The “infinite monkey theorem” posits that given enough time, a monkey hitting random keys on a typewriter will likely replicate the works of William Shakespeare. While the theory is an exercise in statistics and advanced mathematics, it has been used a number of times in popular culture to describe all manner of actions. Today, it’s being used to compare the grades assigned to each of 21 federal agencies on their writing skills, as assessed by the Center for Plain Language. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for example, placed in the middle of the pack this year for “organizational compliance” with the Plain Writing Act, a law that was enacted back in 2010, but was ranked behind only the Small Business Administration for its overall writing quality.
The Center for Plain Language has been grading federal agencies since the law went into effect. You can see how each agency has performed through the years by clicking here. The CFPB’s compliance and writing quality have both improved in recent years and any parent would likely be happy with the grades the Bureau is bringing home to put on the fridge.
The CFPB and the SBA were the only agencies to earn “A’s” for their writing quality (the CFPB got an A-minus, actually). In fact, the SBA jumped from a “C” last year to an “A” this year. The Department of Commerce received the lowest grade for writing quality — a C-minus. That represents an overall improvement among federal agencies, after two departments received “D’s” last year for their writing quality.
The Center looked at two specific pages on each department’s website to grade writing quality — the Freedom of Information Act request page and a page dedicated to the COVID-19 pandemic. Generally, the agencies did better on their COVID-19 pages than they did on their FOIA pages, according to the Center.
In case anyone is thinking this is some kind of mid-year April Fool’s joke, there actually is a Center for Plain English
Thank you for this terrific article on the Report Card. As the Vice Chair of the Center for Plain Language, I can assure your readers we’re not “some kind of mid-year April Fool’s joke.” We’re a small band of people devoted to clear communication. Check out this LA Times article for more about us: https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-02-19/enemies-opaque-deep-state-intolerant-of-government-incoherence
As for federal agencies, we’re actually quite pleased with the progress most have made since the Plain Writing Act of 2010.