This article was previously published in our February 2014 Newsletter by David Smith, Customer Advocate

Q: What does a 10.2 score on a student’s reading level assessment tell me?

A: We use the Flesch–Kincaid readability test to determine the students reading grade level(a “10.2” on the test would indicate a student who can read at a little above a 10th grade reading level). It is a widely used test, as it looks at length of words, length of sentences, number of syllables per word, number of complex words, etc. , when determining what grade level of reading would someone have needed to pass in order to comprehend the written material.

We also apply this test to our written questions in the program, allowing instructors to replace a question if they feel the reading level is too high or too low for the provider level of students they are testing.

Sometimes a student may end up reporting as having a reading level of something like 58.2 (This denotes the test is readable/comprehendible by someone in their 58th year of schooling…which is somewhat ridiculous).

Looking at the student’s response should indicate that they do not understand the proper use of punctuation, and could potentially have a reading comprehension problem, as a result that high usually indicates that the student wrote a response that is one giant sentence. What we would suggest is having the student retake the reading level assessment test, and emphasize that the correct use of punctuation is crucial in determining their reading level.

To reset their assessment test, click your class name and then select “Student Assessments”. Now select the student and click the “X” next to the assessment test you’d like to reset and re-open to the student(it will ask if you want to delete the assessment, and you do). The assessment test will now be open for the student to take again(and hopefully not create 1 giant sentence this time).