[NLA] NALS

[Thomas Sticht]

John Comings asked: Quote"Tom: Isn't the mean NALS score for high school
graduates at the cutoff point  between NALS Level 2 and 3, and the mean
score for GED holders just a few  points below that level? "End Quote

My response: In the September 1993 first report on the NALS, the prose
,document, and quantitative (PDQ) average scores for high school graduates
were 270, 264, & 270 respectively. Corresponding scores for GED holders
were 268, 264, & 268. The range of scores for NALS Level 2 is 226 to 275,
for Level 3 scores range from 276 to 325. This indicates that for the
total adult population represented by the NALS, both GED and High School
(HS) degree holders scored at the upper end of Level 2, about 5 points
below Level 3. However, for different ethnic groups these scores change
considerably. For Blacks  with GEDs their PDQ scores ranged from 235 to
243, HS grads scores ranged from 232 to 242. For Hispanics PDQ scores for
GEDs ranged from 236 to 240 while HS scores ranged from 240 to 242. For
Whites, PDQ scores for GEDs ranged from 272 to 277 and HS scores from 271
to 279.

Next John asked: Quote"  Given the present US job market, do you see
people at that level doing well (that is getting and holding jobs that pay
a wage above the poverty line and with basic benefits) or do you think
they need to move up to the mean skill level of adults who hold a two-year
college degree or its equivalent in skilled-job training before they will
be able to compete for those jobs?" End Quote

My response: This is a complex question. But let me say up front that in
publicly available papers I have advocated for greatly increasing the
funding for the Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) of the United
States which serves some 3 or so million of the most educationally needy
adults in the nation.  I have expressed my opinion that in general the
more education and skills that people invest their time in developing, the
better off I think both they and the rest of society will be, for all
sorts of reasons, including economic reasons like getting better paying
jobs.

Now, having made that point, I think that John’s qualification of saying
that "Given the present job market
" causes me to come up short in
thinking that if people develop their skills to the levels of those with a
two-year college degree they will have a high probability of finding high
quality, better paying jobs. On the NLA list I have earlier called
attention to a number of studies that have suggested that we may be facing
a literacy "surplus" with respect to our nation’s workforce needs. Now in
a September 2002 report entitled "The closing of the education frontier?"
Paul Barton of the Educational Testing Service presents data confirming
that the median incomes of full-time workers 25 years old and over
increase as years of education and degrees increase. However, he also
presents data indicating that of 1992-1993 college degree holders who were
not enrolled in graduate education, close to 40 percent were working in
jobs that did not require a college degree. Further, Barton points out
that of the total job openings that will occur between 2000 and 2010,
about 70 percent will require only work-related training (work experience
or on-the-job training), only about 9 percent will require an associate or
post-secondary degree and 21 percent a bachelor’s or higher degree.

So, at the present time I remain an advocate for the AELS because of the
great advantages in all sorts of areas that I think accrues to those who
continue to study and learn, and I believe that this may well extend to
helping adults achieve better jobs, but this is becoming less certain than
in the past. I do not believe that using the NALS to set goals for adult
literacy achievement is useful because (1) no one knows what the NALS
measures, so no one what to teach, and some researchers have indicated
that it is not sensitive to the learning that occurs in the AELS, (2) the
NALS does not accurately represent the actual literacy abilities of
adults, because it ignores the skills above their designated levels that
the adults possess, and (3) the NALS does not reflect what the adults,
themselves, say about their skills. For these reasons I do not think that
trying to get people’s scores on the NALS up from Level 2 to Level 3 or to
match the scores of those with AA degrees is a useful goal. And if the
past is any indication, no one is going to come up with the resources that
this would require even if millions of adults with high school diplomas
could be convinced that they don't read, write and compute as well as they
thhnk they do.

I think that paying more attention to what adults perceive their skill
needs to be and then providing educational programs that will help them
meet their needs is a better approach to increasing the numbers of people
who seek out the AELS for help in learning. I believe that showing that
larger and larger numbers of adults are seeking education in the AELS is
one of the best ways that we can demonstrate the value of the AELS and
that we can use this information to advocate for greater funding for the
AELS.

I believe that our nation faces many problems in dealing with work, pay,
benefits and the economy, and further education for adults may help some. 
But problems of lack of availability of well paying jobs, increasing under
utilization of people’s education and skills, rising health care costs, an
aging population, and numerous other problems limit what can be achieved
through the AELS and other avenues of education.



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