I have seen an increase in materials that recommend readers be matched to
the difficulty of the text they are reading based on their reading
comprehension.  The idea is that we adjust the reading level of the material
so that students read materials challenging enough to improve their reading
skills and vocabulary, but not so difficult to cause frustration.  At first
glance, this seems reasonable.  I saw this first in Accelerated Reader
materials a decade ago and now in materials from Lexile.

 

However, the ARCS shows that a general reading comprehension score by itself
does not give a clear picture of a reader's skills; we must look at the
components to determine what areas of study will help the reader improve.

 

How useful do you feel matching students and texts is?  Can it be helpful in
some situations and not in others?  Is it too restrictive as to what
students are allowed to read?  What are we to make of the "readability"
measures?

 

 

Ken Appelt

 

Professional Development Specialist

Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning

Texas A&M University

800-441-READ  (7323)

FAX  (979) 845-0952

website: www-tcall.tamu.edu

kappelt at coe.tamu.edu

 

"Illiteracy and innumeracy are a greater threat to humanity than terrorism."

 -- Amaratya Sen,  2003 Nobel prize-winning economist.

 

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