Govt says 50% but people say only 7% are deficient in reading

["Arthur Hu" <arthurhu@comcast.net>]

What happens when you let the government decide "what every
American must know and be able to do"

US SAYS HALF OF US DEFICIENT IN READING, BUT ONLY 7% OF AMERICANS
FEEL THEIR SKILLS ARE DEFICIENT
http://www.educationnews.org/howwellcanu.htm
z75\doc\web\2004\02\adullit.txt
How Well Can U. S. Adults Read? Government-Centered vs.
Learner-Centered Estimates Monday, February 23, 2004 Tom Sticht
The 1992 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NALS) ...
"this statement about adults? insights into the adequacy of their
skills simply dismissed the adults? judgements about their skills in
favour of the results of the standardized tests made by the government
sponsored testing experts."

The 1992 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NALS) tested a
representative sample of adults 16 years of age and older on three
tests of literacy: Prose, Document, and Quantitative. Scores on each
test were divided into five levels of literacy, with Level 1 being the
lowest level and Levels 4 and 5 the highest levels. Results on the
three types of tests were very similar so only the data for the Prose
test are used here.

Using the Prose test, some 21 percent (40+ million) of U. S. adults
were placed in Level 1 and 27 percent (50+ million) in Level 2. These
two lower levels included almost half (47-48 percent) of the adults in
the U. S. and this was the basis for a Press Release of 8 September
1993 from the U. S. Department of Education with the headline LITERACY
LEVELS DEFICIENT FOR 90 MILLION U. S. ADULTS.

Interestingly, the Press Release went on to say , "?most of these
adults describe themselves as being able to read or write English
"well" or "very well." The Press Release goes on to quote Secretary of
Education Richard W. Riley making the extraordinary statement: "It
paints a picture of a society in which the vast majority of Americans
do not know that they do not have the skills they need to earn a
living in our increasingly technological society and international
marketplace." In short, this statement about adults? insights into the
adequacy of their skills simply dismissed the adults? judgements about
their skills in favour of the results of the standardized tests made
by the government sponsored testing experts.

Over the decade from 1992 up to the present, numerous reports using
the data for adults on the Prose, Document and Quantitative tests have
appeared and the NALS methodology was also used in developing the
International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) which was eventually
administered in over 20 nations. For the U. S. a subset of the NALS
data for 16 to 65 year olds were used in the IALS. Like the NALS, the
IALS used the three literacy tests as their primary means of literacy
assessment, and they also used self-ratings of how well adults thought
they read. And again, as with the NALS, the IALS research has lead to
many reports about the percentages of adults in various nations with
"deficient" literacy skills using the test data, but almost no
attention has been given to the self-rating data presented in the
technical reports.

The present paper brings together data from analyses of the
respondents to the Prose test in various reports from the NALS and
IALS in a summary manner regarding how well adults in the U.S. think
they read. These data reveal some interesting and important
differences among adults in the U.S. in their beliefs about their
reading skills. The data are summarized below in a number of questions
and answers.

Q1: How many adults 16 years of age and above in the U. S. think they
read English "well" or "very well?" A1: 93 percent thought they read
"well" or "very well? while 7 percent (13.4 million) thought their
reading was deficient. This differs greatly from the government?s
estimate of 90 million adults with deficient reading skills based on
its standardized tests.

Q2: How many adults 16-65 years of age think their reading skills meet
their DAILY needs for reading "moderately well" "good," or
"excellently"? A2: 94 percent "moderately," "good," or "excellently;"
87 percent "good" or "excellently."

:Q3: How many adults 16-65 years of age think their reading skills
meet their main JOB needs "moderately well," "good," or "excellently"?
A3: 94 percent "moderately," "good," or "excellently;" 87 percent
"good" or "excellently."

Q4: How many adults 16-65 years of age think their reading skills "are
not at all limiting" "somewhat limiting" or "greatly limiting" of
their job opportunities? A4: 87 percent "not at all limiting," 9
percent "somewhat limiting," 4 percent "greatly limiting."

Q5: How many adults aged 16-59 who were White, Black, or Hispanic
thought they read English "well" or "very well?" A5: Whites, 98
percent, Blacks, 94 percent, Hispanics, 68 percent.

Q6: How many adults aged 60 years or age or higher who were White,
Black, or Hispanic thought they read English "well" or "very well?"
A6: Whites, 95, Blacks, 83, Hispanics, 54 percent.

Q7: How many prison inmates thought they read English "well" or "very
well." A7: 88 percent.

Q8: How many adults age 16 years or higher said they got "a lot" or
"some/none" help with completing literacy forms of some sort? A8: 12
percent "a lot," 88 percent "some/none."

Clearly, the government?s test-based estimates of adult
reading/literacy skills differ considerably from the adult
population?s experience-based estimates of their reading/literacy
skills. This raises the question of how each type of information might
be best used in establishing the scale of need for resources for adult
literacy education.

Of course, it might be argued that neither type of information is the
best information for establishing the scale of need for adult literacy
education and that instead we ought to focus on the numbers of adults
who present themselves for educational services each year and argue
for funding needed to provide adequate services for those who present
themselves for education.

I see these as important issues for adult literacy providers and adult
learners to deal with in advocating for adult literacy education
funding. I wonder what others think of the general issue of how we
should go about determining the scale of need for adult literacy
education services. Is this an important issue? How should it be
approached?

Finally, if some 9 out of 10 adults think they read "well" or "very
well," and that their reading skills meet their daily needs and their
needs at work, and that their reading skills do not limit their job
opportunities, then what does this imply for policy for reading
instruction in the K-12 system, which is where most adults acquire
most of their reading skills. Does this suggest that there is a need
for massive reforms in the teaching of reading in the K-12 system,
whether evidence-based or not?

Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education
tsticht@aznet.net