In the March/April 2011 issue of Knowledge Quest, the theme focused on Reversing Readicide. In the magazine, I had the priviledge to interview Malbert B. Smith III, President of MetaMetrics and co-founder of the Lexile Framework for Reading. The interview was an opportunity to understand a little more about the Framework and talk about the role a school library should and could play with the system.
Earlier this month, there was a post on the Lexile Blog highlighting two of the most important pieces from the article. We’ve all heard the horror stories of school libraries that had to be organized by a leveling system or students who have been required to read only in their level no matter whether the content was interesting or appropriate. But, what does the co-creator of Lexlie think about stories like that.
Malbert said, “We do not find it necessary to reorganize a library by Lexile range or level. Today, a number of computer catalog providers offer Lexile measures to help guide students to the right reading materials – without actually having to rearrange those materials by Lexile level.”
He also went on to say, “A student should be able to choose what he or she wants to read, regardless of whether that book or article is in his or her recommended Lexile range.”
You can read the entire article from KQ online. It was really a great experience to talk with Malbert and school libraries and Lexiles. Hopefully this article dispels some of the misconception on how the two should work together!
Tags: AASL · American Association of School Librarians · Knowledge Quest · Lexiles · Malbert Smith IIINo Comments