Tuesday, January 31, 2012

How prepared are subgroups of Texas students for college-level reading?

Ω

Many students graduate from high school unprepared for the rigorous reading required in entry-level college and career work. This brief builds on a (Wilkins et al. 2010) that used the Lexile measure (a method for measuring the reading difficulty of prose text and the reading capability of individuals) to estimate the proportion of Texas grade 11 public school students in 2009 ready for entry-level college reading in English.

The previous study examined the overall grade 11 Texas student population; this brief uses the same methodology to present similar readiness estimates for student subgroups as defined by 10 characteristics that Texas uses for its state accountability system.

The report also describes how the college reading readiness levels of local students can be compared with the statewide normative results for each subgroup and includes a link to an online Excel® tool that can be used to make these comparisons for the subgroups examined in this study. The Excel tool enables school administrators to more easily compare the preparation of grade 11 students to read entry-level English textbooks from University of Texas (UT) system schools with that of students overall or selected subgroups of students statewide.

Ω

No comments: