The Flesch Reading Ease readability formula is used in business, industry and
government as well as education, to score materials from the upper elementary level on
through college levels.
The formula takes into consideration (1) the total number of words, (2) the number
syllables, and (3) the total number of sentences.
Unlike most formulas which report their results as grade-level scores, the Flesch
Reading Ease formula reports its results on a difficulty scale ranging from 0 to 100.
The higher the number readability scale score, the easier the material. For example,
a readability scale score between 90 and 100 indicates the material is appropriate at the
5th grade level, whereas a score between 0 and 30 indicates material requiring the reader
be a college graduate.
The user documentation in both
Readability Calculations and
Readability PLUS make it east to convert Flesch reading scale scores to their grade
level equivalents.
The readability software displays this formula's scoring results on a screen which
may contain other formula results as well.
