Every day, something happens in the world your children should know about. A vote in Congress. A breakthrough in medicine. A conflict overseas. Graduated News takes today's real headlines and rewrites each story into six reading-level versions — from Grade 4 through Grade 12. Same facts. Same story. Written at their level.
We use six tiers, each calibrated to a specific range of reading ability. Every story on Graduated News exists in all six versions. Each version is scored to a target range on the Flesch Reading Ease scale — an open, widely accepted readability standard.
| Level | Description | FRE Range |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 4 | Short sentences, common vocabulary, basic context provided | FRE 80–90 |
| Grade 5 | Slightly expanded vocabulary; cause-and-effect reasoning introduced | FRE 70–80 |
| Grade 6 | Multi-clause sentences; broader context assumed | FRE 60–70 |
| Grades 7–8 | Complex sentences, nuanced framing | FRE 50–60 |
| Grades 9–10 | Sophisticated vocabulary, analytical framing | FRE 30–50 |
| Grades 11–12 | Near-adult prose, full contextual depth | FRE < 30 |
These aren’t simplified versions with key words removed. They are fully rewritten articles.
For a generation of parents, the evening news was a shared event. One television. Walter Cronkite at 6:30. Kids didn’t have a separate news — they had the news. That’s gone. Graduated News is a small attempt to fix that.
One family subscription covers every child in the household. Teacher accounts are free. We believe the ability to read and understand the news is not a premium feature. It’s a right.
$60 / year or $6 / month
Free, always.