Before You Begin

Texts Appropriate for Measurement

The Lexile Framework for Reading was built upon the measurement of professionally edited, complete, conventional prose text, Lexile® Text Analyzer Content Creator will return an inaccurate Lexile measure for other kinds of text. The lists below show which categories of text should and should not be measured using the Lexile Text Analyzer Content Creator.

Do Measure

  • Any prose text

  • Books

  • Articles

  • Passages

  • Short stories

Do Not Measure

  • Any non-prose text

  • Poetry

  • Song lyrics

  • Recipe lists

  • Plays/dramas

  • Sound effects

  • Student writing

  • Multiple-choice test items

  • Fill in the blank test items

  • Instant Messages/ “Texting” Language

There are a few exceptions to this list. For example, narrative poetry that is conventionally punctuated may be measured with the Lexile Text Analyzer Content Creator. Text written in rhyme does not necessarily qualify as poetry and may still be measured. Texts that are appropriate for use with the Lexile Text Analyzer Content Creator will still require text editing, as detailed in the Editing Guidelines section.

File Type Requirements

Plain text (.txt) is a type of digital file that is free of computer tags, special formatting, and code. This is the only file type recognized by the Lexile Text Analyzer Content Creator. If converting a file to plain text, It is advisable to open the document to check it for conversion errors.

Note: Copying and pasting or uploading text and text files other than plain text may include computer tags, special formatting, and code. These elements can cause inaccurate measurement of the text.

Convert an electronic file to plain text (.txt) from Microsoft Word on Windows
  1. In a Windows Microsoft Word document, click the Save As button from the File menu.
  2. Select Save As Type from the dropdown, then select Plain Text (*.txt).
  3. Click the Save button and a File Conversion window will open.
  4. Click the Other Encoding radio button and select UTF-8 from the list of formats to the right. This applies to both English and Spanish texts.
  5. Select Allow Character Substitution.
  6. Click the OK button to save the document in plain text format.
Convert an electronic file to plain text (.txt) from Microsoft Word on Macs
  1. In a Mac Microsoft Word document, click the Save As button from the File menu.
  2. Select the Save As Type dropdown list, then select Plain Text (*.txt).
  3. If the warning box appears, click the Yes button to save the file and disregard the remainder of this procedure.
  4. Otherwise, a File Conversion window will open.
  5. Select the MS-DOS radio button.
  6. Select Allow Character Substitution.
  7. Click the OK button to save the document in plain text format.