An Argument Against Lexile and AR

As a library assistant in the children’s department at a public library, I would like to share my repetitive and frustrating personal experience with the reading programs Lexile and Accelerated Reader.

Approximately once a week, a scenario such as this one occurs. (I’ll use AR in this example, but Lexile is often requested as well.) A mother and a boy between 3^rd and 6^th grade approach with a request for Accelerated Reader books at the appropriate grade level. I explain that I do not have a list of recommended books from the local schools, but I have a website I can access to look up the AR levels of books. I accompany the mother and child to the juvenile fiction section, and conduct a reference interview to determine the child’s interests. With my guidance, they pick out some books that appear to be grade level appropriate. Usually this is a combination of books the mother has chosen and some the child has chosen. The ones the child has chosen are the ones he is most interested in reading, and I get excited, seeing a clearly reluctant reader showing an interest in a book. I feel strongly, as do my colleagues, that this sort of interest is to be celebrated and nurtured, whether the child wants to read books by the popular Dav Pilkey, or books by the lauded Newbery Award- winning Gary Paulsen. The point is, the child WANTS TO READ!!!

The sad and frustrating part of the scenario comes when the parent comes back to the desk and asks me to look up the AR or Lexile levels of each book. Using Renaissance Learning’s website, www. arbookfind.com , I find that Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey has an AR level of 4.3. The mother inevitably says, “No, no, he’s in fifth grade. Put this one back.”

I watch the child physically deflate when he is told that a book he wants to read is “not at his level”. I encourage the parent to take the book her child is interested in as well, explaining that often, the most essential key to encouraging reading is providing material that kids are interested in. However, more often than not, the child walks out looking glum, holding only a copy of a book his parent deems appropriate. I deflate as well.

AR and Lexile are systems designed by for-profit companies, Renaissance Learning and Lexile, respectively. While these may be just two of many tools to assess the level of books, it seems that some teachers and parents let these arbitrary measures created by corporate bodies obscure the true objectives of learning.

Graphic novels are given short shrift by this system, as their listed grade levels are lower than the level of most students who would be interested in the content. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, for example, is an award-winning graphic novel, considered appropriate for young adults. AR’s system assigns it a grade level of 3.3.

A true love of reading can’t be measured. As a librarian and teacher, I consider it my responsibility to stand up for books and graphic novels that can ignite that spark in reluctant readers.