NASHVILLE, WOODBURY: The Tennessee Department of Education concludes the “Know More,
Learn More TN” back to school campaign with an encouragement to all families to support their student’s reading progress by learning about their Lexile level.
Newly added this week in the TCAP Family Portal, Lexile levels for each student provide parents and families with the information they need to support their student’s reading skills and find reading materials to match and further develop the student’s reading skills.
Tennessee parents and families with students who took a TCAP ELA assessment in spring 2022 will now see a Lexile Reader Measure in the TCAP Family Portal. Lexile Reader Measures give parents information about their student’s reading progress and help them select reading materials that are matched to their academic needs. A Lexile measure assesses a student’s reading ability and what level of text a student can read and understand on their own.
“The TCAP Family Portal is a free resource to help parents understand how their student is progressing
toward their academic goals, and the department has added new resources to make it easy for families to support learning,” Commissioner Penny Schwinn said.
“Along with interactive TCAP assessment reports for students, the TCAP Family Portal now provides a student’s Lexile level, giving parents an important tool to assess their student’s reading ability and support learning inside and outside classroom.”
Aligned to the Tennessee Academic Standards for English language arts, students should read within the
range of their grade-band and should also experience supportive texts in the lower ends of the range to prepare them for the more challenging texts in the upper ends of the range.
The Lexile framework and scale for reading compliment the state‘s TCAP English language arts assessment to accurately measure each student’s reading level. The Lexile measure is shown as a number with an “L” for Lexile measure and can range from 0L for beginning readers to above 1600L for college-level readers. Books and other texts have a Lexile measure associated with them, which describes how difficult the text is to comprehend. When used together, these measures can help parents and families find a book for their student that is at an appropriate level of difficulty and suggests how well the student will comprehend the text.
“I appreciate the Tennessee Department of Education including Lexile levels for parents to view in the TCAP Family Portal,” William Freddy Curtis, Director of Schools, Cannon County Schools, said. “Knowing the Lexile range can enable parents to encourage a life-long love of reading in their child by accessing books that are interesting to the student and within a range that the child can comprehend.
The Lexile can be utilized by parents and guardians to observe progress in the reading
ability of their child(ren).”
“We are excited that families will now have more information to support their students in reading,” Dr. Marcia Melton, Supervisor of Instruction, Cannon County Schools, said. “Having the Lexile measure for students, informs families on the reading level of their child and what support they may need.”
In addition to this short video, this one-pager and this graphic, the department has added new resources to the series of communications tools and graphics that can be used across a variety of platforms to promote the TCAP Family Portal, from bulletin boards to social media channels to school websites and parent emails, including:
· Lexile Reader Measure Explainer Graphics
· Back to School Night PowerPoint Presentation
· Helpful Tips for Districts to Engage with Parents and Families
Visit the department’s TCAP web page for more information on Tennessee’s assessment program.
For more information on the TCAP Family Portal, parents and families can watch this short video, reference this one-pager or view this graphic.
For Tennessee Department of Education media inquiries, contact Edu.MediaInquiries@tn.gov. For local media inquiries, contact William Freddy Curtis, Director of Cannon County Schools, at (629) 201-4801, ext. 10101, or at williamf.curtis@ccstn.net for local Cannon County Schools information.