This article provides tools and rationale for instructors in math and science to make their assessment and curriculum materials (more) readable for students. The tools discussed (MSWord, LexTutor, Coh-Metrix TEA) are readily available linguistic analysis applications that are grounded in current linguistic theory, but present output that can readily be interpreted by nonspecialists. This manuscript illustrates (using the discipline of statistics and an instructor's class-tested experience for concrete context) how the output of the applications can be used to improve readability and comprehension of difficult instructional text, a change which is particularly important for teaching highly conceptual topics, especially to students not fully prepared for academic language. With minimal time commitment, instructors using these tools can create materials that are noticeably more accessible to students, thus yielding a good return on investment.