Despite the Plain Writing Act signed into law by President Obama, a new assessment from the Center for Plain Language finds that most agencies still aren’t passing muster with their public-facing documents. The 2010 law requires plain language in online and written documents that are meant for the public. In other words, the average citizen should be able to understand his or her rights and benefits on the face of the document.
Unfortunately, this isn’t happening. Despite some high-performing agencies like the Social Security Administration and the Departments of Transportation, Commerce, and Agriculture, some agencies are actually performing worse than in the previous assessment.
There is help for feds who want training in pivoting from bureaucratic language to public-friendly language. The Federal Plain Language Group offers half-day training sessions to government workers that teach plain writing. There is so much interest that the group of 20 trainers has a hard time keeping up with demand.
Read more on the Federal News Radio website.
