Adult Literacy in America - National Center for Education Statistics ...

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Similar interpretations can be made using the performance results on the document and quantitative scales. For example, an individual with a proficiency of 150 on the quantitative scale is estimated to have only a 50 percent chance of responding correctly to tasks in Level 1 and less than a 30 percent chance of responding to tasks in each of the other levels. Such an individual demonstrates little or no proficiency in performing the range of quantitative tasks found in this assessment. In contrast, someone with a proficiency of 300 meets or exceeds the 80 percent criterion for the average tasks in Levels 1, 2, and 3. They can be expected to encounter more difficulty with tasks in Levels 4 and 5. Missing Responses to Literacy Tasks In any educational, social, or political opinion survey, missing responses are always present. Sometimes missing data can be ignored when tabulating and reporting survey results. If the reasons the data are missing are related to the outcome of the study, however, the missing responses will bias the results unless some adjustment can be made to counter the bias. In this survey, there were reasons to believe that the literacy performance data were missing more often for adults with lower levels of literacy than for adults with higher levels. Field test evidence and experience with surveys indicated that adults with lower levels of literacy would be more likely than adults with higher proficiencies either to decline to respond to the survey at all or to begin the assessment but not to complete it. Ignoring the pattern of missing data would have resulted in overestimating the literacy skills of adults in the United States. For this survey, several procedures were developed to reduce biases due to nonresponse, based on how much of the survey the respondent completed. 4 Individuals who refused to participate in the survey before any information about them was collected were omitted from the analyses. Because they were unlikely to know that the survey intended to assess their literacy, it was assumed that their reason for refusing was not related to their level of literacy skills. Some individuals began the interview, but stopped before they completed at least five tasks on each literacy scale. 5 The interviewers were trained to record accurately their reasons for stopping. The reasons were subsequently 4 For a full discussion of the procedures used in scoring, scaling, weighting, and handling nonresponse problems, see the forthcoming Technical Report of the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey. 5 Five was the minimum number of completed tasks needed for accurate proficiency estimation. No special procedures were needed to estimate the proficiencies of those who broke off the assessment after attempting five or more tasks on each scale. Section III ......103
104 ......Section III classified as either related or unrelated to literacy skills. Literacy-related reasons included difficulty with reading or writing, inability to read or write in English, and mental or learning disabilities. Reasons unrelated to literacy included physical disabilities, time conflicts, and interruptions. Some adults gave no reason for stopping the assessment. Overall, 88 percent of respondents completed the assessment (at least five tasks on each literacy scale). Twelve percent started the survey but stopped before completing five tasks. About half of these individuals, or 6 percent of the adult population, did not complete the assessment for reasons related to their literacy skills, while the other 6 percent did not complete it for reasons unrelated to literacy or for no stated reason. The missing data were treated differently depending on whether nonrespondents’ reasons were related or unrelated to their literacy skills. The missing responses of those who gave literacy-related reasons for terminating the assessment were treated as wrong answers, based on the assumption that they could not have correctly completed the literacy tasks. The missing responses of those who broke off the assessment for no stated reason or for reasons unrelated to literacy were essentially ignored, since it could not be assumed that their answers would have been either correct or incorrect. The proficiencies of such respondents were inferred from the performance of other adults with similar characteristics. Table 3.1 shows the proficiency scores resulting from these procedures. Adults who completed the assessment had average proficiencies ranging from 279 to 285 on the three literacy scales. Because the missing responses of adults who did not complete the assessment for reasons related to literacy were treated as wrong answers, the average scores of these adults were considerably lower, ranging from 114 to 124. Nearly all adults who terminated the assessment for literacy-related reasons scored in the Level 1 range (below 225). Adults who stopped for other reasons or for unstated reasons had scores between those of the other two groups, ranging from 228 to 237. These adults were not found only in the lowest literacy level, but were distributed across the five levels. It is likely that there were some errors in classifying nonrespondents’ reasons for not completing the assessment. Some adults may have given an explanation that reflected badly on their literacy skills simply because they found completing the assessment too burdensome. Perhaps they could have performed better if they had tried harder. The assumption that such adults are unable to succeed with the literacy tasks may be too strong, and the assignment of wrong answers may underestimate their skills. Other adults may have anticipated failure in the assessment, yet concealed their lack of literacy
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ADULT LITERACY in America A First L
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U.S. Department of Education Richar
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iv ......Contents Section II: The C
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vi ......Contents Figures and Table
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viii ......Contents Table 3.1: Perc
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Our thanks go to all those who carr
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xii ......Preface the last decade
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xiv ......Preface During the first
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adults received proficiency scores
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• The literacy proficiencies of y
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• Adults in the lowest level on e
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Historians remind us that during th
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xxii ......Executive Summary
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2 ......Introduction The plan for d
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4 ......Introduction embedded in pr
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6 ......Introduction oversampled to
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8 ......Introduction Further inform
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0 225 275 325 375 500 Source: U.S.
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About This Report This report is wr
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14 ......Introduction
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16 ......Section I are more challen
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NALS Percentages of Adults with Sel
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NALS Percentages of Adults Who Repo
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22 ......Section I Twelve percent o
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NALS Average Literacy Proficiencies
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Percentage in Level Percentage in L
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Results by Parents’ Level of Educ
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Results by Age 30 ......Section I T
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NALS Average Years of Schooling, by
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34 ......Section I When one compare
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NALS PROSE Average Proficiency Aver
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Age and Racial/Ethnic Differences 3
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Country of Birth and Racial/Ethnic
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42 ......Section I appears among Bl
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Percentage in Level Percentage in L
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Results by Region Results by Sex 46
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NALS Percentages of Adults Born in
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Summary 50 ......Section I overrepr
Page 77 and 78: 52 ......Section I A strong relatio
Page 79 and 80: NALS Percentages of Adults Who Vote
Page 81 and 82: Aspects of Newspaper Reading 56 ...
Page 83 and 84: NALS Among Adults Who Read the News
Page 85 and 86: 60 ......Section II Individuals in
Page 87 and 88: NALS Level 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 3 1
Page 89 and 90: NALS Average Literacy Proficiencies
Page 91 and 92: NALS Median Weekly Wages, by Litera
Page 93 and 94: Summary 68 ......Section II The gre
Page 95 and 96: 70 ......Section III the content an
Page 97 and 98: NALS 72 ......Section III The respo
Page 99 and 100: 74 ......Section III and the use of
Page 101 and 102: 76 ......Section III Prose Level 2
Page 107 and 108: 82 ......Section III Two other task
Page 109 and 110: Document Literacy 84 ......Section
Page 111 and 112: 86 ...... Section III Here is a Soc
Page 113 and 114: 88 ......Section III A second quest
Page 115 and 116: 90 ......Section III 12345678901234
Page 117 and 118: 92 ......Section III Other tasks in
Page 119 and 120: 94 ......Section III The NALS quant
Page 121 and 122: THEATER TRIP 96 ......Section III 1
Page 123 and 124: 98 ......Section III 12345678901234
Page 125 and 126: 100 ......Section III Quantitative
Page 127: NALS Average Probabilities of Succe
Page 131 and 132: 106 ......Section III The failure t
Page 133 and 134: Table 3.4: Percentages and average
Page 135 and 136: 110 ......Section III Table 3.5D: P
Page 137 and 138: 112 ......Section III Relatively hi
Page 139 and 140: The sample designs for all 12 house
Page 141 and 142: for 60 strategically constructed su
Page 143 and 144: Finally, the survey collected infor
Page 145 and 146: made to include as broad a range as
Page 147 and 148: Administering the Data Collection I
Page 149 and 150: 124 ......Appendix A Response Rates
Page 151 and 152: Data Entry 126 ......Appendix A The
Page 153 and 154: NALS 128 ......Appendix A common it
Page 155 and 156: A30endix 130 ......Appendix A .....
Page 157 and 158: 132 ......Appendix B College: 2 or
Page 159 and 160: 134......Appendix B Region Census d
Page 161 and 162: Employment Status Respondents were
Page 163 and 164: 138 ......Appendix B Table 1.12A Av
Page 165 and 166: 140 ......Appendix B
Page 169 and 170: 144......Appendix B
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154 ......Appendix B
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156 ......Appendix B Census Region
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RACE/ETHNICITY TABLE 1.10 Average P
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CENSUS REGION TABLE 1.11 Average Pr
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DISABILITIES Physical, Mental, Heal
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168......Appendix B
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174 ......Participants Mr. David Ne
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176 ......Participants Test Develop
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