Can I change the Lexile level of a text?

CommonLit does not allow teachers to adjust Lexile levels of texts for several reasons. Instead, CommonLit provides differentiation tools that allow students at different reading levels to access the same text in their zone of proximal development.

Research shows that it is a best practice to teach students of varying instructional levels grade-level materials that challenge them - and to provide scaffolding that helps meet them where they are.

This is why we provide Guided Reading Mode, Read Aloud, Translate, and Annotation Tools. Each of these differentiation tools helps students access challenging, grade-level texts, even if they are reading below grade level.

Guided Reading Mode can be enabled for a whole class assignment, or for particular students who need additional scaffolding.

Check out our blog post on additional ways to use these scaffolding tools, "4 Ways to Use CommonLit to Support Differentiation."

CommonLit will continue to add new articles at various reading levels to the CommonLit Library. If you have suggestions for content you'd like to see at lower or higher reading levels, please send them to curriculum@commonlit.org.