text with non-standard or absent punctuation.

The Accelerated Reader program uses the ATOS readability formula to measure text difficulty based on sentence length, word length, and average grade level of words. The Accelerated Reader number represents the grade and month at which a child will, on average, be able to fluently read the text. For example, 4.5 indicates the fifth month of fourth grade. While the ATOS formula measures the readability of a text, only you can determine if a book is suitable for your child.