Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level

The Flesch-Kincaid Readability Tests are Reader's Digest magazine has a readability index of about 65, Time magazine scores about 52, and the Harvard Law Review has a general readability score in the low 30s.

This test has become a U.S. governmental standard. Many government agencies require documents or forms to meet specific readability levels. Most states require insurance forms to score 40-50 on the test. The U.S. Department of Defense uses the Reading Ease test as the standard test of readability for its documents and forms. The test is so ubiquitous that it is bundled with the the popular word processing program Microsoft Word.

An obvious use for readability tests is in the field of education. The "Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Formula" translates the 0-100 score to a U.S. grade level, making it easier for teachers, parents, librarians, and others to judge the readability level of various books and texts. The grade level is calculated with the following formula:

(0.39 x the average number of words per sentence) + (11.8 x the average number of syllables per word) - 15.59

The result is a number that corresponds with a grade level. For example, a score of 6.1 would indicate that the text is understandable by an average student in 6th grade.

An early form of the test was developed by Dr. Rudolf Flesch (author of Why Johnny Can't Read) in the 1940's. J. P. Kincaid modified the test based on work with Navy inductees' understanding of their training manuals. They jointly published their work on readability levels in 1975.

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