In spite of their limitations, readability formulas can help teachers determine whether there are differences between students' reading abilities and the difficulty levels of the textbooks they are required to use. A study was conducted to assess the reading levels of students and the readability levels of textbooks at five selected junior colleges in Alabama during 1987-88. Thirty textbooks from eight content area courses were selected to represent typical textbook readings for core curricula in business, the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. The Fry Readability Formula and Graph were used to determine the difficulty levels of the textbooks. The Nelson-Denny Reading Test was used to determine the reading levels of a sample of 377 students. Study findings included the following: (1) the average reading level of the students in the sample was 12.12 grade, with the levels ranging from 3.0 to 16.9; (2) 54.6% of the students read below the college level (13.0); (3) the average readability level of the textbooks was 13.93, with levels ranging from 9 to 17; (4) 70% of the textbooks used were at the college level; and (5) 67% of the students in the sample had reading levels below the average readability level of the textbooks. (EJV)