Provides a microcomputer program that will calculate readability levels using Rix, a new, short readability formula. (FL)

Among the problems of using readability formulas in education are: reporting standardized scores as grade levels is often meaningless since in a single grade classroom there may be children reading two or three grades above or below grade placement; social mobility, busing policies, and changed patterns of living have increased the heterogeneity…

Textbook publishers are under attack for producing books that are superficial in content and oversimplified or confusing in language. They respond that their products are the inevitable result of applying the many textbook selection formulas to book production. Efforts by educators to improve textbooks are currently being organized. (PGD)

Noting that readability formulas are strictly text-based and therefore do not reflect the interactive nature of the reading process, this paper argues that many of the instructional material evaluations for which such formulas are used are inappropriate and offers more reader-based alternatives to the use of formulas. The first half of the paper…

Argues that, while computers make the computation of readability formulas easy, teachers should not forget the need to apply judgment and common sense to the results. Discusses RIXRATE, a computerized version of the Rix index and compares its performance to that of the Rauding Scale. (FL)

Suggests that common sense be applied when calculating text readability using a microcomputer. (CRH)

Argues that the Degrees of Reading Power test is not a valid tool for its main purpose, matching students to appropriate texts, because the test's units of text difficulty are not uniformly comparable to the test's units used to reflect a reader's ability. (HOD)

Explains significant but accounted for factors that affected the validity of the Degrees of Reading Power Test. (HOD)

One of a series dealing with current issues affecting language arts instruction, this paper focuses on the conceptions and misconceptions of readability. The paper begins by noting that over the years, researchers in readability have had two major goals: to determine what makes written materials easy or difficult to read and comprehend, and to…

The purpose of this paper is to make classroom teachers on all educational levels aware of the limitations of readability formulas and the factors affecting readability that are not accounted for by the readability formulas. delineated in discussions of readability formula assumptions, problems, and limitations. Some of the specific factors that…

This article introduces and discusses some aspects of the complex problem of textbook reform, and suggests what the future holds for textbooks. (DCS)

Intended to help teachers both improve students' text comprehension and better understand the teaching-learning process involved, this book focuses on comprehension and concept development as the central core of an effective educational program. The book's five sections deal with teaching explicit comprehension skills, precomprehension and…