What lexile level is NGPF’s curriculum? We’ve been getting this question a lot lately, so we are going to break down the different lexile levels in a NGPF lesson and give you teacher tips for differentiation along the way! NGPF’s curriculum is rigorous and we strive to prepare your students for college and adulthood, so our curriculum’s lexile levels have a wide range in the hope we are reaching all learners as they begin their personal finance journey.

What is a lexile level?

A lexile level is a text’s difficulty level for the reader. During our research, we used a mixture of the following lexile readability tests to determine the text’s grade level, reading level, and average reader’s age: 

• Flesch Reading Ease Score
• Gunning Fog
• Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level
• The Coleman-Liau Index
• The SMOG Index
• Automated Readibility Index
• Linsear Write Formula

Discussion Prompts

To explain the lexile levels we’re going to deep dive into NGPF’s semester course lesson MU-2.1 Your Values and Money. This lesson begins with Discussion Prompts asking students three questions with essential questions following. According to our research, the average lexile level for this section of the lesson is 10th grade and the reading level is fairly difficult to read. 

Teacher Tip: For the Discussion Prompts it may be helpful to read the questions aloud verbally giving extra context as needed and for the Essential Questions the teacher can have students put the Essential Questions in their own words. Having students put text in their own words simultaneously checks for understanding and makes the text student friendly for students who are having difficulty. 

Activity

The Bean Game follows the Discussion Prompt in this lesson. The Bean Game is an engaging way for your students to realize how personal experiences and values affect their money-making decisions. Students are given instructions on how to play The Bean Game and then there are two rounds of discussion questions and a reflection. For this activity, the average lexile level was determined to be 7th grade and the reading level is fairly easy to read. 

Teacher Tip: Activities are written with concise, clear directions and questions are built for students to answer with little teacher assistance. In this case, we suggest teachers encourage students to read the directions at least twice before starting an activity. In addition, teachers can check for understanding by allowing students to read the directions on their own and then cold-calling on different students to explain to their classmates what they are doing during the activity before getting started. 

Article

Next, students read What Do You Value?  published by Smart About Money. In this article, students explore four types of “life values” and students determine how their life values affect their money habits. In this case, the article’s text is determined to be for a college graduate and very difficult to read. 

Teacher Tip: We recommend the teacher thoroughly read the article before delivering this lesson to determine which words/terms their students may have difficulty understanding. Then, the teacher can create a Quizlet or mini-lesson reviewing those words and their definitions prior to this section of the lesson. 

In conclusion, NGPF curriculum’s lexile levels range from 6th grade all the way up to a college graduate pushing both your student’s financial literacy and reading skills! 

About the Author

Tori Mansfield

After graduating from the University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications in 2011, a documentary internship on master teachers led Tori into education. She taught English Language Arts for five years receiving high test results and accolades like Teacher of the Year. In 2017, Tori left the classroom and moved to the Bay Area to focus on helping school districts utilize technology to improve classroom instruction. While training educators on how to use learning management systems and educational software Tori discovered a passion for facilitating professional developments. This passion led her to Next Gen Personal Finance where she is excited to help spread financial literacy to teachers and students all over the country.

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