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

Summary
50 ......Section I
overrepresented in the prison population. For example, Black adults made up
11 percent of the total population but accounted for about 44 percent of adults
held in state and federal prisons.
Given the relationship between level of education and literacy and
between race/ethnicity and literacy, it is not surprising that the prison
population performed significantly worse (by 26 to 35 points) than the total
population on each of the literacy scales (FIGURE 1.12).
In terms of the five literacy levels, the proportion of prisoners in Level 1
on each scale (31 to 40 percent) is larger than that of adults in the total
population (21 to 23 percent). Conversely, the percentage of prisoners who
demonstrated skills in Levels 4 and 5 (4 to 7 percent) is far smaller than the
proportion of adults in the total population who performed in those levels (18
to 21 percent).
On each of the literacy scales, between 21 and 23 percent of the adults
surveyed, representing some 40 to 44 million individuals nationwide,
demonstrated proficiencies in the range for Level 1. Though all adults in this
level displayed limited skills, their characteristics were quite diverse. Some of
these adults succeeded in performing the less challenging assessment tasks,
while others had such limited skills that they were able to respond to only a
part of the survey. Many of the individuals in this level were born in other
countries; had not attended school beyond the eighth grade; were elderly; or
had a disability, illness, or impairment.
Across the literacy scales, some 25 and 28 percent of the adults surveyed,
representing another 48 to 54 million adults nationwide, demonstrated
performance in Level 2. Nearly one-third, representing some 60 million adults,
performed in Level 3, and another 15 to 17 percent — or approximately 30
million — were in Level 4. Only 3 to 4 percent of the respondents performed
in the highest level of prose, document, or quantitative literacy. In population
terms, this represents only 6 to 8 million adults nationwide.
The survey results reveal an interesting contrast between individuals’
demonstrated English literacy skills and their perceptions of their level of
proficiency. Of the adults who performed in the lowest level on each scale, the
vast majority said they were able to read or write English well. Similarly,
although individuals in the lowest literacy level were more likely than those in
the higher levels to say that they get a lot of help from family members and
friends in performing everyday literacy tasks, the proportions who said they get
such help were lower than might be expected.