An extensive list of criteria and book attributes has been developed for each Reading A-Z level. These criteria were based on an analysis of published books that had been officially leveled using Fountas & Pinnell and Reading Recovery leveling criteria, as well as other factors known to affect text difficulty. 

Next, both the text of Reading A-Z books and books assigned official levels by Reading Recovery and Fountas & Pinnell were entered into a computer. Objective criteria--including total word count, high-frequency word count, low-frequency word count, sentence length, word length, number of different words, and other factors--were entered into a mathematical formula. These factors were weighted according to their importance at each level. This analysis yielded a numerical value for each book and ratios such as high- frequency words to total words and different words to total words. 

In addition to objective measures, subjective factors--such as picture support, concept difficulty, sentence complexity, and more.--were analyzed by trained leveling specialists. These factors also were assigned numerical values and entered into the mathematical formula. Each book was assigned a total numerical value that was used to correlate Reading A-Z books with other leveling systems.  

Writing Reading A-Z books to pre-established criteria, along with further analysis to determine Reading A-Z correlations to other systems, ensures that Reading A-Z books are leveled consistently and with a high degree of accuracy. 

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