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

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performance of a sample of examinees can be summarized on a series of subscales even when different respondents have been administered different items. Conventional scoring methods are not suited for assessments like the national survey. Statistics based on the number of correct responses, such as proportion of correct responses, are inappropriate for examinees who receive different sets of items. Moreover, item-by-item reporting ignores similarities of subgroup comparisons that are common across items. Finally, using average percent correct to estimate means of proficiencies of examinees within subpopulations does not provide any other information about the distribution of skills among the examinees. The limitations of conventional scoring methods can be overcome by the use of item response theory (IRT) scaling. When several items require similar skills, the response patterns should have some uniformity. Such uniformity can be used to characterize both examinees and items in terms of a common scale attached to the skills, even when all examinees do not take identical sets of items. Comparisons of items and examinees can then be made in reference to a scale, rather than to percent correct. IRT scaling also allows distributions of groups of examinees to be compared. Scaling was carried out separately for each of the three domains of literacy (prose, document, and quantitative). The NAEP reading scale, used in the young adult survey, was dropped because of its lack of relevance to the current NAEP reading scale. The scaling model used for the national survey is the threeparameter logistic (3PL) model from item response theory. 2 It is a mathematical model for estimating the probability that a particular person will respond correctly to a particular item from a single domain of items. This probability is given as a function of a parameter characterizing the proficiency of that person, and three parameters characterizing the properties of that item. Overview of Linking the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) Scales to the Young Adult Literacy Survey (YALS) Scales Prose, document, and quantitative literacy results for the National Adult Literacy Survey are reported on scales that were established in the Young Adult Literacy Survey. For each scale, a number of new items unique to the national survey were added to the item pool that was administered in the original young adult survey. The NALS scales are linked to the YALS scales based upon the commonality of the two assessments, namely, the original young adult survey 2 A. Birnbaum. (1968). “ Some Latent Trait Models.” In F.M. Lord and M.R. Novick, Statistical Theories of Mental Test Scores. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. F.M. Lord. (1980). Applications of Item Response Theory to Practical Testing Problems. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Appendix A ......127
NALS 128 ......Appendix A common items. Fifty-one percent of the items administered in the national survey were common to young adult survey. The composition of the item pool is presented in table A.1. A unidimensional IRT model like the three-parameter logistic model employed in this study assumes that performance on all the items in a domain can, for the most part, be accounted for by a single (unobservable) proficiency variable. Subsequent IRT linking and scaling analyses treat each scale separately, that is, a unique proficiency is assumed for each scale. As a result, the linking of corresponding scales was carried out for each pair of scales separately. The three steps used to link the scales are listed below. 1. Establish provisional IRT scales through common item parameter calibration based on a pooling of the NALS and YALS items. 2. Estimate distribution of proficiencies on the provisional IRT scales using “ plausible value” methodology. 3. Align the NALS scale to the YALS scale by a linear transformation based upon the commonality of proficiency distribution of the YALS sample. Composition of the Item Pool for the National Adult Literacy Survey Number of Items SCALE YALS items New item NALS total Prose 14 27 41 Document 56 25 81 Quantitative 15 28 43 Total 85 81 165 Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Adult Literacy Survey, 1992. Statistical Procedures The statistical comparisons in this report were based on the t statistic. Generally, whether or not a difference is considered significant is determined by calculating a t value for the difference between a pair of means, or proportions, and comparing this value to published tables of values at certain Table A.1
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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
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52 ......Section I A strong relatio
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NALS Percentages of Adults Who Vote
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Aspects of Newspaper Reading 56 ...
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NALS Among Adults Who Read the News
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60 ......Section II Individuals in
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NALS Level 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 3 1
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NALS Average Literacy Proficiencies
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NALS Median Weekly Wages, by Litera
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Summary 68 ......Section II The gre
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70 ......Section III the content an
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NALS 72 ......Section III The respo
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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 and 128: NALS Average Probabilities of Succe
Page 129 and 130: 104 ......Section III classified as
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: Data Entry 126 ......Appendix A The
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
Page 181 and 182: 156 ......Appendix B Census Region
Page 183 and 184: RACE/ETHNICITY TABLE 1.10 Average P
Page 185 and 186: CENSUS REGION TABLE 1.11 Average Pr
Page 187 and 188: DISABILITIES Physical, Mental, Heal
Page 193 and 194: 168......Appendix B
Page 199 and 200: 174 ......Participants Mr. David Ne
Page 201: 176 ......Participants Test Develop
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