Monthly Fact Sheet

October 2003

Did you know....

That Florida ranks 9th nationwide in agency online services?

A recent study conducted by researchers at Brown University found that Florida state agencies' websites ranked ninth in the nation in overall quality. The study specifically measured online services, attention to privacy and security, disability access, and foreign language translation, website personalization and email responsiveness. Florida moved up from its 13th place ranking last year. A breakdown of the top ten and their ranking last year is as follows:

Ranking	State (last year's ranking)
1.	Massachusetts (24)
2.	Texas (6)
3.	Indiana (12)
4.	Tennessee (1)
5.	California (3)
6.	Michigan (19)
7.	Pennsylvania (5)
8.	New York (11)
9.	Florida (13)
10.	Kentucky (44)

The study also noted that the average readability of American state and federal web sites is at the eleventh-grade level, well above the purported education level of many Americans, which the researchers claim is the eighth-grade level. Further, researchers tested the theory that agencies serving a less educated clientele would have lower grade level readability, and that theory was disproved. Corrections departments reported the highest percentage (83%) of websites written at the 12th grade level, compared to websites focused on elementary education (74%) and tax issues (46%), for example.

Table of Contents:

• Inmates in Prison
• Inmate Programs
• Offenders on Supervision
• Supervision Programs
• Personnel and Budget
• Of Note this Month

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