About Reading Assistant Plus libraries

About libraries

A library is a set of Reading Assistant Plus selections (texts) that can be assigned to an individual student or a group of students. Reading Assistant Plus lets you create your own libraries based on three reading level measures: ATOS grade equivalents, The Lexile Framework for Reading, or Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Levels. This lets you tailor the reading experience directly to the needs of your students. For example, you can create libraries that: 

• Start at lower reading levels or higher reading levels.
• Focus on a single reading level or include a wide range of levels.
• Include high interest/low reading level content for middle and high school students who need intensive reading support.
• Center around a specific genre—one you’re currently studying or one that appeals to the individual interests of a student; for example, nonfiction history or poetry.

Libraries are created and edited within a Reading Assistant Plus assignment. Read on to learn more about libraries. For steps on creating libraries see Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments.

Library organization

The content within a library is automatically organized by reading level, with selections progressing from easier to harder text complexity. Within each reading level, selections are listed alphabetically.

For selections that are individual “chapters” within a series, the entire series will appear in the library if the average reading level of the series falls within the selected range. Otherwise, none of the selections in the series will be included.

Although this organization cannot be changed for a library, it can be customized based on which selections you decide to include in the library, and which content progression method you choose for the assignment. Students with locked progression will start at the beginning of the library and progress through the selections in order, from the lowest reading level to the highest reading level, while students with student-selected progression will be able to choose their starting point. To learn more see Content progression.

Designing libraries

mySciLEARN provides various settings and tools to help you create the most appropriate library for a student. For example, you can choose specific content and subjects at specific reading levels. To learn more see Library settings.

When creating a library, try to choose the reading level that best suits the student’s reading ability, and then adjust the assignment throughout the year as needed. Here’s an example of how that might work:

• At the beginning of the year, use the student’s assessed reading level score to determine the best starting point in the component.
• Add content to the student’s library. Start with selections at the student’s current independent reading level, and include higher reading levels as needed based on the student’s needs. Include high interest/low reading level content as needed. Choose enough content for a single semester or an entire school year, depending on when you next plan to modify the student’s library.
• Regularly check in with the student to make sure the student is reading content at the appropriate level. Then, after the student’s next reading assessment, review the student’s progress in the library. Students who are progressing at grade level and making growth probably won’t need any adjustments. Other students might need more selections, fewer selections, or selections at different reading levels. See Changing libraries to learn more.

To design a library see Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments.

Publishing libraries

When creating or editing a library, you can save it one of two ways:

• You can keep the library within the current assignment only (default). By default, all libraries are included in the assignment in which they were created. Those libraries exist within that assignment and cannot be used by anyone else at the school. Since they are not shared, they will remain open within their specific assignments so they can be edited at any time.
• You can publish the library so it can be used by other students. Published libraries are available not only to you, but to all other instructors at your school. However they cannot be modified or edited once they are published, even for the student(s) in the original assignment. Once a library is published, it is permanently locked and cannot be edited.

To publish a library, create a unique name for it. Use a meaningful name for the library. For example:

• ATOS 1.0-1.5 (the reading level measure/range in the library)
• Smith Fall 2017 (the instructor name and semester/year)

If you’ve created a library for a specific student that you’d like to publish, avoid using the student’s name in the library name. Instead, use general descriptive text that others at your organization will find useful.

To publish a library, see Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments.

Important: Published libraries cannot be edited or renamed once they are saved, even for the original assignment. Also, published libraries cannot be deleted once created. They will be added to the Choose Library menu and will be available to everyone at your school.

Changing libraries

You can change a student's library assignment at any time. For example:

• When a student has completed all of the selections in the current library, you can add more selections or choose a new library for the student.
• If the student is struggling with a particular selection to the point where he or she is becoming too frustrated to make significant progress, you can move the student to content at a lower reading level.
• If the content in a library is too easy for the student, you can move the student to content at a more challenging reading level.

To change a library assignment see Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments. Note that you can only change library assignments at the individual student level.

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