The grades say it is…mostly.
As we do every year, the Center reviewed agencies’ plain language programs and some writing samples for the annual Federal Report Card, released today, November 17. Representative Dave Loebsack announced the results.
Early this summer, TIME.com asked the Center for Plain Language to evaluate some online privacy notices, using the types of assessment we use for our ClearMark awards and our Federal Plain Language Report Card. I took the lead on the project and learned some great lessons along the way. TIME.com published the article in August.
In an op ed originally published in Government Executive, Congressman Bruce Braley, the author of the Plain Writing Act of 2010, writes about the problems and costs of confusing government language, and about the role of the Center’s report card in addressing the issue.
In 2006, I was working as a writer-editor in the regulatory shop of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency responsible for providing legal immigration benefits and services. Any one of our regulations could affect thousands to millions of people, many of whom didn’t speak English as a first language. So we had to get the language right.
The Center would like to thank the following volunteers who gave their time and expertise to review pages for the 2021 Federal Report Card. You have made the world a little clearer. David Lipscomb (lead judge), Vice Chair of the Center for Plain Language, is also a board member of the International Plain Language Federation. […]