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NALS Another way to determine how adults view their ability to read and write in English is to ask how often they receive help from others in performing everyday prose, document, and quantitative literacy tasks. Such questions were included in the survey, and the responses indicate that individuals who performed in the Level 1 range on each scale were far more likely than those in the higher levels to say that they get a lot of assistance with everyday literacy tasks (TABLE 1.3). Specifically, individuals in the lowest level of prose literacy were more likely than those in the higher levels to get a lot of help in reading printed information; adults in the lowest level of document literacy were more likely to get a lot of assistance in filling out forms; and adults in the lowest level of quantitative literacy were more likely to get a lot of help in using basic arithmetic. Overall, 9 percent of the adults surveyed said they get a lot of help from family members or friends with printed information associated with government agencies, public companies, private businesses, hospitals, and so on. Yet, a much higher percentage of respondents in Level 1 on the prose scale — 23 percent — reported getting a lot of help with these types of materials. Relatively small proportions of the adults in the other literacy levels said they receive assistance with everyday prose tasks. Percentages of Adults Who Reported Getting A Lot of Help from Family Members or Friends With Various Types of Everyday Literacy Tasks, by Literacy Level Prose tasks: 9 23 8 5 2 1 printed information Document tasks: 12 25 12 7 4 2 filling out forms Quantitative tasks: 5 14 4 2 1 0* using basic arithmetic *Percentages below .5 are rounded to 0. Total Population Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Note: The first row presents responses for adults in each level of prose literacy; the second row presents responses for adults in each level of document literacy; and the third row presents responses for adults in each level of quantitative literacy. Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Adult Literacy Survey, 1992. Table 1.3 Section I ......21
22 ......Section I Twelve percent of the total population reported getting a lot of help from family members or friends with filling out forms. Again, however, those in the lowest level of document literacy were far more likely than those in the higher levels to report getting a lot of help with these types of everyday document tasks. One-quarter of those in Level 1, 12 percent of those in Level 2, and smaller percentages of those in the higher levels said they get a lot of help with forms. Just 5 percent of the total adult population reported getting a lot of assistance in using basic arithmetic when filling out order forms or balancing a checkbook. Yet, a much higher percentage of adults in Level 1 on the quantitative scale — 14 percent — said they receive a lot of help from family and friends on these types of quantitative tasks. Smaller proportions of adults in Levels 2 through 5 on this scale reported getting a lot of help from others in using basic arithmetic. Two patterns are apparent in the responses to these questions. First, individuals in Level 1 on each scale were considerably more likely than those in the higher proficiency levels to say they get a lot of help from family or friends with prose, document, and quantitative literacy tasks encountered in everyday life. Second, the proportions of adults in Level 1 on each scale who said they get a lot of help with these types of tasks are lower than might be expected. Across the scales, just 14 to 25 percent of the respondents in the lowest literacy level reported getting a lot of help reading printed information, filling out forms, and using basic arithmetic. Taken together, the data in Tables 1.1 and 1.2 indicate that most adults who performed in the lowest level on each literacy scale believed they read and write English well, and most reportedly did not get a lot of assistance from friends or family with everyday literacy tasks. Of the 40 to 44 million adults who demonstrated the most limited skills, only about 14 million or fewer said they do not read or write English well, and as few as 6 million said they get a lot of assistance with everyday prose, document, and quantitative literacy tasks. Trends in the Literacy Skills of Young Adults In examining the literacy proficiencies of the adult population, one of the questions that naturally arises is whether skills are improving or slipping over time. Using the NALS data, this question can be addressed by comparing the performance of 21- to 25-year-olds assessed in 1985 first with young adults in the same age group who were assessed in 1992, and second with 28- to 32-yearolds assessed in 1992, who were 21 to 25 years old in 1985. These comparisons are possible because the same definition of literacy was used in this survey and
Page 1 and 2: ADULT LITERACY in America A First L
Page 3 and 4: U.S. Department of Education Richar
Page 5 and 6: iv ......Contents Section II: The C
Page 7 and 8: vi ......Contents Figures and Table
Page 9 and 10: viii ......Contents Table 3.1: Perc
Page 11 and 12: Our thanks go to all those who carr
Page 13 and 14: xii ......Preface the last decade
Page 15 and 16: xiv ......Preface During the first
Page 17 and 18: adults received proficiency scores
Page 19 and 20: • The literacy proficiencies of y
Page 21 and 22: • Adults in the lowest level on e
Page 23 and 24: Historians remind us that during th
Page 25 and 26: xxii ......Executive Summary
Page 27 and 28: 2 ......Introduction The plan for d
Page 29 and 30: 4 ......Introduction embedded in pr
Page 31 and 32: 6 ......Introduction oversampled to
Page 33 and 34: 8 ......Introduction Further inform
Page 35 and 36: 0 225 275 325 375 500 Source: U.S.
Page 37 and 38: About This Report This report is wr
Page 39 and 40: 14 ......Introduction
Page 41 and 42: 16 ......Section I are more challen
Page 43 and 44: NALS Percentages of Adults with Sel
Page 45: NALS Percentages of Adults Who Repo
Page 49 and 50: NALS Average Literacy Proficiencies
Page 51 and 52: Percentage in Level Percentage in L
Page 53 and 54: Results by Parents’ Level of Educ
Page 55 and 56: Results by Age 30 ......Section I T
Page 57 and 58: NALS Average Years of Schooling, by
Page 59 and 60: 34 ......Section I When one compare
Page 61 and 62: NALS PROSE Average Proficiency Aver
Page 63 and 64: Age and Racial/Ethnic Differences 3
Page 65 and 66: Country of Birth and Racial/Ethnic
Page 67 and 68: 42 ......Section I appears among Bl
Page 69 and 70: Percentage in Level Percentage in L
Page 71 and 72: Results by Region Results by Sex 46
Page 73 and 74: NALS Percentages of Adults Born in
Page 75 and 76: 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
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76 ......Section III Prose Level 2
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82 ......Section III Two other task
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Document Literacy 84 ......Section
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86 ...... Section III Here is a Soc
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88 ......Section III A second quest
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90 ......Section III 12345678901234
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92 ......Section III Other tasks in
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94 ......Section III The NALS quant
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THEATER TRIP 96 ......Section III 1
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98 ......Section III 12345678901234
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100 ......Section III Quantitative
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NALS Average Probabilities of Succe
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104 ......Section III classified as
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106 ......Section III The failure t
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Table 3.4: Percentages and average
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110 ......Section III Table 3.5D: P
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112 ......Section III Relatively hi
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The sample designs for all 12 house
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for 60 strategically constructed su
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Finally, the survey collected infor
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made to include as broad a range as
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Administering the Data Collection I
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124 ......Appendix A Response Rates
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Data Entry 126 ......Appendix A The
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NALS 128 ......Appendix A common it
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A30endix 130 ......Appendix A .....
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132 ......Appendix B College: 2 or
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134......Appendix B Region Census d
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Employment Status Respondents were
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138 ......Appendix B Table 1.12A Av
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140 ......Appendix B
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144......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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