Showing Illinois research university sites. All education sites
R1 and R2 universities in Illinois, public and private together.
F 33
Average readability score of 10 fully scanned Illinois research university sites
13th
of 17 states, ranked by average readability score
10 of 10
Illinois research university sites fully scanned
F 56
Average readability score of all 2,687 fully scanned education sites
How Illinois readability scores are distributed
Smoothed distribution of the 10 fully scanned Illinois research university sites, score 0 to 100. Height shows how many sites score near each value.
Distribution of 9 scores. The data table lists counts by score range.
- Illinois average
- All education average
View the data table
| Score range | Sites |
|---|---|
| 0 to 9 | 6 |
| 10 to 19 | 0 |
| 20 to 29 | 0 |
| 30 to 39 | 0 |
| 40 to 49 | 0 |
| 50 to 59 | 0 |
| 60 to 69 | 0 |
| 70 to 79 | 0 |
| 80 to 89 | 0 |
| 90 to 100 | 3 |
Illinois research universities by readability grade, compared with all education sites
Share of fully scanned sites in each grade band. Illinois research universities: 10 sites. All education: 2687 sites.
- A (90 to 100)
- B to C (70 to 89)
- D to F (below 70)
View the data table
| Group | A (90 to 100) | B to C (70 to 89) | D to F (below 70) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 30% (3) | 0% (0) | 60% (6) |
| All education sites | 53% (1,425) | 0% (0) | 41% (1,110) |
Top 3 Illinois research university sites by readability score
#1 in Illinois · U.S. education rank 1
DePaul University
A 100 readability
- Accessibility A
- Botability A
- Security B
- Usability D
- Readability A
#1 in Illinois · U.S. education rank 1
Illinois State University
A 100 readability
- Accessibility A
- Botability C
- Security B
- Usability D
- Readability A
#1 in Illinois · U.S. education rank 1
Northern Illinois University
A 100 readability
- Accessibility A
- Botability A
- Security C
- Usability A
- Readability A
What each check means
- Reading level. Page text reads at or below a 7th grade level so most users can understand it. Users struggle to understand your content.
Every education site with one problem
- Education websites that are hard to read: 1,110 of 2,535 fully scanned education sites (44%), with every site listed.
Research universities in Illinois by readability score
| Rank | Site | Checks passed | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
depaul.edu
DePaul University U.S. rank 1 |
1 of 1 checks pass | A |
| 1 |
illinoisstate.edu
Illinois State University U.S. rank 1 |
1 of 1 checks pass | A |
| 1 |
niu.edu
Northern Illinois University U.S. rank 1 |
1 of 1 checks pass | A |
| 2 |
iit.edu
Illinois Institute of Technology U.S. rank 80 |
0 of 1 checks pass | F |
| 2 |
luc.edu
Loyola University Chicago U.S. rank 16 |
0 of 1 checks pass | F |
| 2 |
northwestern.edu
Northwestern University U.S. rank 168 |
0 of 1 checks pass | F |
| 2 |
siu.edu
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale U.S. rank 112 |
0 of 1 checks pass | F |
| 2 |
uchicago.edu
University of Chicago U.S. rank 74 |
0 of 1 checks pass | F |
| 2 |
illinois.edu
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign U.S. rank 4 |
0 of 1 checks pass | F |
| 3 |
uic.edu
University of Illinois Chicago U.S. rank 185 |
Not fully scanned, so not graded. We were able to fully scan your site. Status 200 | - |
About readability
Write content at a reading level most users can understand.
Why it's important
Plain language helps people understand services and procedures the first time, reducing calls, errors and office visits.
Risks
- Users cannot understand your content.
Guidance
What we use to grade readability:
- 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA)
- Automated Readability Index (ARI)
- Flesch–Kincaid readability tests
- U.S. Federal Website Standards
- Plain Writing Act of 2010
Standards
Grades/scores
ScanGov
About this ranking
About this data
ScanGov scans the homepage of each college and university site on our higher education list. Scores come from the checks in the ScanGov standards. Sites were scanned between 10/27/2026 and 11/8/2026. Each site's report shows its own scan date. A site counts as fully scanned when its homepage loaded and sent us its page content. Averages, grade shares, failure rates, and ranks use fully scanned sites only. Grades follow the ScanGov grade scale. Rank follows the ScanGov ranking method. The full dataset, with every county's raw results, is in the ScanGov data repository.