Leveling  ›  

Alignment to Other Leveling Systems

American Reading Company levels are independent reading levels. A reader’s American Benchmarks for Excellence (ABE) color level is the highest grade level he or she can read, understand, and enjoy without any help.

The independent level is not the level at which a student reads challenge-free. It is the level at which students can successfully manage the challenges they encounter on their own.

Guided Reading and other instructional levels assume a teacher is there to introduce the book and provide some help where needed. However, the following correlations may be useful.

Grade ABE Lexile Text Measures Guided Reading DRA
K

Y (1-Yellow)

YY (2-Yellow)

G (1-Green)

— A, B A–2
1

G (2-Green)

B (1-Blue)

BB (2-Blue)

200L–400L C–I 3–16
2

R (1-Red)

RR (2-Red)

300L–500L J–M 18–28
3

Wt (White)

500L–700L N–P 30–38
4

Bk (Black)

650L–850L Q–R 40
5

Or (Orange)

750L–950L S–V 50
6

Pu (Purple)

850L–1050L W–Y 60
7 & 8

Br (Bronze)

950L–1100L Z 70–80
9 & 10

Si (Silver)

1050L–1200L — —
11 & 12

Gl (Gold)

1100L–1300 — —

IRLA: Independent Reading Level Assessment®

The IRLA provides comprehensive details about each readling level in the ABE leveling system. Learn more »