The student’s reading level in Raz-Kids is determined based on certain leveling criteria. However, the Learning A-Z Text Leveling System is definitely designed to measure the text complexity accurately and reliably in supporting differentiated instruction.
Sure, the Raz-Kids leveling system follows the guidelines for determining text complexity as outlined in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Well, the Standards here call for evaluation of student reading material in three areas of text complexity: qualitative measures, quantitative measures, and reader and assignment considerations.
So, if you wonder how the Raz-Kids determine a student’s reading level, let’s see our post below!
Determining a Student’s Reading Level on Raz-Kids
Raz-Kids determine where to start the student in Learning A-Z’ levels based on three leveling criterias. What are they? See them below!
- With Qualitative Measures
Those Qualitative measures are the kinds of text attributes which can only be evaluated by a human reader. However, those include a bunch of factors including the author’s purposes, the structure of the text, the levels of meaning, language clarity, language conversion, knowledge demands and the complexity and importance of visual devices.
With Qualitative Measures, this Learning A-Z system takes into account the following qualitative measures, they are:
- Predictability of text
- Text structure and organization; Logical nature of organization, Text and feature distractions and Labeling and reader supports
- Illustration support
- Infographics; Complexity and Text reliance on
- Knowledge demands; Concept load, Familiarity of topic (common everyday vs. unfamiliar), Single vs. multi-themed and Intertextual dependence
- With Quantitative Measures
Quantitative Measures are statistical measurements of text. Those include a bunch of factors including the average sentence length, the total number of different words and number of syllables per word.
With Quantitative Measures, this Learning A-Z system takes into account the following qualitative measures, they are:
- Total word count
- Number of different words
- Ratio of different words to total words
- Sentence length
- Sentence complexity
- Ratio of high frequency words to total words
- Ratio of low frequency words to total words
- Number of low frequency words
- Number of high frequency words
- With Reader and Task Consideration
The final component of text complexity as outlined in the Common Core Standards is a consideration of the reader and the reading task. As a teacher, you may know that each reader will bring different skills, motivation and background to the act of reading.
For example, a student who is interested in the topic of a particular book will likely bring more background knowledge to the reading task and be motivated to learn more about the subject.
In this case, the reader and task considerations are something that the teachers should evaluate for themselves. Sure, no leveling system can encompass those considerations as they depend upon the circumstance of each student in relation to each particular book at the time of reading.
Thankfully, as the Learning A-Z Text Leveling System evaluates the qualitative and quantitative criteria reliably and accurately, the teachers are freed up to focus their energy and attention where they are most needed both on the reader and task considerations which affect their individual students.
Assessing the Student’s Level
To assess a student’s level, each student should send their recordings to their teacher In Basket in a three-part process, providing the teacher with a more complete picture of their students’ reading abilities and monitor their progress.
What the teachers should do to know the student’s reading ability:
- Place students at an appropriate reading level to begin with.
- Determines students’ readiness to advance to the next level after they have completed an assignment.
- Monitor students’ reading progress over time.
Learn about Level Correlation Chart
Level Correlation Chart illustrates how Learning A-Z levels roughly correlate to other leveling systems which is commonly found in leveled reading materials. However, the Learning A-Z Text Leveling System in English and Spanish uses subjective (qualitative) and objective (quantitative) leveling criteria to measure text complexity.
Here’s a Level Correlation Chart that you should know:
| Learning A-Z Text Leveling System | Grade | Ages | Lexile | Accelerated Reader (ATOS) | DRA | Fountas & Pinnell | Reading Recovery | PM Readers |
| aa | K | 4 – 6 | BR70L-10L | 0 – .9 | A-1 | A | 1 | Starters 1 |
| A | K | 4 – 6 | BR70L-10L | 0 – .9 | A-1 | A | 1 | Starters 1 |
| B | K | 4 – 6 | BR40L-160L | 0 – .9 | 2 | B | 2 | Starters 2 |
| C | K | 4 – 6 | BR40L-160L | 0 – .9 | 3-4 | C | 3-4 | 3-4 red |
| D | 1 | 4 – 7 | 160L-310L | 1 – 2.4 | 6 | D | 5-6 | 5-6 red/yellow |
| E | 1 | 6 – 7 | 160L-310L | 1 – 2.4 | 8 | E | 7-8 | 7-8 yellow |
| F | 1 | 6 – 7 | 300L-450L | 1 – 2.4 | 10 | F | 9-10 | 9-10 blue |
| G | 1 | 6 – 7 | 300L-450L | 1 – 2.4 | 12 | G | 11-12 | 11-12 blue/green |
| H | 1 | 6 – 7 | 430L-530L | 1 – 2.4 | 14 | H | 13-14 | 13-14 green |
| I | 1 | 6 – 7 | 430L-530L | 1 – 2.4 | 16 | I | 15-16 | 15-16 orange |
| J | 1 | 6 – 8 | 430L-530L | 1 – 2.4 | 18 | J | 17 | 17 turquoise |
| K | 2 | 7 – 8 | 510L-620L | 2.5 – 3.5 | 18 | J | 17 | 18 turquoise |
| L | 2 | 7 – 8 | 510L-620L | 2.5 – 3.5 | 20 | K | 18 | 19-20 purple |
| M | 2 | 7 – 8 | 530L-810L | 2.5 – 3.5 | 24 | L | 19 | 21 gold |
| N | 2 | 7 – 8 | 530L-810L | 2.5 – 3.5 | 28 | L | 20 | 22 gold |
| O | 2 | 7 – 8 | 600L-850L | 2.5 – 3.5 | 28 | M | 20 | 22 gold |
| P | 2 | 7 – 8 | 600L-850L | 2.5 – 3.5 | 28 | M | 28 | 22 gold |
| Q | 3 | 7 – 9 | 660L-930L | 3.6 – 4.2 | 30 | N | 30 | 23 silver |
| R | 3 | 8 – 9 | 660L-930L | 3.6 – 4.2 | 30 | N | 30 | 23 silver |
| S | 3 | 8 – 9 | 790L-940L | 3.6 – 4.2 | 34 | O | 34 | 24 silver |
| T | 3 | 8 – 9 | 790L-940L | 3.6 – 4.2 | 38 | P | 38 | 25 emerald |
| U | 4 | 8 – 11 | 820L-1030L | 4.3 – 4.9 | 40 | Q | 40 | 26 emerald |
| V | 4 | 9 – 11 | 820L-1030L | 4.3 – 4.9 | 40 | R | 40 | 26 emerald |
| W | 4 | 9 – 11 | 820L-1030L | 4.3 – 4.9 | 40 | S | 40 | 27 ruby |
| X | 5 | 9 – 11 | 890L-1080L | 5.0 – 5.5 | 40 | S | 40 | 28 sapphire |
| Y | 5 | 9 – 11 | 890L-1080L | 5.0 – 5.5 | 40 | T | 40 | 29 sapphire |
| Z | 5 | 9 – 11 | 890L-1080L | 5.0 – 5.5 | 50 | U-V | N/A | 30 sapphire |
| Z1 | 5+ | 9 – 11+ | 920L-1120L | 5.6 – 6.3 | 60 | W-X | N/A | N/A |
| Z2 | 5+ | 9 – 11+ | 920L-1120L | 6.4 – 6.9 | 70+ | Y-Z | N/A | N/A |
Okay, those are the criterias that the Raz-Kids use to determine the student’s reading level.
