This article reports on a study that explored the relationship between reading proficiency and cultural relevance of text for third-grade English Language Learners (ELLs). The author presents the Cultural Relevance Rubric that helps define and determine cultural relevance of texts. Participants used the rubric to rate the cultural relevance of two stories from a standardized assessment. While the two stories were identified as being the same reading level, the participants differed in their reading of each story. Reading accuracy scores for both stories suggest that the participants were within their instructional or independent reading levels. However, miscue analysis and retelling data suggest that readers' comprehension was greater when reading the story they identified as being more culturally relevant. Implications for text selection, especially of texts used for assessment purposes with ELLs, are discussed. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)