Ways to Get Involved
State and County Adult Literacy Rates—How Does Your Community Compare? Do you know what the illiteracy rate is in your state? In your county? It's probably higher than you think. A National Center for Education Statistics report gives county and state estimates of adults who lack basic literacy skills. The National Assessment of Adult Literacy: Indirect County and State Estimates of the Percentage of Adults at the Lowest Literacy Level for 1992 and 2003 has an interactive Web tool that shows data for all states and counties. Visitors can compare literacy rates between individual states, among counties, and rates across time. The full report and the Web tool can be found at http://nces.ed.gov/naal/estimates/index.aspx. "This report brings the national statistics home, into everyone's backyard," said Jane Hugo, ProLiteracy's director of special projects for programs and professional services. "This issue is not 'someplace else.' It affects every community." Thirty million adults—an estimated 14 percent of the country's population over the age of 16—lack basic literacy skills. That means they can barely read, write, and understand written text. Another 63 million have only slightly better literacy skills. Individuals in the service industry and construction field held many of the more than one million jobs lost in 2008. Research shows that many adults with low literacy skills work in those fields. "Local adult education and literacy programs are poised and ready to work on this issue," Hugo said. "But they do not have the money they need to help everyone who wants help." Current funding for adult education is not enough. ProLiteracy President and CEO David C. Harvey is urging Congress and the Obama transition team to include at least $100 million of the economic stimulus package for Title II of the Workforce Investment Act. That's the federal government's largest discretionary program that supports adult basic education and literacy programs throughout the U.S. Stimulus funding should be used to help our adult learners get back to work now. After you look at the illiteracy rate for your state and county, click here to send a letter to your Congressional representatives. Ask them to support at least a $100 million allocation of the stimulus package for adult education. Click here to read USA Today's January 9 story about this report.
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