[AAACE-NLA] Sec. Ed.'s Formal comment on NAAL

[tsticht@znet.com]

Aaace-NLA Colleagues: On December 27, 2005 I posted a message asking why
adult educators had not asked more critical questions about the NAAL with
its odd findings that 60 to 80 percent of college grads and/or graduate
students and advanced degree holders were not Proficient in literacy. I
ended the message with the statement: "The believability of the NAAL
results would be enhanced had the U. S. Department of Education announced
it was going to reinstate the 65 percent
cut in funding that it had made in the adult education budget for 2006. But
no funding was forthcoming in 1993 when the NALS results lead to newspaper
articles saying that half the U. S. population of adults were functionally
illiterate, and I don’t think we should count on seeing very much of a
response from the federal government with the announcement of the results
of the NAAL. So far all I have read about is that the NAAL adds research
support to the President’s high school initiative  and the U. S. Department
of Education and other government agencies are going to coordinate their
adult education and training better. Now that’s a big help!"

I took the comment about coordination from the USDept of Ed's formal Press
Release with the Sec of Ed's comments. This corrects the earlier post that
the Sec Ed did not make formal comments about the NAAL. The Press Release
follows. You can go to the source following the link at the end of the
Press Release.

Tom Sticht




FOR RELEASE:
December 15, 2005	Contacts: Mike Bowler, (202) 219-1662
David Thomas, (202)401-1576
More Resources
Helping Adults Become Literate

Washington, D.C. — American adults can read a newspaper or magazine about as
well as they could a decade ago, but have made significant strides in
performing literacy tasks that involve computation, according to the first
national study of adult literacy since 1992.

The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), released today by the
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), found little change
between 1992 and 2003 in adults' ability to read and understand sentences
and paragraphs or to understand documents such as job applications.

"One adult unable to read is one too many in America," said U.S. Secretary
of Education Margaret Spellings, who today announced plans to coordinate
adult education efforts in 2006 across multiple federal agencies. "We must
take a comprehensive and preventive approach, beginning with elementary
schools and with special emphasis in our high schools. We must focus
resources toward proven, research-based methods to ensure that all adults
have the necessary literacy skills to be successful."

African Americans scored higher in 2003 than in 1992 in all three
categories, increasing 16 points in quantitative, eight points in document
and six points in prose literacy. Overall, adults have improved in document
and quantitative literacy with a smaller percentage of adults in 2003 in the
Below Basic category compared to 1992. Whites, African Americans and
Asian/Pacific Islanders have improved in all three measures of literacy
with a smaller percentage in 2003 in the Below Basic category compared to
1992.

Hispanic adults showed a decrease in scores for both prose and document
literacy and a higher percentage in the Below Basic category. The report
also showed that five percent of U.S. adults, about 11 million people, were
termed "nonliterate" in English, meaning interviewers could not communicate
with them or that they were unable to answer a minimum number of questions.

NAAL in 2003 assessed a nationally representative sample of more than 19,000
Americans age 16 and older, most in their homes and some in prisons. NCES,
which is part of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education
Sciences, conducted the assessment in both 1992 and 2003.

NAAL uses three categories to define English-language literacy: prose,
document and quantitative. Prose literacy includes the skills needed to
understand continuous text, such as newspaper articles. Document literacy
is the ability to understand the content and structure of documents such as
prescription drug labels. Quantitative literacy involves using numbers in
text, such as computing and comparing the cost per ounce of food items.

NAAL reports literacy in each category using a 0-500 scale score. Scores are
then grouped in four literacy levels: Below Basic, Basic, Intermediate and
Proficient. Below Basic is the lowest level and indicates having "no more
than the most simple and concrete literacy skills." Those who can perform
"complex and challenging" tasks are considered at the Proficient level.

The report, A First Look at the Literacy of America's Adults in the 21st
Century, analyzed literacy results based on a variety of factors, including
race/ethnicity, gender, age, and level of educational attainment. A
companion report, Key Concepts and Features of the 2003 National Assessment
of Adult Literacy, describes the assessment's key features and major data
types. It was also released today.

Other report highlights:

*	White adults' scores were up nine points in quantitative, but were
unchanged in prose and document literacy.
*	Hispanic adults' scores declined in prose and document literacy 18 points
and 14 points, respectively, but were unchanged in quantitative literacy.
*	Asian/Pacific Islanders' scores increased 16 points in prose literacy, but
were unchanged in document and quantitative literacy.
*	Among those who spoke only Spanish before starting school, scores were
down 17 points in prose and document literacy between 1992 and 2003.


To put its findings in perspective, NAAL also reported on U.S. population
changes between 1992 and 2003. During the decade, the percentage of white
adults decreased from 77 to 70 percent, while the percentage of Hispanic
adults increased from eight to 12 percent. The percentage of Asian/Pacific
Islander adults doubled (to 4 percent). The percentage of adults who spoke
only English before starting school decreased from 86 to 81 percent.

To view the reports and for more information, visit http://nces.ed.gov/naal.