[NLA] NLA Info and Question: Business Week article on "illiteracy"

[Johnson, Alice]

Colleagues, 

I just wanted to bring your attention to an interesting article, "The
Illiteracy Time Bomb," in the February 15th issue of Business Week.  It
highlights a news ETS study (which sounds like it's based on IALS data from
the 1990s) that ranks the US 10th out of 17 industrialized countries in
*adult* literacy.  It discusses implications for the American economy, and
says the study "drives home the urgency of school reform" -- but mentions
nothing about the need for or efforts to improve the skills of people
already in the workforce.  

Thinking back to the recent NLA discussion of using the media to help make
the case for adult literacy, it seems like this offers an opportunity.  Any
ideas from media-savvy NLAers for how to best seize it?

The article is accessible through LINCS NewsFlashes
http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/whats_new/flash_1_2000.htmlonline 

or at:

http://biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/020215/4za_ktcrwobbwnfsnxn1vg_1.html

Alice Johnson 
Associate Director for State Policy
National Institute for Literacy
1775 I Street, NW, Suite 730
Washington, DC  20006
202-233-2034 (tel)
202-233-2050 (fax)
www.nifl.gov 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.literacytent.org/pipermail/nla-nifl-archive/attachments/20020222/6f3661b1/attachment.htm