RatedBooks changes its scale and review methods
2022–2026; rubric PDF creation dates 2025–2026 · Utah; North Carolina partner; national
RatedBooks’ scale PDFs credit Pavement Education Project and RatedBooks.org. File creation dates are July 16, 2025 for version 1, October 20, 2025 for version 2.0 and April 16, 2026 for version 2.1. These do not establish publication dates.
Show the dated details
The version 2.0 PDF names Stephens as its author. In version 2.1, Level 1 includes instruction or discussion about gender identity or sexual orientation.
On January 18, 2024, Pavement Education Project, a North Carolina organization, filed its articles of incorporation (SOSID 2772468).
Between the October 10 and December 8, 2025 saved pages, RatedBooks added a "first introduced in 1968" clause to its rating-scale page. It links to Stephens’s notes on John Harmer’s A War We Must Win and his account of a proposed California film-review board. The editor and exact date are unknown.
On April 1, 2026, 404 Media reported Gemini and ChatGPT columns in the review process. Stephens said three people operate the models.
In a June 2026 newsletter, Stephens said 26 of the month's 40 new reports were LGBTQ-flagged and tied the selection to Utah's Fidelity Month.
Documented
Who and what is involved
- Institutions
- Private rating/report publishers
- People and recorded roles
- Stephens; Aaron Stephens; John Harmer as cited historical author
- Organizations, bodies and vendors
- RatedBooks; BookLooks; PEP; MPA as referenced analogy
- Laws, rules and procedures
- No statutory equivalence established
- Products and information systems
- Rating scales v1/v2/v2.1; reports; Harmer notes; AI
Sources (9)
- D071Read the public Google document (opens in a new window)
- D072Source · Pavement Education Project incorporates · January 18, 2024 (archived copy) (opens in a new window)
- D073Rating scale version 1 (PDF) (opens in a new window)
- D074RatedBooks describes the Pavement partnership (opens in a new window)
- D075Archived rating-scale page (opens in a new window)
- D076Rating scale version 2.0 (PDF) (opens in a new window)
- D077Rating scale version 2.1 (PDF) (opens in a new window)
- D078Source · Brooke explains human use of AI rating tools · April 1, 2026 (opens in a new window)
- D079June 2026 newsletter (opens in a new window)
Earlier research pages
- Brooke Stephens chronology, entry dated February 9, 2023
- Brooke Stephens chronology, entry dated January 18, 2024
- Brooke Stephens chronology, entry dated July 16, 2025
- Brooke Stephens chronology, entry dated October 10, 2025
- Brooke Stephens chronology, entry dated October 20, 2025
- Brooke Stephens chronology, entry dated October 27, 2025
- Brooke Stephens chronology, entry dated April 16, 2026
- Brooke Stephens chronology, entry dated April 1, 2026
- Brooke Stephens chronology, entry dated June 2026
Open question
Who designed each rubric/version? What training, edition matching, reviewer agreement and correction procedure existed?