How many adults in the United States are illiterate? How should literacy be defined? What steps can educators, policymakers and employers take to increase literacy among both children and adults?
These questions and many others were raised during a literacy policy forum held in the Mumford Room at the Library of Congress on Feb. 3. The National Center for Adult Literacy in Philadelphia is one of the nation's federal education research and development centers administered by the Department of Education.
This literacy policy forum, the fifth in a series, was cosponsored by the Library of Congress's Center for the Book and NCAL, which is based at the University of Pennsylvania. The forum was held to review the results of the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), which was conducted by the Educational Testing Service and Westat Inc. in 1992 with funding from the Department of Education.
Staffers conducted hourlong interviews with more than 26,000 persons age 16 and older, including prison inmates and the elderly, groups that are rarely included in such studies. Each participant performed a variety of literacy tasks designed to test their level and type of proficiency.
Based on survey results, the researchers concluded that approximately 90 million to 94 million of the 191 million adults in the United States lack necessary functional literacy skills. These respondents' skills ranged from limited knowledge of English, to poor ability to do simple math problems, read maps, locate specific information in written text and derive low-level inferences from printed materials. Nearly 30 percent of the those surveyed -- who represent approximately 61 million adults in the United States -- showed the ability to understand long, densely written documents.
Approximately 18 to 20 percent of the survey respondents, or 34 million to 40 million adults, showed an ability to understand and use long, complex documents and text material.
Information collected about each respondent showed that older adults were more likely than younger ones to perform poorly on tests, because they have less formal education. Adults who are black, American Indian/Alaskan native, Hispanic and Asian/Pacific islander generally performed worse than whites, and Hispanic adults reported the fewest years of schooling (10 years or slightly more).
Many other factors that could influence literacy rates among the general population are cited in the report as well. (The report on the National Adult Literacy Survey, "Adult Literacy in America," may be purchased from the Government Printing Office. For more information, call (202) 783-3238.)
Irwin Kirsch, executive director of the Literacy Learning and Assessment Group of the Educational Testing Service, was the first of four panelists to comment on issues raised by the survey. Referring to the diversity of those surveyed -- from recent immigrants to older Americans -- Mr. Kirsch called for a flexible, multipronged approach to fighting illiteracy.
"There are different types of illiteracy in this country. They're not all of the same ilk," he said. "To think that just one type of program would be suitable for all these people strikes me as a gross oversimplification of the problem."
He described literacy as a relative concept. "We listen to rhetoric about changing skills and what we need to function fully in an increasingly technologically advancing society and global economy. People keep upping the ante about what literacy is."
Mr. Kirsch pointed out that many literacy promotion efforts have taken the form of "quick fixes ... eight-week how-to-read programs" which, because they do not meet many struggling students' needs, may lead to a high drop-out rate in schools and adult education classes.
Anthony Carnevale, chief economist at the American Society for Training and Development, discussed literacy issues from the perspective of prospective employers. "The relative difference between career and earning opportunities for high school graduates and college graduates has doubled and more since the 1980s," he reported. "We no longer compete as we used to. Mass production systems are a thing of the past. Instead of competing solely on the basis of price and volume, now we compete to deliver quality, price and variety. We have to be fast, get ideas first and get them into hands of the customer."%
He explained that the development of flexible technologies calls for workers with high level skills and the ability to work independently. "Doing one's job only as assigned is not enough anymore," he explained. "In the end, you have to take responsibility for the products or services offered by the institution in which you work."
Madeleine Kunin, deputy secretary for the Department of Education, called for more specific identification and a nationwide study of literacy rates in the United States. "Most people think of literacy in an old-fashioned way, as referring to those who can't write their names and sign with an X. We don't interpret it in terms of advanced work and life skills."
Secretary Kunin stressed that literacy improves not only people's earning power, but their ability to understand and influence public policy as well. "There is a real correlation between literacy and public participation and voting patterns," she said.
The final speaker, Jarl Bengtsson of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris described the United States' literacy challenges in international terms. He reported that the nation compares favorably with other industrialized nations in terms of development and marketing of new technology and shares with them the challenge of producing a work force that can keep U.S. business competitive. He believes that the answer lies not only in improving classroom education but in continuing to educate workers on the job site and throughout their adult lives.
"In most OECD countries, most adults working today will be working in the year 2005. When we discuss competitive skills and competence in the world economy, educating the adult work force becomes very important."
Later that day, the forum participants were invited to view a new multimedia software program called Adult Literacy Explorer that offers hands-on access to software programs, research reports and other information on literacy in the United States. Adult Literacy Explorer is on diplay in the Library's National Demonstration Laboratory.
The Center for the Book's director, John Y. Cole, views the literacy policy forums and the Adult Literacy Explorer as important in helping policymakers and educators learn more about adult literacy problems. "We're pleased at this opportunity to take a multimedia approach to discussing literacy issues," he said. "The Explorer is a very effective way to reach people who are more attuned to visual media than to the printed word. I'm grateful to Jacqueline Hess, director of the National Demonstration Laboratory, for offering access to the Explorer in NDL." (The Explorer will be available when the NDL reopens, in early May.)
Daniel A. Wagner, director of the National Center for Adult Literacy and a professor of education at the University of Pennsylvania, said, "Our relationship with the Library of Congress's Center for the Book and the NDL will continue to grow. This type of collaboration is essential if we are to move forward on important national issues such as adult literacy."
