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

policymakers and others may wish to use for their own purposes. More
technical information is presented in the appendices at the end of the report.
The goal of this report is to provide useful information to all those who
wish to understand the current status of literacy among America’s adults and to
strengthen existing adult literacy policies and programs. In considering the
results, the reader should keep in mind that this was a survey of literacy in the
English language — not literacy in any universal sense of the word. Thus, the
results do not capture the literacy resources and abilities that some
respondents possess in languages other than English.
A Note on Interpretations
In reviewing the information contained in this report, readers should be aware
that no single factor determines what an individual’s literacy proficiencies will
be. All of us develop our own unique repertoire of competencies depending on
a wide array of conditions and circumstances, including our family
backgrounds, educational attainments, interests and aspirations, economic
resources, and employment experiences. Any single survey, this one included,
can focus on only some of these variables.
Further, while the survey results reveal certain characteristics that are
related to literacy, the nature of the survey makes it impossible to determine
the direction of these relationships. In other words, it is impossible to identify
the extent to which literacy shapes particular aspects of our lives or is, in turn,
shaped by them. For example, there is a strong relationship between
educational attainment and literacy proficiencies. On the one hand, it is likely
that staying in school longer does strengthen an individual’s literacy skills. On
the other hand, it is also true that those with more advanced skills tend to
remain in school longer. Other variables, as well, are likely to play a role in the
relationship between literacy and education. In interpreting such relationships
in this report, the authors strive to acknowledge the many factors involved.
A final note deserves emphasis. This report describes the literacy
proficiencies of various subpopulations defined by characteristics such as age,
sex, race, ethnicity, and educational background. While certain groups
demonstrated lower literacy skills than others on average, within every group
there were some individuals who performed well and some who performed
poorly. Accordingly, when one group is said to have lower average proficiencies
than another, this does not imply that all adults in the first group performed
worse than those in the second. Such statements are only intended to highlight
general patterns of differences among various groups and therefore do not
capture the variability within each group.
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