Worked example — How To Kill a Mockingbird is classified
A worked example of the classification standard applied to one book. Every value below comes from a cited public source.
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (Lippincott, 1960) is one of the most-assigned novels in US high schools and a recurring subject of curriculum debate. That makes it a useful test case: it has data on every one of the standard’s six dimensions, and the cited sources for those classifications come from a wide range of authorities. This page walks through each dimension and shows the source for the value behind it.
The book’s machine-readable record is at /api/book/to-kill-a-mockingbird; the human-readable page with full assignment list is at /book/to-kill-a-mockingbird.
1. Lexile measure
Value: 870L.Sourced from MetaMetrics’ Lexile Hub. 870L places the text in the upper-middle of the 7th-grade typical band (≈700-1000L) and at the lower edge of the 9th-12th-grade band (≈900-1200L), which is consistent with how the book is most commonly assigned (see grade-band and curriculum-alignment dimensions below).
2. Grade band
Value: grades 7–10. The min/max grade range is the union of the grades at which authoritative curricula and state DOEs cite this book — Common Core ELA Appendix B exemplifies it at grades 9–10, several middle-school summer reading lists place it at grades 7–8, and AP English Literature has it as a 11th-grade optional reading. The 7–10 band is the conservative intersection that captures the bulk of cited assignments.
3. Curriculum alignment
The book is cited in two named pedagogical frameworks tracked on this site:
- Common Core State Standards (ELA), grade 9. Listed in CCSS ELA Appendix B as a grade 9–10 text exemplar — recommended (not required) reading at that level.
- AP English Literature and Composition, grade 11. Cited in the College Board’s AP English Literature course framework as a representative novel for the course’s analytical skills.
Sources: CCSS ELA Appendix B · AP English Literature course framework (College Board).
4. State-level evidence
The book appears on three state ELA frameworks tracked by this site as of publication: California, Florida, and Texas — each citing it at grade 9 within Common Core or CCSS-aligned ELA standards. National-curriculum citations (Common Core, AP) apply across all 50 states regardless of individual state ELA standards.
Sources: California Department of Education · Florida Department of Education · Texas Education Agency (TEKS).
5. Removal / banning records
The book has formal removal, restriction, or formal challenge records in four states: Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, and Virginia. These records track instances of districts within those states removing or restricting access to the book between 2022 and 2024. Notably, Florida appears on BOTH the state-evidence dimension (statewide ELA framework cites the book) AND this dimension (some districts within Florida have removed it) — a useful illustration that “assigned” and “available” are different status questions and this site reports both honestly.
Source: PEN America — Index of School Book Bans (2022–2024).
6. Seasonal & contextual tags
One Common Core grade 9 assignment carries a summercontext tag — i.e. the book appears on summer-reading recommendations for incoming 9th graders in addition to its in-year curricular use. Other contexts (back-to-school, AP-prep cycle, holiday/heritage program) are not tagged on this title; absence here is not fabricated “not relevant” — it simply reflects what cited sources document.
Source: Achieve the Core — CCSS ELA Appendix B summer / start-of-year exemplars.
How this rolls up
When you view /grade/9, To Kill a Mockingbird appears because its grade band (7–10) overlaps grade 9. When you view /state/california/grade/9, it appears for two independent reasons: (a) the California ELA framework cites it at grade 9, and (b) the Common Core ELA Appendix B (a national curriculum) lists it as a grade 9 text exemplar. When you query /api/v1/recommend?grade=9&exclude_banned=true, it does NOT appear in the recommendation list — because the exclude_banned filter checks the banning-records dimension and finds four state-level entries for this book.
Every page on the site is built from these six dimensions. Where data is absent for a dimension, the dimension is shown as blank or “not classified” rather than fabricated. The full classification framework is documented on the classification standard page.
Want a different example?
Worked examples are added on request. If you’re a researcher or developer building on this dataset and need the methodology walked through for a specific book, contact us via the contact page.