Evaluator last updated March 13, 2025.
Overview
The Subject Matter Knowledge evaluator assesses the subject-matter complexity of reading passages:
- Evaluates how much prior knowledge a text relies on
- Lists key concepts in the text
- Evaluates whether students have likely encountered these concepts before
At a glance
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| Input type | Informational text |
| Supported grades | 3-12 |
| Rubric | SAP ↗‘s Qualitative Text Complexity Rubric for Informational Text ↗ |
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| Model used | gemini-3-flash-preview |
| Temperature | 0 |
Getting started
Follow the Quickstart to start using this evaluator:
| Input | Description | Required |
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| Target grade level | Enables grade context evaluation | Yes |
| Text type | Informational text
Optimal length: 200-1,000 words | Yes |
Output
| Field | Description |
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| Complexity rating | - Slightly complex: Relies on everyday, practical knowledge; includes simple, concrete ideas
- Moderately complex: Relies on common practical knowledge and some discipline-specific content knowledge; includes a mix of simple and more complicated, abstract ideas
- Very complex: Relies on moderate levels of discipline-specific or theoretical knowledge; includes a mix of recognizable ideas and challenging abstract concepts
- Exceedingly complex: Relies on extensive levels of discipline-specific or theoretical knowledge; includes a range of challenging abstract concepts
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| Reasoning | Synthesized explanation of the decision |
| Identified topics | List of topics in the text |
| Curriculum check | Classification of topics as general or specialized |
| Assumptions and scaffolding | Analysis of assumed prior knowledge vs. explained content |
| Friction analysis | Analysis of the gap between concrete description and abstract meaning |
Interpreting results
| Output | How to use |
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| Complexity rating | - Slightly complex: Confirm text relies on everyday knowledge students likely have
- Moderately complex: Plan light scaffolding for discipline-specific terms
- Very complex: Pre-teach key concepts before independent reading
- Exceedingly complex: Flag texts that assume extensive prior knowledge
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| Identified topics + Assumptions and scaffolding | Match text to what students have already encountered
Example: Use identified topics, curriculum check, and friction analysis to decide what to pre-teach or explain in the text |
Accuracy and validation
This evaluator is provided as Early access. Comprehensive accuracy measures
are not yet available. Validation testing is ongoing.
| Metric | Description | Result |
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| Complexity score accuracy | How accurately the evaluator determines text complexity compared to the expert annotated dataset. | 87% based on agreement with 3 experts assessing ~30 texts |
| Expert agreement rate | The agreement rate between the evaluator and experts on a sample of 10 evaluated texts. | 100% |
Evaluator release history
| Date | Changed |
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| March 13, 2026 | First release |
