The Gunning Fog Index measures the grade equivalent of a text. For example, if the readability measure is 5 then the text is appropriate reading for someone in the fifth grade. I will give a passage from the third grade reader Muffins by Uthman Hutchinson.

Fatima thought her parents made it sound almost like a punishment! She was sure it would be wonderful. After all, it was only a kitten, it couldn't be that hard.

The next day, after school, Fatima and her mother went to pick up the kitten. There were only three kittens left in the box. Fatima knew just which one she wanted. It was the fat, black and white one. She even knew the name she wanted to give it. "I'll call you Muffins,"she said.

The first step is to count words, number of sentences, difficult words and syllables.

Number of words 85

Number of Sentences 9

Number of Difficult words 2

Number of Syllables 100

These figures are then used in two equations:

Average Sentence Length=Number of Words divided by Number of Sentences = 85/9 = 9.444

Percentage of Difficult Words = Number of Difficult Words divided by Number of Syllables = 2/100 = .02 x 100 = 2

Average Sentence Length (9.444) + Percentage of Difficult Words (2) = (11.444) x Multiplier of .4 (.40) = Readablility level (4.6)

This text has a readability level of 4.6. It should be appropriate level reading for students in the middle of the fourth grade. If you do a larger sample will give a more accurate reading level.

When determining the percentage of difficult words, these rules must be followed:

1. Words with three or more syllables are considered difficult words.

2. a word that appers twice is counted twice.

3. Exceptions:

a. Words of three syllables that are compounds of two simple words are not considered difficult.

b. Simple verbs that become difficult by adding es, ed, or ing are not counted.

c. Proper names are never counted as difficult words.

I did a different sample within the same book and it came out at a readability level of 3.1 which is where a third grade reader should be. I use this index to see at what level my son is reading on, but for those who write can use it to write for the appropriate level. I hope that this index will be useful for you.

Fedwa

This was originally published on a homeschooling e-mail list a couple of years ago.