Because education levels of the target audience may vary, the language used will vary. For the dual-eligible audience, the language should not be at more than a 5th grade reading level, or have a score of 80 to 100 on the Flesch-Kincaid readability test.
Flesh-Kincaid readability tests are designed to indicate comprehension difficulty when reading a passage, and the two determining factors are reading ease and grade level.
Manually scoring readability
Lead in for this section. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
- Count the number of word in the sample.
- Count the number of sentences
- Divide the number of words by the total number of sentences. Multiply that result by 1.015. (Number of words / number of sentences) x 1.015 = A
- Count the total number of syllables. Divide by the total number of words and multiply by 84.6. (Number of syllables / number of words) x 84.6 = B
- Add the results from steps 3 and 4. Subtract from 206.835. (206.835 – (A + B))
The results of step 5 are the reading ease score.
Reading ease score difficulty
0-29
Very difficult post graduate
30-49
Difficult college
50-59
Fairly difficult high school
60-69
Standard 8th to 9th grade
70-79
Fairly easy 7th grade
80-89
Easy 5th to 6th grade
90-100
Very easy 4th to 5th grade
Scoring readability using Microsoft Word
- From the Tools menu, select Spelling and Grammar.
- Select the Spelling and Grammar Options.
- Select the Show readability statistics check box, and then click OK.
- Perform the Spellcheck.
When Microsoft Word finishes checking spelling and grammar, it displays information about the reading level of the document.