How accurate is the Flesch reading ease and grade level (on spell check)?

[one l michele]

I was curious and typed in one page of a book my 7 year old read to me today "the Tree in the Ancient Forest" and it came back with a 6.7 reading ease and 33.9 grade level. How is this translated?

[RootAnn]

I saw your post (back in Jan) on this & no one seemed to answer it. I went looking (as I like to know 'reading level' sometimes) and here are a few links about the Flesch-Kincaid reading level & how accurate it is:

http://csep.psyc.memphis.edu/cohmetrix/readabilityresearch.htm
- Good explanation of the levels, how they are figured & what they mean.

http://juicystudio.com/services/readability.php
- Compares different 'readability' indexes. Has how to figure out grade level & readability with different indexes.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/PUBS/octnews/oc030602.html
- Ditto the above.

http://www.utexas.edu/research/accessibility/resource/readability/manual/flesch-calculate-English.html
- Just on Flesch-Kincaid method.

http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=159902483
- This article says it is "rough" and "not quite accurate"

Enjoy!