The Fry Graph: Validation of the College Levels.
Judith A. Longo · The Journal of Reading · 1982
The Fry Readability Graph has been a familiar, useful, and respected tool since its publication in 1968. In its original form, the Fry Graph gave a simple means of determining readability of prose, with specific designations for grade levels 1 through 12 followed by another broadly designated area, college. However, in 1977 Edward Fry published an article updating teachers on recent activity in the area of readability. He explained minor adjustments in the rules of word count and, by simple extrapolation, extended the graph to specific grade level designations of 13 to 17. With this extension, the Fry Graph became the only truly easy-to-apply readability device that ranges from grades 1 to 17. Because it has undergone validation studies of its other levels (Crook, 1977; Fry, 1969; Paolo, 1977), establishing the validity of the college grade equivalents seems appropriate and certainly overdue.