Text Complexity
Digital Professional Development
From your #PascoLiteracy Team
Session Objectives
• Understand why text complexity matters
• Learn how to analyze text for complexity with regard to three
measures:
• Quantitative
• Qualitative
• Reader and Task Considerations
• Understand Core Action 1 from the Instructional Practice Guide (IPG)
for ELA/Literacy and how its related to the instructional shifts
The Instructional Practice Guide for ELA is
Framed by the Instructional Shifts in ELA.
In Core Action 1 of the Literacy IPG, we ask, “Does
the lesson focus on a high-quality text or multiple
texts?”
Instructional Practice Guide Language
Text-Focused
A majority of the lesson is spent reading, writing, or speaking
about text(s).
Complexity
The text(s) are at or above the complexity level expected for the
grade and the time in the school year.
Building
Knowledge
The text(s) exhibit exceptional craft and thought and/or provide
useful information.
Three Steps to Analyzing a Text for Complexity
• What are the quantitative features of the text? Readability measures
and other scores of text complexity.
• What are the qualitative measure(s) of the text? Levels of meaning,
structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge
demands.
• What considerations were made for reader and task? Reader
variables (such as motivation, knowledge, and experiences) and task
variables (such as purpose and the complexity generated by the task
assigned and the questions posed).
Quantitative Features
• Readability measures such as word frequency and sentence
length
• Typically measured by computer software
• The Lexile Analyzer measures text demand based on word
frequency and sentence length variables
Qualitative Features
• Qualitative dimensions of text
complexity, such as levels of
meaning, structure, language
conventionality and clarity, and
knowledge demands
• A rubric is used to analyze these
features
• Different rubrics for literary and
informational text
Reader and Task Considerations
• Reader and task
considerations, such as
students’ knowledge,
motivations, and interests
• Handout of suggested
considerations for Reader
and Task
• ”The Baseball Study” (Recht
& Leslie, 1988)
The Baseball Study
Recht & Leslie (1988)
• Compared reading comprehension for four categories of students
High Reading Ability
& High Knowledge of
Baseball
High Reading Ability
& Low Knowledge of
Baseball
Low Reading Ability & Low Reading Ability &
High Knowledge of
Low Knowledge of
Baseball
Baseball
Practice with a folk tale, “The People Could Fly”
• The Lexile for this text is 430L
• After reading the entire folk tale, use the Qualitative Measures
Rubric for Text Complexity to analyze the text for its qualitative
features
Continued Practice
• After analyzing “The People Could Fly” for its qualitative features, use the
Reader and Task Considerations Handout to further determine at what
grade level this text is most appropriate.
Conclusion
• The Common Core Standards devote as much attention to the
text complexity of what students are reading as it does to how
students read. As students advance through the grades, they
must both develop their comprehension skills and apply them to
increasingly complex texts.
• Grade level standards are only really at play in appropriately
complex texts for that grade level. To revisit this important point,
please review the Dr. Shanahan clip in the module. (Minutes 9:4022:34)
For questions and support, please contact your
Pasco Literacy Team
• Rachel Hatten, Senior Instructional Specialist, ELA 6-12 [email protected]
• Courtney Lough, Senior Instructional Specialist, ELA K-6 [email protected]
• Evette Striblen, Senior Instructional Specialist, Literacy 6-12 [email protected]
• Danielle Varcardipone, Senior Instructional Specialist, Literacy K-1
[email protected]
• Cassie Hernandez, Curriculum Specialist, ELA K-12 [email protected]
• Meighan Melsheimer, Curriculum Specialist, ELA K-12 [email protected]
• Emily White, Curriculum Specialist, ELA K-12 [email protected]
@PascoLiteracy