I can tell you from personal experience that it is definitely possible to get above a 12 on the Flesch-Kincaid grade level score. I have done it, many a time. I am a senior in college, and I write a lot of papers for my major. I am currently writing a paper and my grade level score is at 19.7 at the moment. I have never pushed it beyond a grade score of 22 or 23 that I can recall, though. And no, I am not accidentally confusing my grade level with the Flesch Reading Ease score, before anyone jumps to that conclusion. My reading ease score is 11.2. So your sentences and words simply aren't long enough to breach the level 12. Another post outlined the details of scoring on the Flesch-Kincaid system, so I won't get into that, but keep in mind that a high grade level doesn't necessarily mean an intelligently written document. It is simply a measurement of combined length, operating under the assumption that long sentences and words mean smarter sentences and words. It does not take into account sentence structure or sophistication, and absolutely does not take into account content, flow, or ease of understanding. But try harder, write longer sentences, and you will eventually break the 12th-grade-level barrier!
By the way, I am using Microsoft Word 2010.
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