Congress as a whole is communicating at a lower comprehension level — 10th grade instead of 11th grade — compared with last year, according to a new word analysis by the Sunlight Foundation.

But does this mean members of Congress aren’t as smart, or that they’re getting better at communicating? As the Sunlight Foundation points out, “lawmakers of both parties still speak over the heads of the average American, who reads at between at 8^th and 9^th grade level.”

For better or worse, Sen. Daniel Akaka‘s communicatoins require the highest level of comprehension among all U.S. senators. He scored a 14.18 in the foundation’s analysis, meaning someone needs more than 14 years of formal education — like a college sophomore — to understand him. 

Rep. Colleen Hanabusa ranked at a ninth-grade level. Rep. Mazie Hirono was on par with seniors in high school, and Sen. Daniel Inouye communicates at the level of a college freshmen. (Check out the complete database.)

Some points of comparison, from the foundation:  ”The U.S. Constitution is written at a 17.8 grade level and the Declaration of Independence at a 15.1 grade level. The Gettysburg Address comes in at an 11.2 grade level and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is at a 9.4 grade level.” 

For what it’s worth, we followed The Atlantic’s lead, and opted to test DC808’s readability. This post was written at a ninth-grade reading level, according to the measure that the Sunlight Foundation used.