[AAACE-NLA] Are high literacy and numeracy skills the key to a strong economy?

[Janice Sapp]

 I find this information uncomfortable.  I teach Developmental Studies, English, 
and On Course, a course designed to teach success and study skills, at a 
community college.  Literacy and numeracy skills, in my mind at least, make us 
human.  As our scores on these skills drop, I worry about our American society 
and what it may or may not be like at the turn of the next century.  


However, even in ancient Egypt people worried about such things, too.  




________________________________
From: David Rosen <DJRosen at theworld.com>
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE 
<aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Sent: Thu, November 11, 2010 7:48:05 PM
Subject: [AAACE-NLA] Are high literacy and numeracy skills the key to a strong 
economy?

Colleagues,

As is often the case, Tom Sticht has got me thinking.


It looks like the U.S. economy, regardless of which economic analysis I read, is 
going to be in trouble for some time. Some economists believe we will crawl back 
to a strong economy and again achieve high employment. Some believe that, given 
world competition, we may not. Economists and others observe that not only 
manufacturing jobs have been disappearing (shipped overseas to low-wage 
economies, and also automated in the U.S.) but that now many college-educated 
professional jobs are being outsourced, too. One of our economic strengths, 
according to our President today, is that our country is _the_ consumer nation 
to be reckoned with. Being a strong consumer nation does not reassure me that we 
have a strong economic future. We need to make some changes.

Here's something to think about:

The world's (no longer first, now second -- after China) exporting country is a 
modern, industrialized nation known for its high rate of employment and good 
labor benefits. It has a social market economy. The country has developed a very 
high standard of living and a comprehensive system of social security. Most of 
the country's export products are in engineering, especially in machinery, 
automobiles, chemical goods and metals. It is the world's leading producer of 
wind turbines and solar power technology. Education at all levels, including 
vocational education, is a high priority. 

That country is Germany.

A couple of  key questions that occur to me:
1. What can we learn from the German economic model that we can use to put more 
Americans to work, and in better jobs? What can we learn to make our country 
more competitive in the world market? 
2. As adult educators we might wonder how Germany did on the International Adult 
Literacy Survey (IALS)? Was having a highly literate workforce an essential part 
of the model?

Apparently the answer to the second question is that the IALS results do not 
clearly show that having higher literacy and numeracy rates is essential, 
although it may be noteworthy that Germany outperformed the U.S. on document and 
quantitative scales, if these measure more work-contextualized basic skills. 
(See results below. Emphasis mine.) 

IALS Results 
Results from the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), which  measured 
proficiency on 3 scales (prose literacy, document literacy, and  quantitative 
literacy), showed:
• Between 19 and 23 percent of U.S. adults performed at levels  4 and 5, the 
highest levels, on the three literacy scales. On all three  scales, only Sweden 
had higher percentages of their adults at these  levels.

• Nearly one-third of adults in the United States demonstrate  level 3 skills 
across all three scales, while approximately one-fourth  of American adults 
possess level 2 skills across the three scales.

• Between 21 and 24 percent of U.S. adults performed at level 1, the lowest 
level, on the three literacy scales.

• On average, the United States outperformed 2 nations  (German-speaking 
Switzerland and Poland) on the prose scale, performed  similarly to 7 nations 
(Canada, Germany, Australia, Belgium, United  Kingdom, Ireland and 
French-speaking Switzerland), and was outperformed  by 3 nations (Sweden, 
Netherlands and New Zealand).

• On both the document and quantitative scales, the United  States outperformed 
one nation (Poland), performed similarly to 8  nations (Canada, Belgium, 
French-speaking Switzerland, Australia,  German-speaking Switzerland, New 
Zealand, United Kingdom and Ireland),  and was outperformed by 3 nations 
(Sweden, Netherlands and Germany).

• The United States is similar to Canada, New Zealand, and the  United Kingdom 
with regard to the distribution of literacy skills  across levels 1, 2 and 3. At 
level 4/5, however, Canada has a greater  percentage of people than the United 
States on the prose scale; New  Zealand has a higher percentage than the United 
States on the document  scale; and the United Kingdom has a higher percentage of 
its adults than  the United States on the quantitative scale.

• In terms of literacy skills and employment status, 59  percent of U.S. adults 
at level 1 on the document literacy scale were  employed at the time of the 
study. This percentage was not significantly  different from the percentage at 
level 2 (71 percent), but  significantly lower than those at levels 3 (77 
percent) and 4/5 (82  percent).
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. 
Adult Literacy: An International Perspective, Working Paper No. 97-33 , by 
Marilyn Binkley, Nancy Matheson, and Trevor Williams. Washington, DC: 1997.
Reference for the above information on the IALS: 
 http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/all/results.asp 
David J. Rosen
Adult Literacy Advocate
DJRosen at theworld.com


      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.literacytent.org/pipermail/aaace-nla/attachments/20101112/867596cd/attachment.html>