STAAR Lexiles and Passing Standards for Meets and Masters

WARNING: Facts and opinions ahead...

Good morning Shona,

Can you help me?  My director asked this question this morning:

“Can you tell me anything about crazy Lexile for reading STAAR grade 3 for Meets and Masters?”

I don’t know what she means by Meets and Masters as the students would all see the same passage.  I guess maybe she wants to know how the Lexile measure is determined for STAAR???

Can you help me with any of this?

Just the kind of question I like to geek out about! 

Two different "things" are at play here. Lexiles actually have nothing to do with the cut points for passing. Those cut points come from separate calculation. And Lexiles don't really tell you how hard something is to read either. It's a bunch of hooey, but don't tell anyone I said that. More on that at the end. 

Two Uses of Lexiles

1. So the passages go through a review process. Lexiles are only  one of the measures used to see if passages are at the right reading level. I wrote a blog post about that recently.These Lexiles for the passages are not reported by TEA. But you can cut and paste the released test text, put it through a Lexile calculator, and find out. You probably won't like the results. That's how we traditionally see Lexiles used - to measure the complexity of  a text. But that's not what we see above on the Scale Score conversion chart. 

2. 3rd -8th grade students will get a confidential student report after taking STAAR that also reports their Lexile level. The Lexile assigned to the student comes from some wonky psychometric stuff. Basically, TEA and Lexile folks did a research study. They gave kids another test and compared the results to how kids score (scale scores) on STAAR. This is supposed to tell us what level of books these kids are reading with ease. 

Lexile to Scale Score Study

Here's how TEA explains it: "TEA partnered with MetaMetrics to conduct a series of studies to examine the relationship between the Lexile® scale and the STAAR reading scale. Student participants were representative of Texas student population in reading ability and were similar to Texas student population in demographics such as gender, ethnicity, economic status, and ELL status. Students were given a paper/pencil Lexile® Linking Test that contained multiple-choice reading comprehension questions. Students´ results on the Lexile® Linking Test were examined in relation to the students’ results on the STAAR reading test. Researchers were able to establish a link between the STAAR reading scale and the Lexile® scale. Although no high-stakes was associated with the Lexile® measure on STAAR report card, it can be used as a resource for parents and educators. With Lexile® measures, parents and educators now have information that can be used to promote and encourage growth in reading."

On the confidential student report and on the scale score conversion chart, Lexiles from that study are reported.  They add that Lexile "link" from the research study to the Raw Score conversion table for grades 3-8. Lexiles aren't used in English I and II on the student report or the Raw Score conversion table. Because it doesn't work - especially with authentic vs engineered texts and for the qualitative features of text complexity - but that's my opinion. 

 Do Lexiles tell us who will meet or exceed STAAR passing expectations? 

The cut points between who does not meet, approaches, meets,  or masters the assessment have NOTHING to do with Lexiles. Who passes and by how much is calculated from THREE separate processes. 

• First, there is a process by which the state compares the current test to previous tests. In this way, they can see which tests are harder or easier and ensure that a passing score is fair even when the tests themselves differ somewhat. That's why you see the raw score for passing change by one or two questions each year. 
• Second, there is a process to determine where the cut points are for passing are made. The cut points for do not meet, approaches, meets, and masters are established AFTER the test results are all in. It's a separate mathematical magic than even the scale score conversion. 
• Third, there are graduated percentages of passing that rise each year for accountability purposes. 

The Lexiles are associated with the scale score and research study alone. They aren't connected to the cut point calculations or passing percentages. The reported numbers for student Lexiles are just where the numbers fall from the Lexile linking study.  

The hope is that by adding Lexiles to the confidential student report, teachers and parents can find books that are at the right reading levels for kids - stuff that's not at the frustration level - so they can grow. A reading sweet spot.

Are Lexiles Valid in Determining Text Complexity?

Now, whether or not Lexiles are an appropriate method to select reading levels is another argument. TEA uses the measure, but relies primarily on teacher judgement. I've written about that here: Click on the names of the reading level instruments in this presentation to see how Animal Farm stacks up with multiple forms of readability assessments. Lexiles used without teacher discretion are hogwash. 

Bottom Line? I wouldn't pay a bit of attention to what Lexiles match which levels of passing on STAAR. 

More Resource: 

Here's some more resources to help you understand how Lexiles are reported and used for STAAR.

https://tea.texas.gov/Student_Testing_and_Accountability/Testing/CSR/Annotated_STAAR_Report_Card/

http://www.texasassessment.com/families/literacy-and-lexiles/