I don't put a lot of faith in scores that are generated by the 1000s, but I figured it was a rough guideline.
Very rough to meaningless (except for things like industrial chapter books), which is why I don't use it anymore. For example, I looked up Maus just now. It's about about the Holocaust and has some pretty heavy ideas in it. It got a score of 3.2 in AR. My six-year-old reads above that level; still, I would definitely NOT hand Maus to her. I could cite other examples, but I think you get the idea....
Just my rambling observations,
Val
