Readability Problems Plague State and Federal Government Websites Click Here to Order E-Govt Data

 

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Most state and federal government websites are not fully accessible to American citizens because they are written at too high of a grade level, according to the fourth annual e-government analysis conducted by researchers at Brown University.

 

Darrell M. West, director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University, and a team of researchers led by Joanne Chiu and Erica Dreisbach examined 1,663 state and federal sites.  The researchers analyzed 1,603 state sites (or an average of 32 sites per state) plus 60 federal sites.  Financial support for the project was provided by Brown University.  Research was completed during June and July, 2003.  Previous e-government studies were released in 2000, 2001, and 2002.

 

Researchers evaluated readability levels by employing the Flesch-Kincaid test, a standard reading tool evaluator used by the U.S. Department of Defense.  The test computes reading level by dividing the average sentence length (number of words divided by number of sentences) by the average number of syllables per word (number of syllables divided by the number of words).

 

The average readability level of American state and federal websites is at the 11th grade level.  This is well above the comprehension level of many Americans.  According to national literacy statistics, half of Americans read at the eighth grade level or lower.  In this analysis of government websites, 67 percent are at the 12th grade level and only 12 percent fall at the eighth grade or lower.

 

There are some differences between state and federal sites.  Sixty-eight percent of state sites read at the 12th grade level, while 63 percent of the federal sites do so.  Agency type also matters, although not always in a manner consistent with the particular audience served by the website.  One might expect that agencies serving more educated clientele would gear their website to a higher level than those serving more poorly educated people.

 

However, agencies presumably geared toward the less educated do not have lower grade-level readability levels.  For example, corrections department reports the highest percentage (83 percent) of websites written at the 12th grade level.  Other agencies that have a high percentage of sites written at the 12th grade level are budget (81 percent), economic development (79 percent), elementary education (74 percent), housing (69 percent), health (69 percent), human services (67 percent), and taxation (46 percent).

 

The study also examines disability accessibility for the visually and hearing-impaired.  Using the online "Bobby" service at http://bobby.watchfire.com, we evaluate the actual accessibility of websites using two different measures:  compliance with the Priority Level One standards recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and compliance with the legal requirements of Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  Sites are judged to be either in compliance or not in compliance based on the results of these two tests.

 

In this year's study, 33 percent of state and federal sites satisfy the W3C standard of accessibility, and 24 percent meet the guidelines for Section 508.  Federal sites (47 percent) are more likely than state sites (33 percent) to meet the W3C standard of accessibility.  There is little difference between states (24 percent) and federal sites (22 percent) when it comes to meeting Section 508 accessibility standards.

 

Foreign language access is an area of improvement in state and federal e-government. The percent of websites with foreign language translation or publications in a foreign language is 13 percent, up from seven percent last year.  However, there is a wide discrepancy this year between state and federal websites, with 12 percent of state websites and 40 percent of federal websites offering foreign language translation.

 

The study furthermore ranks the 50 states and various federal agencies on overall e-government performance. Using measures such as online services, attention to privacy and security, disability access, foreign language translation, web site personalization, and email responsiveness, the research team rated the various state sites and compared their performance to last year.  

 

The top ranking state is Massachusetts with 46.3 points out of a possible 100, followed closely by Texas (43), Indiana (42.4), Tennessee (41.1), and California (41.1). The states achieving the lowest rankings are Nebraska (31.3), New Mexico (30.9), and Alaska (30.3). The following table shows where each state ranked in 2003, with the previous year's ranking or score in parentheses.

 

Overall State E-Govt Ratings in 2003 (with previous year's ranking in parentheses)

Rank

State

Rating Out of 100 Pts

Rank

State

Rating Out of 100 Pts

1.(24)

Massachusetts

46.3(45.6)

2.(6)

Texas

43(52.8)

3.(12)

Indiana

42.4(51.5)

4.(1)

Tennessee

41.4(56)

5.(3)

California

41.1(54.8)

6.(19)

Michigan

40.6(48.2)

7.(5)

Pennsylvania

40.5(52.9)

8.(11)

New York

40.5(51.6)

9.(13)

Florida

40.3(51.5)

10.(44)

Kentucky

40(42)

11.(16)

Illinois

39.7(49.3)

12.(22)

Missouri

39.7(46.3)

13.(2)

New Jersey

39.6(55)

14.(9)

S. Dakota

39.5(51.9)

15.(32)

Arizona

39.1(44.2)

16.(7)

Washington

38.6(52.4)

17.(10)

Utah

38.1(51.7)

18.(27)

Maryland

38.1(44.9)

19.(15)

Virginia

38.1(49.6)

20.(17)

N. Carolina

38(48.6)

21.(23)

Kansas

38(45.6)

22.(4)

Connecticut

37.9(53.3)

23.(14)

N. Hampshire

37.6(51.1)

24.(41)

Delaware

37.4(42.4)

25.(34)

Maine

37.4(43.7)

26.(21)

Ohio

37.4(46.4)

27.(37)

Minnesota

36.8(43.3)

28.(43)

Louisiana

36.6(42.3)

29.(20)

N. Dakota

36.4(46.9)

30.(39)

Idaho

35.9(42.8)

31.(38)

Georgia

35.8(43.1)

32.(8)

Nevada

35.7(51.9)

33.(35)

Rhode Island

35.3(43.5)

34.(18)

Oregon

34.9(48.5)

35.(28)

Iowa

34.6(44.9)

36.(46)

Wisconsin

34.2(40.4)

37.(30)

Arkansas

34(44.5)

38.(29)

Oklahoma

33.2(44.9)

39.(47)

Colorado

33.1(40)

40.(50)

Wyoming

33(34.8)

41.(36)

West Virginia

32.7(43.5)

42.(26)

S. Carolina

32.7(45.4)

43.(25)

Montana

32.7(45.5)

44.(42)

Vermont

32.3(42.4)

45.(45)

Hawaii

32.1(41.9)

46.(49)

Alabama

31.9(35.8)

47.(48)

Mississippi

31.5(37.4)

48.(40)

Nebraska

31.3(42.6)

49.(31)

New Mexico

30.9(44.2)

50.(33)

Alaska

30.3(44.1)

 

Among federal sites, the First Gov portal ranks first with 84 out of a possible 100 points, followed by the Federal Communications Commission (73), Social Security Administration (68), Internal Revenue Service (68), and the Library of Congress (68). The federal sites that had the lowest ratings are the various Circuit Courts of Appeal. The following table lists the ranking of federal agencies in 2003, with last year's rank or score in parentheses.

 

Overall Federal Agency E-Govt Ratings in 2003 (with previous year's ranking in parentheses)

 

Rank

Site

Rating Out of 100 Pts.

Rank

Site

Rating Out of 100 Pts.

1.(7)

FirstGov portal

84(90)

2.(1)

Fed Commun Comm

73(92)

3.(6)

Soc Security Admin

69(80)

4.(9)

Internal Revenue Serv

68(76)

5.(18)

Library of Congress

68(68)

6.(17)

Postal Service

68(68)

7.(4)

Dept of Treasury

64(84)

8.(29)

Sec/Exchange Comm

64(60)

9.(27)

Housing/Urban Dev

62(64)

10.(34)

Cons Product Safety

57(60)

11.(23)

Dept pf Agriculture

56(68)

12.(33)

Dept of Defense

56(60)

13.(28)

Gen Services Admin

56(64)

14.(26)

Natl Science Found

56(64)

15.(25)

Small Bus Admin

56(64)

16.(5)

Dept of State

54(84)

17.(43)

Food Drug Admin

53(52)

18.(12)

White House

53(72)

19.(19)

Fed Trade Comm

52(68)

20.(14)

Health/Human Serv

52(72)

21.(22)

Dept of Education

51(68)

22.(10)

Dept of Transportation

 51(76)

23.(12)

Dept of Commerce

50(76)

24.(3)

Env Protect Agency

50(84)

25.(21)

Dept of Energy

49(68)

26.(2)

Dept of Labor

49(88)

27.(15)

Gen Account Office

47(72)

28.(41)

Veterans Affairs

47(52)

29.(31)

Fed Elect Comm

46(60)

30.(24)

Cent Intelligence Ag

45(68)

31.(38)

Fed Reserve

45(56)

32.(40)

Cong Budget Office

44(56)

33.(8)

NASA

44(76)

34.(36)

Office Man Budget

44(56)

35.(13)

House of Rep.

42(72)

36.(58)

5th Circuit Ct Appeals

41(32)

37.(44)

Eq Employ Opp

41(52)

38.(42)

Govt Printing Office

41(52)

39.(20)

Dept of Justice

49(68)

40.(39)

Fed Deposit

40(56)

41.(30)

Natl Endow Human

40(60)

42.(46)

Natl Transp Safety

40(48)

43.

Homeland Security

38

44.(45)

Natl Labor Relations

38(48)

45.(32)

Dept of Interior

36(60)

46.(16)

Senate

36(68)

47.(50)

Supreme Ct

36(40)

48.(35)

US Trade Rep

36(56)

49.(48)

11th Circuit Ct Appeals

34(48)

50.(49)

10th Circuit Ct Appeals

33(48)

51.(51)

Fed Circuit Ct Appeals

33(40)

52.(54)

3rd Circuit Ct Appeals

32(40)

53.(37)

Natl Endow Arts

32(56)

54.(56)

1st Circuit Ct Appeals

29(36)

55.(52)

9th Circuit Ct Appeals

29(40)

56.(57)

7th Circuit Ct Appeals

28(32)

57.(55)

2nd Circuit Ct Appeals

25(40)

58.(53)

6th Circuit Ct Appeals

25(40)

59.(47)

4th Circuit Ct Appeals

24(48)

60.(59)

8th Circuit Ct Appeals

24(24)

 

In the conclusion of their report, West and his research team suggest several means to improve e-government web sites. Among their recommendations are the following:

 

·        Sites should strive for clear and simple language that is easily understood by the American public.

·        More attention needs to be devoted to disability access so that the visually and hearing-impaired can have access to online information and services.

·        Claims of W3C and Bobby disability compliance on the website should be verified on a regular basis.

·        Websites should include clear, headed privacy policies and not simply disclaimers or liability statements. A detailed privacy policy ensures both legal protection for users and comprehension by users.

·        The privacy policy should be on the portal page of the website and easy to find.

·        Services should be conveniently clustered together on the portal page rather than scattered throughout the website.

·        Websites should always include a link back to the portal page to make for easy navigation.

·        Each website should be organized and uncluttered to help users access the services and information they want to access.

·        Translation into other languages should be easy to find and use.

·        Within-site searches should yield meaningful results and the search engine should be up to date (i.e. should not include broken links or outdated websites).

 

 For more information about the results of this study, please contact Darrell West at (401) 863-1163 or see the full report at www.InsidePolitics.org. The Appendix of that report provides e-government profiles for each of the 50 states and the federal agencies.