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

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NALS Literacy Levels and Average Literacy Proficiencies for the Prison and Total Populations PROSE Percentage in Level 80 60 40 20 0 31 DOCUMENT Percentage in Level 80 60 40 20 0 246 Average Proficiency 272 Prison Population Total Population 37 26 1 2 3 4 5 33 38 QUANTITATIVE Percentage in Level 80 60 40 20 0 6 0* Levels 21 Level 1 (0 to 225) Level 2 (226 to 275) Level 3 (276 to 325) Level 4 (326 to 375) Level 5 (376 to 500) Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Adult Literacy Survey, 1992. 27 32 17 3 1 2 3 4 5 Average Proficiency 240 267 25 1 2 3 4 5 40 Prison Population Total Population 4 0* Levels 23 28 31 15 1 2 3 4 5 Average Proficiency 236 271 Prison Population Total Population 32 22 1 2 3 4 5 *Percentages below .5 are rounded to 0. 6 1 Levels 22 25 31 17 1 2 3 4 5 3 4 Figure 1.12 Section I ......51
52 ......Section I A strong relationship exists between education and literacy. Adults who had completed high school demonstrated significantly higher average prose, document, and quantitative proficiencies than those who had not, and individuals whose highest level of education was a college degree performed far better, on average, than those with high school diplomas or lower levels of education. The survey results also reveal a strong association between adults’ literacy proficiencies and their parents’ educational attainments, although the impact of one’s own education appears to be greater. An analysis of the performance of adults in different age groups indicates that prose and quantitative literacy skills increase from the teenage years up to the middle forties, then decline sharply across the older age groups. On the document scale, the rise in proficiency scores across the younger age groups is more gradual, but still there are marked declines across the two older age groups. One variable that helps to explain the proficiency decline across the age groups is education; older adults tended to have completed fewer years of schooling than adults in all but the youngest age group. Differences in performance are also evident across the various racial and ethnic populations studied. The average prose, document, and quantitative proficiencies of White adults, for example, were significantly higher than those of adults in all the other racial/ethnic groups examined. These differences in performance can be explained in part by differences in average years of schooling and by respondents’ country of birth. Respondents who reported having any type of physical, mental, or health condition demonstrated much more limited literacy skills than those in the population as a whole. Some conditions — such as mental retardation, learning disabilities, or vision problems — appear to have a stronger relationship with literacy than other conditions. Adults residing in the Northeast and South demonstrated lower average skills than adults living in the Midwest and West. Further, while the average prose literacy scores of men and women were nearly identical, men outperformed women in document and quantitative literacy. Finally, incarcerated individuals were far more likely than adults in the total population to be in the lower levels on the prose, document, and quantitative scales. The relatively weak performance of the prison population can be attributed at least in part to the demographic characteristics of incarcerated individuals, which differ substantially from the characteristics of the adult population as a whole.
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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
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 and 46: NALS Percentages of Adults Who Repo
Page 47 and 48: 22 ......Section I Twelve percent o
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: Summary 50 ......Section I overrepr
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
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
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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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