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

vi ......Contents
Figures and Tables
Table 1 The National Adult Literacy Survey Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Figure 1 Difficulty Values of Selected Tasks Along the
Prose, Document, and Quantitative Literacy Scales . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Figure 2 Description of the Prose, Document,
and Quantitative Literacy Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Figure 1.1 Literacy Levels and Average Literacy
Proficiencies for the Total Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Table 1.1 Percentages of Adults with Selected Characteristics,
Prose Level 1 and Total Populations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Table 1.2 Percentages of Adults Who Reported Not Being Able
to Read or Write English Well, by Literacy Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Table 1.3 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 . . . . . . . . . . 21
Figure 1.2 Average Literacy Proficiencies
of Young Adults, 1985 and 1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Figure 1.3 Literacy Levels and Average Literacy Proficiencies,
by Highest Level of Education Completed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Figure 1.4 Average Literacy Proficiencies, by Level of
Education Attained by Adults and Their Parents . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Figure 1.5 Average Literacy Proficiencies, by Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Table 1.4 Average Years of Schooling, by Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 1.6 Literacy Levels and Average Literacy
Proficiencies, by Race/Ethnicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Table 1.5 Average Years of Schooling, by Race/Ethnicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Figure 1.7 Average Literacy Proficiencies, by Highest Level
of Education Completed and Race/Ethnicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Table 1.6 Differences in Average Literacy Proficiencies Between Various
Racial/Ethnic Groups, Overall and by Level of Education . . . . . . 37
Figure 1.8 Differences Between Adults in Various Racial/Ethnic
Groups in Average Literacy Proficiencies
and Average Years of Schooling, by Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Table 1.7 Percentages of Adults Born in the United States and
in Other Countries, by Race/Ethnicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Figure 1.9 Average Literacy Proficiencies,
by Country of Birth and Race/Ethnicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Table 1.8 Percentages of Adults Who Reported Having
a Physical, Mental, or Other Health Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43