In every English class, students are required to take a Lexile Learning test to find their level of reading. Then, students read books on the correct level and receive points after taking quizzes on them through Reading Counts. We believe this system is flawed to due the fact that it is hard to find, completely read, and still have time to take a quiz in one six weeks grading period. The program is also flawed due to the fact that it is worth 20% to 30% of every student’s six weeks grade.
Reading counts requires students to read enough books to obtain a certain amount of points. The amount of points required in a grading period determines the amount of books to be read. Typically, this calls for many students to digest two books in six weeks. We believe this is too much. High school-level books have upwards of 200 pages and it can often take six weeks to read one book. Students have mountains of regular homework and with the new “Flipped classroom” initiative students do not have time to be reading endless amounts of text as well.
Reading two books a six weeks means a student needs to finish as many as twelve books a school year. Finding that many books within a small range of points is very difficult. Students with a Lexile above the average of 900 have trouble finding a book that they are willing and interested in reading. This is especially a problem when students must read two books per six weeks. It is hard to find a book you will enjoy and read quickly, in such a short amount of time. We believe that this is wrong: the amount that you have to read, and how fast you can read that amount should not count against you in the grade book.
But the major problem with the Reading Counts system is the grading. The grading depends upon the grade that you get on a quiz that corresponds with the book. The quizzes ask different questions about the books summary, plot, and characters and are often very specific to a minor detail on a particular page or in a passage in the novel. Only scores of seven-out-of-ten or higher are recorded in the grade book.
Students who mark less than seven correct are awarded a zero in the grade book. Students get three chances to retake the quiz, and have to wait 24 hours to do so. The questions change for each attempt.
We think that this is absurd. If a student receives a fifty on a math test, it is a fifty in the grade book and not a zero. Students should get proper credit for the question they answer correctly even if that is not a passing grade.
Some in favor of the system say that the Lexile program has helped reading scores on standardized test.
Although scores did rise in reading, writing scores dropped. This is obviously due to the major focus on reading, and not writing. A big problem with this is that many teachers on campus are not certified reading teachers. Most of the English teachers on campus are on certified to teach English, and not reading in particular. Teachers are also left scrambling to give students time at the end of the six weeks during class time to read, just so that they do not fail the grading period.
Others proponents say that students have more than enough time to read two books in a grading period. Students may not have time to read due to a job, and others may have to take care of family. Another reason students may not be able to complete this task is that they simply do not have a quiet place at home to read.
A solution could be to have students read one book a six weeks and take a quiz on that book, for a grade. Another solution would to be more lenient with the reading options. A third option for grading would be to let students get the grade they make on the quiz, if they fail them give them that grade and not a zero. If this were to happen, students would most likely have higher grades and time could be equally spent on reading and writing in English classes.
We believe as a staff that as a staff this system is flawed due to the system’s grading, the rules about book selection, and the quiz process. We urge the administration to reassess this program and revamp the policies in a way that will improve student grades while still requiring a modest level of reading each six weeks.
