Argues that health educators must learn to predict readability levels of textbooks to be sure that they are challenging and understandable to the student. Concludes that this can be accomplished through the use of readability formulas. (FL)

Reports a study of three readability formulas--Dale-Chall, Fry, and Harris-Jacobson--which were used to analyze five current sixth-grade reading textbooks. (JM)

Reports on the development of a computer program that was used with five different readability formulas to assess levels of reading difficulty. (FL)

Finds significantly more errors and a higher percentage of detrimental errors on passages composed of later appearing structures. Supports Goodman's view of the reading process (that reading is a "psycholinguistic guessing game"), and indicates a need for more sophisticated readability formulas. (RL)