Education and Literacy · (table 3-1).Between 1992 and 2003,the percentage of adults who did not have a high school diploma but were not still in school declined by 6 percentage points,

Education and Literacy

The analyses in this chapter examine the rela-tionship between education and literacy.The first section of the chapter focuses on

adults’ highest level of educational attainment andcompares the literacy levels of adults with differentlevels of educational attainment in 1992 and 2003.Results are presented for all adults and separately byrace/ethnicity. The analyses in the chapter alsoexamine whether adults who completed highschool or college at traditional ages (19 or youngerfor high school and 23 or younger for college) hadliteracy that was different from adults who complet-ed their schooling at a later age. The chapter con-cludes with a discussion of the relationship betweenother types of education—English as a SecondLanguage (ESL) instruction and information tech-nology certification—and literacy.

35

# toc

1CHAPTER ONE

Highest Level of Educational

Attainment

Highest Level of Educational

Attainment by Race/Ethnicity

Age at School Completion

Other Types of Adult

Education

Summary

3CHAPTER THREE

Highest Level of Educational Attainment

Educational attainment increased between 1992 and2003, with a higher percentage of adults completingan associate’s or bachelor’s degree and fewer adultsending their education before completing high school(table 3-1).Between 1992 and 2003, the percentage ofadults who did not have a high school diploma butwere not still in school declined by 6 percentage

points, from 21 percent to 15 percent of the popula-tion.At the same time, the percentage of adults with apostsecondary degree increased: 11 percent of adultshad an associate’s degree in 1992 compared with 12percent in 2003, 10 percent had a bachelor’s degree in1992 compared with 12 percent in 2003, and 9 per-cent had taken graduate classes or had a graduatedegree in 1992 compared with 11 percent in 2003.

Excluding people who were still in high school, adultswith higher levels of education had higher levels ofprose, document, and quantitative literacy (table 3-2).Literacy scores rose with successive levels of educa-tional attainment; they were lowest across the threescales for adults who did not complete high schooland highest for adults with graduate study or a gradu-ate degree.

Although there were no measurable changes in liter-acy for the total population between 1992 and 2003,there were statistically significant declines on the proseand document scales for many levels of highest edu-cational attainment. Average prose literacy scoresdecreased significantly for all levels of highest educa-tional attainment, with the exception of adults whowere still in high school or who had completed a

36

Literacy in Everyday Life

Table 3-2. Average prose, document, and quantitative literacy scores of adults, by highest educational attain-

ment: 1992 and 2003

Educational attainment 1992 2003 1992 2003 1992 2003

Still in high school 268 262 270 265 263 261

Less than/some high school 216 207* 211 208 209 211

GED/high school equivalency 265 260 259 257 265 265

High school graduate 268 262* 261 258 267 269

Vocational/trade/business school 278 268* 273 267 280 279

Some college 292 287* 288 280* 295 294

Associate’s/2-year degree 306 298* 301 291* 305 305

Bachelor’s degree 325 314* 317 303* 324 323

Graduate studies/degree 340 327* 328 311* 336 332

*Significantly different from 1992.

NOTE: Adults are defined as people 16 years of age and older living in households or prisons. Adults who could not be interviewed because of language spoken or cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003

and 4 percent in 1992) are excluded from this table.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey and 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy.

Prose Document Quantitative

Table 3-1. Percentage of adults, by highest educa-

tional attainment: 1992 and 2003

Educational attainment 1992 2003

Still in high school 4 3*

Less than/some high school 21 15*

GED/high school equivalency 4 5*

High school graduate 27 26*

Vocational/trade/business school 5 6

Some college 9 11*

Associate’s/2-year degree 11 12*

Bachelor’s degree 10 12*

Graduate studies/degree 9 11*


NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Adults are defined as people 16 years of

age and older living in households or prisons. Adults who could not be interviewed because of lan-

guage spoken or cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003 and 4 percent in 1992) are

excluded from this table.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education

Statistics, 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey and 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy.

General Educational Development (GED) certificate.Declines in average document literacy scores occurredamong adults at the postsecondary level of education.

The fact that average prose literacy decreased orremained the same for all levels of highest educa-tional attainment raises an interesting question. Howcould prose literacy scores decrease at every level ofeducation beyond high school without a decrease inthe overall score? This pattern is called Simpson’sParadox (Simpson 1951).The answer is that the rel-ative size of the groups changed. From 1992 to2003, the percentage of adults with postsecondaryeducation increased and the percentage of adultswho did not complete high school decreased. Theincrease in the percentage of adults with postsec-ondary education, who, on average, had higher prosescores than adults who did not complete highschool, offsets the fact that average prose literacyscores declined at every level of educational attain-ment beyond high school.

The declining literacy of adults with higher educa-tional attainment was reflected in changes in the dis-tribution of adults in the prose and document liter-acy levels between 1992 and 2003 (figures 3-1a and3-1b). Changes between 1992 and 2003 in the dis-tribution of adults among literacy levels are dis-cussed for three groups of adults: adults without ahigh school diploma or GED certificate, adultswhose highest level of education was a high schooldiploma or GED credential, and adults with postsec-ondary education.

Adults Without a High School Diploma

In 2003, adults who had not completed high schooland were not currently enrolled in school were morelikely than adults with higher levels of education tohave Below Basic prose, document, and quantitativeliteracy (figures 3-1a, 3-1b, and 3-1c). On the prosescale, half of adults without a high school diploma or

GED credential had Below Basic literacy, comparedwith 10 percent of adults with a GED or a highschool equivalency credential; 13 percent of highschool graduates; and 10 percent of adults who hadtaken classes in a vocational, trade, or business school.

Adults Whose Highest Level of Education Was a HighSchool Diploma or GED Credential

Secondary school students can earn either a tradi-tional high school diploma or a General EducationalDevelopment (GED) credential. A GED credentialcan be obtained by passing a test that measures highschool-level academic skills. The GED provides analternative educational path for adults who havedropped out of high school before completing all therequirements for graduation.

In 2003, there were no statistically significant differ-ences between adults who ended their educationwith a traditional secondary school diploma andthose who ended their education with a GED intheir average prose, document, or quantitative litera-cy (table 3-2).Also, there were no statistically signif-icant differences in the distribution of adults acrossthe prose, document, and quantitative levels by theirtype of high school diploma or GED credential (fig-ures 3-1a, 3-1b, and 3-1c).

Adults With Postsecondary Education

Postsecondary education in the United States takes anumber of forms, including 2-year degree programsand community colleges; certificates or degrees fromvocational, trade, or business schools; 4-year collegesand universities; and graduate studies after completionof a 4-year degree. In 2003, the average literacy ofadults increased with each level of postsecondary edu-cation on all three scales (table 3-2).

On the prose scale, 41 percent of adults who hadeither received a graduate degree or taken graduate

37

Chapter 3: Education and Literacy

courses and 31 percent of adults who graduatedfrom a 4-year college or university had Proficient lit-eracy, compared with 19 percent of adults whoended their education with an associate’s or 2-yeardegree; 11 percent of adults who had completedsome college; and 5 percent of adults who tookvocational, trade, or business classes after high schoolbut did not attend college (figure 3-1a). On the

document scale, 31 percent of adults who had eitherreceived a graduate degree or taken graduate cours-es and 25 percent of adults who graduated from a 4-year college or university had Proficient literacy,compared with 16 percent of adults who endedtheir education with an associate’s or 2-year degree;10 percent of adults who had completed some col-lege; and 7 percent of adults who took vocational,

38


Figure 3-1b. Percentage of adults in each document

literacy level, by highest educational

attainment: 1992 and 2003

10

13

44

45

9

13

12

13

8

9

4

5

3

3

2

2

1

32 23 1

29* 25 2

30 53 4

28 54 6

22 60 10

26 59 7

15 67 14

19* 65 10

12 60

15 66* 16*

9 52 37

11 62* 25*

5 48 45

9* 59* 31*

29 52 5

24 54 9

31 58 3

24 57 9

1

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

Graduatestudies/degree

Bachelor’s degree

Associate’s/2-year degree

Some college

Vocational/trade/business school

High school graduate

GED/high schoolequivalency

Less than/some high school

Still in high school

0 20 40 60 80 1006080 40 20

Percent Below Basic Percent Basic and above

Educational attainment and year

25

Below Basic Basic Intermediate Proficient





excluded from this figure.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for

Education Statistics, 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy.

Figure 3-1a. Percentage of adults in each prose lit-

eracy level, by highest educational

attainment: 1992 and 2003

45

50*

9

10

11

13

9

10

5

11

14 37 45 4

38 17

33* 16 1

42 46 3

45 43 3

39 44* 4

29 53 9

36* 49 5*

4 23 59 14

25 59 11

2 16 58 23

4* 20* 56 19

2 10 49 40

3 14* 53 31*

1 6 43 51

1 10* 48 41*2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992


Bachelor’s degree


Some college






0 20 40 60 80 1006080 40 20



37 48 5

36 647

1









trade, or business classes after high school but didnot attend college (figure 3-1b).

Although literacy in 2003 increased with eachincreasing level of postsecondary education, between1992 and 2003 there were declines in literacy foradults with the same level of highest educationalattainment. The percentage of adults who endedtheir education with a bachelor’s degree with

Proficient prose literacy decreased from 40 percent in1992 to 31 percent in 2003 (figure 3-1a). For adultswho took graduate classes or completed a graduatedegree, the percentage with Proficient prose literacyfell 10 percentage points—from 51 percent to 41percent—between 1992 and 2003.

Highest Level of Educational Attainmentby Race/Ethnicity

White adults at all levels of educational attainmenthad higher average prose, document, and quantitativeliteracy than Black and Hispanic adults at the corre-sponding levels of educational attainment (table 3-3).White adults with 4-year college degrees or higherhad higher average prose, document, and quantitativeliteracy than Asian adults with the same level of high-est educational attainment.White adults who endedtheir education with a regular high school diploma,a GED, or some vocational classes taken after highschool also had higher average prose, document, andquantitative literacy than Asian adults at the corre-sponding levels of educational attainment.

Highest Level of Educational Attainment and LiteracyAmong White Adults

Between 1992 and 2003, average prose and docu-ment literacy declined for White adults with somecollege or higher education (table 3-3). Averageprose literacy for White adults with a high schooldiploma, a GED, or some vocational classes takenafter high school also declined between 1992 and2003. Average document and quantitative literacyincreased between 1992 and 2003 for White adultswhose highest educational level was less than highschool or some high school. There were no othersignificant changes in literacy among White adultsat any other level of educational attainment.

39


Figure 3-1c. Percentage of adults in each quantita-

tive literacy level, by highest educa-

tional attainment: 1992 and 2003

31

31

65

64

25

26

26

24

18

18

11

10

8

7

5

37 27 6

25 9 1

25 10 1

46 26 3

43 28 3

34 42 13

36 43 11

29 45 18

30 45 18

21 44 31

4 22 43 31

2 15 43 39

3 18 43 362003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992

2003

1992


Bachelor’s degree


Some college






0 20 40 60 80 1006080 40 20



42 29 5

41 29 5

38 25 5

41 35 6

39 35 8








Highest Level of Educational Attainment and LiteracyAmong Black Adults

Between 1992 and 2003, average prose and quanti-tative literacy increased for Black adults with a highschool diploma, a GED, or some vocational classestaken after high school (table 3-3). Average quanti-tative literacy also increased for Black adults whosehighest educational level was less than high schoolor some high school. There were no other signifi-cant changes in literacy among Black adults at anyother level of educational attainment.

Highest Level of Educational Attainment and LiteracyAmong Hispanic Adults

Between 1992 and 2003, average prose literacydecreased among all Hispanic adults except those

who were still in high school and those who had acollege degree or higher (table 3-3). Average docu-ment literacy decreased among Hispanic adults whohad completed some college or obtained an associate’sdegree or whose highest educational level was lessthan high school or some high school.There were noother significant changes in literacy among Hispanicadults at any other level of educational attainment.

Highest Level of Educational Attainment and LiteracyAmong Asian/Pacific Islander Adults

Between 1992 and 2003, there were no statisticallysignificant differences on the prose, document, andquantitative literacy scales at any level of education-al attainment among Asian/Pacific Islander adults(table 3-3).


40

Table 3-3. Average prose, document, and quantitative literacy scores of adults, by highest educational attain-

ment and race/ethnicity: 1992 and 2003

Literacy scale andeducational attainment 1992 2003 1992 2003 1992 2003 1992 2003

Prose

Still in high school 280 278 243 236 243 226 264 274

Less than high school/some high school 227 231 199 202 183 161* 184 212

High school graduate/GED/vocational classes 276 271* 236 241* 243 231* 239 230

Some college/associate’s degree 306 300* 270 266 281 265* 279 284

College degree or higher 339 328* 288 280 294 283 282 292

Document


Less than high school/some high school 220 229* 192 197 193 171* 200 207

High school graduate/GED/vocational classes 269 266 230 234 244 239 234 240

Some college/associate’s degree 301 292* 261 259 280 265* 279 280

College degree or higher 328 313* 277 272 292 281 287 291

Quantitative


Less than high school/some high school 224 235* 169 190* 178 177 191 205

High school graduate/GED/vocational classes 278 280 225 235* 242 245 245 243

Some college/associate’s degree 308 309 261 262 278 275 281 291

College degree or higher 335 334 279 280 299 302 305 313


NOTE: Adults are defined as people 16 years of age and older living in households or prisons. Adults who could not be interviewed because of language spoken or cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003

and 4 percent in 1992) are excluded from this table.


White Black Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander

Age at School Completion

Adults who received their high school degree or col-lege degree at an age that indicated they likely beganschool at the traditional age and continued straightthrough until graduation had higher levels of prose,document, and quantitative literacy than adults whoreceived their degrees when they were older (figures3-2 and 3-3).

Age at High School Completion

In the United States, students who begin kinder-garten between the ages of 4 and 6, and continuethrough their schooling without a break, completehigh school between the ages of 17 and 19, although

some students with disabilities may continue to beenrolled in school through age 21. Adults whoreceived their high school diploma or GED creden-tial at age 19 or younger had an average prose litera-cy score of 290, compared with an average prose lit-eracy score of 252 for adults who received their highschool diploma or GED credential between 20 and24 years of age (figure 3-2). The average documentliteracy score of adults who received their highschool diploma or GED credential by age 19 was283; for adults who completed high school betweenthe ages of 20 and 24, the average document literacyscore was 251. On the quantitative scale, adults whoreceived their high school diploma or GED creden-tial at age 19 or younger had an average score of 297,and those who received their high school diploma or

41


Figure 3-3. Average prose, document, and quantita-

tive literacy scores of adults, by age

obtained college degree: 2003

30 or older24–2923 or younger

Prose Document Quantitative0

150

200

250

Average score

300

350

500

325310 311 313

294 293

332317 322

Literacy scale

NOTE: Adults are defined as people 16 years of age and older living in households or prisons. Adults

who could not be interviewed because of language spoken or cognitive or mental disabilities (3

percent in 2003) are excluded from this figure.



Figure 3-2. Average prose, document, and quantita-

tive literacy scores of adults, by age

obtained high school diploma or GED:

2003

25 or older20–2419 or younger

Prose Document Quantitative

290

252 256

283

251244

297

257266

0

150

200

250

Average score

300

350

500

Literacy scale






GED credential between 20 and 24 years of age hadan average score of 257.

Age at College Completion

Adults who obtained their college degree at age 23or younger had higher average prose, document, andquantitative literacy than adults who completed theircollege degree at an older age (figure 3-3).

Other Types of Adult Education

Prose, document, and quantitative literacy also dif-fered among adults who had participated in educa-tion activities other than or in addition to high schooland college.Training offered by employers and laborunions is discussed in chapter 4. Participation inEnglish as a Second Language classes and informationtechnology (IT) certification are discussed here.5

English as a Second Language instruction

English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction isoften available to adults through school districts,colleges, community-based organizations, business-es, unions, and faith-based organizations (SeniorService America and the Center for Applied

Linguistics 2006). Thirty-nine percent of adultswho learned English at the age of 16 years or olderwith Below Basic prose literacy and 63 percent withBasic prose literacy had attended or were currentlyenrolled in adult ESL classes (table 3-4).

Eighty-two percent of adults who learned English at16 years of age or older who had never enrolled inan adult ESL class had Below Basic prose literacy,compared with 63 percent of adults who had attend-ed such classes and 69 percent of adults who werecurrently enrolled (figure 3-4). Among adults who


42

Table 3-4. Percentage of adults in the Below Basic and Basic prose literacy levels who learned English at

16 years of age or older, by enrollment status in an adult English as a Second Language class: 2003

Took class less Took class Took class moreProse literacy level Currently enrolled than 2 years ago 2-5 years ago than 5 years ago Never took class

Below Basic 4 9 9 17 61

Basic 5 13 11 34 36

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Adults are defined as people 16 years of age and older living in households or prisons. Adults who could not be interviewed because of language spoken or

cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003) are excluded from this table.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy.

Figure 3-4. Percentage of adults in each prose liter-

acy level who learned English at 16

years of age or older, by enrollment

status in an adult English as a Second

Language class: 2003

0 20 40 60 80100 6080 40 20


Enrollment status

Currently enrolled

Previously enrolled

Never enrolled


82 12 6 1

63

69

26 10 #

24 8 #

# Rounds to zero.



guage spoken or cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003) are excluded from this figure.



5 Adults may also take basic skills classes to improve their basic read-ing, writing, and mathematics skills. However, there is not a uniformdefinition of basic skills classes that is recognized by all adults, socollecting accurate and consistent information on participation inbasic skills classes requires a series of questions to gauge the contentof classes an adult may consider to be basic skills classes. This wasbeyond the scope of the NAAL, so participation in basic skills class-es is not discussed here.

had previously enrolled in an adult ESL class or whowere currently enrolled in an adult ESL class, 24 to26 percent had Basic prose literacy.

Information Technology Certification

Information technology (IT) is a growing area ofemployment, and certification is becoming morecommonly available (Bureau of Labor Statistics2006). In the 2003 NAAL, adults were asked whetherthey had received any type of IT certification spon-sored by hardware and software manufacturers or byindustry and professional associations. Adults whohad received IT certification had higher documentand quantitative literacy scores than adults who hadnot received information technology certification(figure 3-5).

The average document and quantitative literacy ofadults with information technology certification washigher among adults with higher levels of other edu-cation (figure 3-6). Adults who had informationtechnology certification but did not have either aregular high school diploma or a GED had an aver-age document literacy score of 252, adults who hadreceived information technology certification and ahigh school diploma had an average document liter-acy score of 273, adults who had received IT certifi-cation and attended some college or received anassociate’s degree had an average document literacyscore of 284, and adults who had received informa-tion technology certification and a college degreehad an average document literacy score of 303.

43


Figure 3-6. Average document and quantitative lit-

eracy scores of adults who had received

information technology certification, by

highest educational attainment: 2003

High school graduate/GED


College graduate/Postsecondary

Some college/Associate’s degree

Document Quantitative0

150

200

250

Average score

300

350

500

252

273284

303

255

284

301

327

Literacy scale






Figure 3-5. Average document and quantitative lit-

eracy scores of adults, by whether they

had received information technology

certification: 2003

No certificationCertification

Document Quantitative0

150

200

250

Average score

300

350

500

285269

302

281

Literacy scale






The average document and quantitative literacy ofadults who combined information technology certi-fication with either a high school diploma or a GEDwas higher than for all adults with a high schooldiploma or a GED (figures 3-1b, 3-1c, and 3-6).

Summary

This chapter examined the relationship betweeneducation and literacy.The percentage of adults whohad completed some college or higher levels of edu-cation increased between 1992 and 2003. In 2003,among adults who were not still in high school, aver-age prose, document, and quantitative literacyincreased with each increasing level of education.However, between 1992 and 2003, prose and docu-ment literacy for adults with some college or higherlevels of education declined.

There were no statistically significant differences inaverage prose, document, and quantitative literacybetween adults whose highest level of education wasa regular high school diploma and adults whosehighest level of education was a GED or a highschool equivalency credential.

White adults had higher average prose literacy scoresthan Black and Hispanic adults for all levels of edu-cational attainment. However, average prose andquantitative literacy increased between 1992 and2003 for Black adults with a high school diploma, a

GED, or some vocational classes taken after highschool. Average quantitative literacy increasedbetween 1992 and 2003 for Black adults whosehighest educational level was less than high school orsome high school. Average prose literacy declinedbetween 1992 and 2003 among all Hispanic adultsexcept those who were still in high school or had acollege degree or higher. Average document literacydecreased among Hispanic adults who had complet-ed some college or obtained an associate’s degree orwhose highest educational level was less than highschool or some high school.

High school graduates who obtained their diplomaor GED at age 19 or younger had higher averageprose, document, and quantitative literacy than adultswho obtained their high school diploma or GEDcredential at older ages. College graduates whoreceived their college degree at age 23 or youngerhad higher average prose, document, and quantitativeliteracy than adults who received college degrees atolder ages.

Adults who had received information technologycertification had higher average document and quan-titative literacy scores than adults who had notreceived certification. The average document andquantitative literacy of adults with information tech-nology certification was higher among adults withhigher levels of other education.

44


Employment, Earnings, and Job Training

The analyses in this chapter examine theemployment status, occupation, and earn-ings of adults with different levels of litera-

cy. Individuals’ perceptions of the extent that read-ing, mathematics, and computer skills limited theirjob opportunities are also investigated across litera-cy levels. Finally, literacy and public assistance par-ticipation, as well as length of time on public assis-tance, is examined.6 Data from the 1992 NationalAdult Literacy Survey and the 2003 NationalAssessment of Adult Literacy are compared, using acommon scaled method, to examine differences inthe literacy of adults within different employmentstatus and occupational attainment groups.

All analyses in this chapter are based on the house-hold sample only. Analyses by occupational groupinclude only adults who were employed at somepoint during the 3 years prior to the assessment.Analyses of earnings include only adults who wereemployed full-time at the time of the assessment.Analyses of skills and job training include onlyadults who were not retired at the time of theassessment.

45

# toc

1CHAPTER ONE

Employment Status

Occupation

Weekly Wage or Salary

Job Skills and Job Training

Public Assistance Participation

Summary

4CHAPTER FOUR

6 The relationship between literacy and household income was discussed inchapter 2.

Employment Status

Higher percentages of adults with higher literacylevels than adults with lower literacy levels wereemployed full-time, and lower percentages were outof the labor force (figures 4-1a, 4-1b, and 4-1c). Forexample, lower percentages of adults with BelowBasic prose, document, and quantitative literacywere employed either part- or full-time than adultswith higher literacy levels. Similarly, lower percent-ages of adults with Basic prose, document, andquantitative literacy were employed full-time andhigher percentages were out of the labor force than

adults with Intermediate or Proficient literacy. Lowerpercentages of adults with Intermediate literacy thanadults with Proficient literacy worked full-time, andhigher percentages of adults with Intermediate liter-acy than adults with Proficient literacy were out ofthe labor force.

Across the prose, document, and quantitative scales,approximately two-thirds of adults with Proficient lit-eracy and half of adults with Intermediate literacywere employed full-time.At least 50 percent of adultswith Below Basic literacy, on each of the three scales,were not in the labor force.

46


Figure 4-1a. Percentage of adults in each employ-

ment status category, by prose literacy

level: 1992 and 2003

Not in labor force Unemployed Part-time Full-time

Literacy level and year

Below Basic Basic Intermediate Proficient2003 1992 2003 1992 2003 1992 2003 1992

14

64

183

14

66

173

12

44

38

6

12

42

40

6

14

54

27

510

35*

51*

58

29

57

6

15

54

26

50

20

40

60

80

100

60

80

40

20

Percent not employed

Percent employed



age and older living in households. Adults who could not be interviewed because of language spo-

ken or cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003 and 4 percent in 1992) are excluded from

this figure.


Education Statistics, 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey and 2003 National Assessment of Adult

Literacy.

Figure 4-1b. Percentage of adults in each employ-

ment status category, by document lit-

eracy level: 1992 and 2003


60

15

63*

19*

4

15

68

153

14

55

27

5

14

54

27

6

41

712

40

9

32*

55*

559

27

12

42

40

6



0

20

40

60

80

100

60

80

40

20


Percent employed





this figure.



Literacy.

The percentages of adults with Below Basic prose anddocument literacy who were employed full-timeincreased between 1992 and 2003, but there was nostatistically significant change on the quantitativescale. Between 1992 and 2003 there were also corre-sponding decreases in the percentages of adults withBelow Basic prose and document literacy who wereout of the labor force. Among adults with Proficientdocument literacy, there was a decrease between1992 and 2003 in the percentage of adults who wereemployed full-time.

Occupation

Given the varying level of skills required by differentjobs, the study looked at the literacy of adults with dif-ferent types of jobs.7 The 1992 and 2003 occupation-al groups were coded using different classifications.Forthe analyses presented in this report, 1992 results werecoded into 2003 categories using a cross walk devel-oped by the U.S. Census Bureau. However, someoccupations could not be precisely linked between1992 and 2003, and there was some sampling error inhow other occupations were linked.8

Table 4-1 shows the 10 occupational groups examinedin this study and the occupations represented in thosegroups. The largest occupational groups in the 2003household sample were Professional and related andService, accounting for 20 percent and 19 percent ofemployed respondents, respectively (table 4-2).9

Chapter 4: Employment, Earnings, and Job Training

Figure 4-1c. Percentage of adults in each employ-

ment status category, by quantitative

literacy level: 1992 and 2003


53

710

31

50

710

34

14

47

34

5

15

48

32

5

14

57

25

4

14

58

23

5

13

66

174

12

67

183



0

20

40

60

80

100

60

80

40

20


Percent employed




this figure.



Literacy.

7 Respondents who had held a job in the last 3 years were asked toprovide the name of their occupation along with the most impor-tant activities or duties of their job. This information was used toassign each job an occupational code from the 2000 CensusBureau’s Classified Index of Occupations, U.S. Department ofCommerce, Bureau of the Census, Housing and HouseholdEconomic Statistics Division. Occupations from 1992 and 2003were then collapsed into 10 major occupational groups.8 For more information on this cross walk see U.S Census Bureau(2003). For more information on the coding, see appendix B.9 The percentages in table 4-2, which are based on the adult litera-cy data, were compared with results from the 2000 Census(Fronczek and Johnson 2003).All differences are within 4 percent-age points.

47


Table 4-1. Description of major occupational groups

Management, Business, and Financial Management occupations (e.g., chief executives; general and operations managers; farmers, ranchers, and agricultural managers;

and purchasing managers) and business and financial operations occupations (e.g., accountants and auditors; wholesale and retail

buyers; and insurance underwriters).

Professional and related Computer and mathematical occupations; architecture and engineering occupations; life, physical, and social science occupations;

community and social services occupations; legal occupations; education, training, and library occupations; arts, design, entertain-

ment, sports, and media occupations; and healthcare practitioner and technical occupations.

Service Healthcare support occupations; protective service occupations; food preparation and serving related occupations; building and

grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations; and personal care and service occupations.

Sales and related Cashiers; counter and rental clerks; demonstrators, product promoters, and models; insurance sales agents; real estate brokers and

agents; retail salespersons; sales engineers; sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing; sales worker supervisors; securities,

commodities, and financial services sales; and travel agents.

Office and Administrative Support Communications equipment operators; computer operators; customer service representatives; data entry and information process-

ing workers; desktop publishers; financial clerks; information and record clerks; material recording, scheduling, dispatching, and dis-

tributing occupations; office and administrative support worker supervisors and managers; office clerks, general; Postal Service

workers; and secretaries and administrative assistants.

Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Agricultural workers; fishers and fishing vessel operators; forest, conservation, and logging workers.

Construction and Extraction Boilermakers; brickmasons and stonemasons; carpenters; carpet, floor, and tile installers and finishers; cement masons and terrazzo

workers; construction and building inspectors; construction equipment operators; construction laborers; drywall installers; electri-

cians; elevator installers and repairers; glaziers; hazardous materials removal workers; insulation workers; painters and paperhangers;

pipelayers and plumbers; plasterers and stucco masons; roofers; sheet metal workers; first-line supervisors/managers of construction

trades and extraction workers; earth drillers, except oil and gas; mining machine operators; and helpers, extraction workers.

Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Avionics technicians; automotive glass installers and repairers; small engine mechanics; maintenance workers, machinery; telecom-

munications line installers and repairers; and helpers—installation, maintenance, and repair workers.

Production Assemblers and fabricators; food processing occupations; metal workers and plastic workers; printing occupations; textile, apparel,

and furnishing occupations; woodworkers; plant and system operators; and other production occupations (e.g., dental laboratory

technicians; inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers; and photographic process workers).

Transportation and Material Air transportation occupations (e.g., aircraft pilots and flight engineers and air traffic controllers); motor vehicle operators (e.g.,

Moving busdrivers; taxi drivers and chauffeurs; and truckdrivers and driver/sales workers); rail transportation occupations; water trans-

portation occupations; and material moving occupations.

Source: Adapted from the Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2004-05 Edition, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, retrieved 11/10/05 from http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm.

Table 4-2. Percentage of adults in each occupational group: 1992 and 2003

Occupational group 1992 2003

Management, Business, and Financial 8 12

Professional and related 17 20

Service 20 19

Sales and related 12 11

Office and Administrative Support 17 14

Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 1 1

Construction and Extraction 5 7

Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 4 4

Production 10 8

Transportation and Material Moving 6 6

Note: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Adults are defined as people 16 years of age and older living in households. Adults who could not be interviewed because of language spoken or cognitive

or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003 and 4 percent in 1992) are excluded from this table.The 1992 and 2003 occupational groups were coded using different classifications. For the analyses presented in this

report, 1992 results were recoded into 2003 categories using a crosswalk developed by the U.S. Census Bureau. However, some occupations could not be precisely linked between 1992 and 2003, and there was

some sampling error in how other occupations were linked.Therefore, all comparisons between 1992 and 2003 occupational groups should be made with caution. Occupational information is available only for

adults who were employed at some point during the 3 years prior to the assessment.


48

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobgrowth in Professional and related and Service occupa-tions is projected to account for over half the new jobsadded to the nation’s workforce from 2004 to 2014(Hecker 2005). Because these occupational groupshave very different educational requirements andearnings, it is useful to examine the literacy levels ofadults in these occupations.

Figures 4-2a, 4-2b, and 4-2c present the averageprose, document, and quantitative scores for eachoccupational group in 1992 and 2003.The occupa-tional groups with the highest average prose, docu-ment, and quantitative literacy scores in 1992,

Professional and related and Management, Business, andFinancial, were also ranked the highest in 2003.Likewise, the occupational groups with the lowestaverage prose, document, and quantitative literacylevels in 1992 were the lowest ranking groups in2003.The occupational groups with the lowest aver-age prose, document, and quantitative literacy scoreswere Service; Farming, Fishing, and Forestry;Transportation and Material Moving; Production; andConstruction and Extraction.

Between 1992 and 2003, there was a statistically sig-nificant decrease in average prose literacy scores in 6of the 10 occupational groups (Management, Business,

49


Figure 4-2a. Average prose literacy scores of adults, by occupational group: 1992 and 2003

316306*

321 317*

266 262

288279*

292 287*

254

219*

261 255

273 279

257 255 261252*

Management, Business, and

Financial

Professional and related

Service Sales and related

Office and Administrative

Support

Farming, Fishing, and Forestry

Construction and Extraction

Installation, Maintenance,

and Repair

Production Transportation and Material Moving

1992 2003

0

150

200

250

Average score

300

350

500

Occupational group


NOTE: Adults are defined as people 16 years of age and older living in households. Adults who could not be interviewed because of language spoken or cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003 and 4 per-

cent in 1992) are excluded from this figure.The 1992 and 2003 occupational groups were coded using different classifications. For the analyses presented in this report, 1992 results were recoded into 2003 cate-

gories using a crosswalk developed by the U.S. Census Bureau. However, some occupations could not be precisely linked between 1992 and 2003, and there was some sampling error in how other occupations were

linked.Therefore, all comparisons between 1992 and 2003 occupational groups should be made with caution. Occupational information is available only for adults who were employed at some point during the

3 years prior to the assessment.


and Financial; Professional and related; Sales and related;Office and Administrative Support; Farming, Fishing, andForestry; and Transportation and Material Moving).Average document literacy scores decreased signifi-cantly in 4 occupational groups (Management,Business, and Financial; Professional and related;Construction and Extraction; and Transportation andMaterial Moving). In contrast, average quantitative lit-eracy scores increased during 1992 to 2003 for adultsemployed in the Installation, Maintenance, and Repairand Production occupations.

In 2003, workers employed in two occupations—Professional and related and Management, Business, andFinancial—accounted for a majority of adults withProficient literacy on all three scales (table 4-3). Incontrast, only 7 to 8 percent of individuals withBelow Basic literacy levels worked in these twooccupational groups. On the three scales, between30 and 35 percent of those with Below Basic were inService jobs in 2003. Conversely, 7 to 12 percent ofthose with Proficient literacy skills were employed inthese occupations.

50


Figure 4-2b. Average document literacy scores of adults, by occupational group: 1992 and 2003

308297*

316305*

262 259

282 281 287 284

251

225

261251*

272280

253 253 259250*


Financial




Support




and Repair


1992 2003

0

150

200

250

Average score

300

350

500

Occupational group








51


Figure 4-2c. Average quantitative literacy scores of adults, by occupational group: 1992 and 2003


Financial




Support




and Repair


1992 2003

0

150

200

250

Average score

300

350

500

Occupational group

322 318 320 321

261 263

287 293 289 293

260

241

271 265280

293*

257267* 263 263








Table 4-3. Percentage of adults in each occupational group, by prose, document, and quantitative literacy level:

1992 and 2003

1992 2003 1992 2003 1992 2003 1992 2003 1992 2003 1992 2003 1992 2003 1992 2003 1992 2003 1992 2003

ProseBelow Basic 3 3 3 4 32 30 6 8 8 8 4 3 10 15* 5 2* 19 15 12 11

Basic 5 8* 8 10* 25 24 12 12 15 14 2 1* 7 9 5 4 13 11* 8 9

Intermediate 9 15* 18 21* 18 16 14 12* 20 16* 1 #* 5 5 4 4 8 7 5 4

Proficient 17 19 36 42* 10 10 9 7 15 13 1 # 3 3 2 2 3 3 3 2*

Document Below Basic 3 3 4 5 33 35 7 6 8 6 3 3 9 15* 5 2* 17 15 11 10

Basic 5 7* 8 10* 25 24 12 10 15 13 2 1* 7 9* 5 4 14 12 8 9

Intermediate 9 15* 17 20* 18 16* 13 12* 19 17* 1 #* 5 6 4 4 8 7* 6 5

Proficient 15 17 36 39 11 12 9 9 15 12 1 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 1*

Quantitative Below Basic 3 3 5 5 32 33 9 8 10 10 2 2 8 12* 5 2* 16 13 11 10

Basic 6 9* 12 14* 22 22 13 12 19 16* 2 1* 5 8* 4 4 11 9 6 7

Intermediate 10 15* 21 23* 15 14 13 11 20 16* 1 #* 5 5 4 4 7 6 5 4

Proficient 19 22 36 37 9 7 9 10 11 12 1 1 4 3 4 3 4 4 4 2*

# Rounds to zero.


NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Adults are defined as people 16 years of age and older living in households. Adults who could not be interviewed because of language spoken or cognitive

or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003 and 4 percent in 1992) are excluded from this table.The 1992 and 2003 occupational groups were coded using different classifications. For the analyses presented in this

report, 1992 results were recoded into 2003 categories using a crosswalk developed by the U.S. Census Bureau. However, some occupations could not be precisely linked between 1992 and 2003, and there was

some sampling error in how other occupations were linked.Therefore, all comparisons between 1992 and 2003 occupational groups should be made with caution. Occupational information is available only for

adults who were employed at some point during the 3 years prior to the assessment.


ServiceSales and

related

Management,Business, and

FinancialProfessionaland related

Farming,Fishing, and

ForestryConstruction

and Extraction

Office andAdministrative

Support Production

Transportationand Material

Moving

Installation,Maintenance,

and Repair

Weekly Wage or Salary

In general, adults with lower literacy levels earnedlower salaries (figures 4-3a, 4-3b, and 4-3c). On eachof the three scales, 17 to 18 percent of adults withBelow Basic literacy earned less than $300 a week,while 3 to 6 percent of adults with Proficient literacyfell into that earnings category. Conversely, on eachof the three scales, 12 to 14 percent of adults withProficient literacy earned $1950 or more each weekcompared with 2 to 3 percent of adults with BelowBasic literacy. A person who worked for an entireyear (52 weeks) and earned $300 per week wouldearn approximately $16,000 over the course of theyear, while a person who worked for an entire yearand earned $1950 per week would earn approxi-mately $101,000 over a year.

52


Figure 4-3a. Percentage of full-time employed

adults in each weekly gross earnings

category, by prose literacy level: 2003

18

41

7

18

123

21

12

318

19

17

17

18

868

20

11

17

13

13

12

12

19

16

524

410

Literacy level


Percentless than $500

Percent$500 or more

Less than $300

$850–$1149

$300–$499

$1150–$1449

$500–$649

$1450–$1949

$650–$849

$1950 or more

0

20

40

60

80

100

60

80

40

20



ken or cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003) are excluded from this figure.


Education Statistics, 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy .

53


Figure 4-3b. Percentage of full-time employed


category, by document literacy level:

2003

18

41

8

16

11313

11

32

11

19

16

534

8

19

16

17

19

877

614

22

10

14

121012


Percent$500 or more

Literacy level


Less than $300

$850–$1149

$300–$499

$1150–$1449

$500–$649

$1450–$1949

$650–$849

$1950 or more

0

20

40

60

80

100

60

80

40

20






Figure 4-3c. Percentage of full-time employed


category, by quantitative literacy level:

2003

7

17

12222 17

17

18

1078

22

10

16

13

13

14

17

4211

277

17 310

13

19

18

35

6


Percent$500 or more

Literacy level


Less than $300

$850–$1149

$300–$499

$1150–$1449

$500–$649

$1450–$1949

$650–$849

$1950 or more

0

20

40

60

80

100

60

80

40

20






Job Skills and Job Training

Reading, mathematics, and computer skills are essen-tial to entering, retaining, and advancing in manyjobs throughout the labor force.As technological andeconomic changes continue, individuals whose liter-acy skills had previously been adequate may sudden-ly find themselves lacking sufficient basic skills, a sit-uation that limits their opportunities for jobs orcareer advancement (Davenport 2005). Respondents(except those who were retired) were asked to whatextent they believed that their reading, mathematics,and computer skills limited their job opportunities.

Reading Skills

In 2003, adults with lower levels of prose and docu-ment literacy were more likely to report that theirreading skills limited their job opportunities than wereadults in the higher literacy levels.Thirty-five percentof adults with Below Basic prose literacy and 34 percentof adults with Below Basic document literacy reportedthat their reading skills limited their job opportunities“a lot” (figure 4-4).An additional 22 percent of adultswith Below Basic prose literacy and 20 percent ofadults with Below Basic document literacy indicatedthat there was “some” limitation to their job oppor-tunities as a result of their reading skills. In contrast,

54


Figure 4-4. Percentage of adults who thought their reading skills limited their job opportunities, by prose and

document literacy level: 2003

Prose Document

34

11

87

35

159

33

6281

92

30

6285

96

Percentopportunities

not limited

Percent opportunities

limited


not limited


limited

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100

100Below Basic Basic Intermediate Proficient

Literacy level

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

13

20

12

16 4

422

13

22

14 76 3

211

Not at all A little Some A lot

Note: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Adults are defined as people 16 years of age and older living in households. Adults who could not be interviewed because of language spoken or cognitive

or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003) are excluded from this figure. Adults who reported that they were retired are not included in these analyses.


nearly all those with Proficient prose and document lit-eracy (92 to 96 percent) agreed that their readingskills did “not at all” limit their job opportunities.

Thirty percent of adults with Below Basic prose liter-acy and 33 percent of adults with Below Basic docu-ment literacy indicated that their reading skills did“not at all” limit their job opportunities. Also,62 percent of adults with Basic literacy indicated thattheir job opportunities were “not at all” limited bytheir reading skills.

Mathematics Skills

Fewer adults with Below Basic quantitative literacyfelt that their mathematics skills limited their jobopportunities “a lot” when compared with the per-centage of those with Below Basic prose and docu-ment literacy who felt limited by their reading skills.

In 2003, some 25 percent of adults with Below Basicquantitative literacy reported that their mathematicsskills limited their job opportunities “a lot,” while 40percent reported that their job opportunities were“not at all” limited by their mathematics skills (figure4-5). Nearly 90 percent of adults with Proficientquantitative literacy and 80 percent of adults withIntermediate quantitative literacy reported that theirjob opportunities were “not at all” limited by theirmathematics skills.

55


Figure 4-5. Percentage of adults who thought their

mathematics skills limited their job

opportunities, by quantitative literacy

level: 2003

40

6680 89

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

16

19

25

13

138

117 3

83


not limited


limited

1


0



ken or cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003) are excluded from this figure. Adults who

reported that they were retired are not included in these analyses.



Computer Skills

In 2003, 51 percent of adults with Below Basic docu-ment literacy and 43 percent of adults with BelowBasic quantitative literacy believed that their jobopportunities were limited “a lot” by their computerskills.Yet 28 percent of adults with Below Basic docu-ment literacy and 32 percent of adults with BelowBasic quantitative literacy did “not at all” feel thattheir computer skills limited their job opportunities(figure 4-6).

Approximately 67 percent of adults with Proficientdocument literacy and 70 percent with Proficientquantitative literacy reported that their computerskills did “not at all” limit their job opportunities.Fifty-eight percent of adults with Intermediate docu-ment literacy and 61 percent with Intermediate quan-titative literacy reported that their job opportunitieswere “not at all” limited by their computer skills.

Training to Improve Reading, Mathematics, and Computer Skills

Regardless of their literacy levels, 9 percent of adultswho reported that their reading skills limited theirjob opportunities “a lot” or “some” had participatedin job training activities to improve their Englishreading skills during the past year (data not shown).Eight percent of adults who thought that their jobopportunities were limited “a lot” or “some” by theirmathematics skills participated in job training activi-ties that emphasized mathematics during the pastyear. Of all adults who believed that their job oppor-tunities were limited “a lot” or “some” by their com-puter skills, 12 percent had participated in computerjob training activities during the past year.


Figure 4-6. Percentage of adults who thought their computer skills limited their job opportunities, by docu-

ment and quantitative literacy level: 2003

Document Quantitative

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

1114

43

15

14

20

17

1211

18

85

912

51

14

14

27

17

13

13

18

96


not limited


limited


not limited


limited


3250

61 70

2845

58 67


or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003) are excluded from this figure. Adults who reported that they were retired are not included in these analyses.


56

A lower percentage of adults who reported that theirreading skills limited their job opportunities and whoparticipated in job training activities with a readingfocus had Below Basic prose literacy and a higher per-centage had Intermediate prose literacy than adultswho reported that their reading skills limited theirjob opportunities and had not participated in jobtraining with a reading focus (figure 4-7).

Among adults in each quantitative literacy level whoreported that their mathematics skills limited theirjob opportunities, there were no statistically signifi-cant differences in the percentages who did and didnot participate in job training that emphasized math-ematics (figure 4-8).

A lower percentage of adults who reported that theircomputer skills limited their job opportunities andwho participated in job training activities with acomputer focus had Below Basic quantitative literacyand a higher percentage had Intermediate and Proficient

quantitative literacy than adults who reported thattheir computer skills limited their job opportunitiesand had not participated in job training with a com-puter focus (figure 4-9).

57


Figure 4-7. Percentage of adults in each prose and

document literacy level who thought

their reading skills limited their job

opportunities “a lot” or “some,” by

whether or not they participated in job

training that emphasized reading: 2003

27 41 30 2

42 35 22 2

23 33 40 3

35 29 33 3


Did not participate

ParticipatedDocument

Did not participate

ParticipatedProse

0 20 40 60 80 1006080 40 20Percent Below Basic Percent Basic and above

Literacy scale andparticipation







Figure 4-8. Percentage of adults in each quantitative

literacy level who thought their mathe-

matics skills limited their job opportuni-

ties “a lot” or “some,” by whether or not

they participated in job training that

emphasized mathematics: 2003

38 34 23 4

47 33 17 3



Participation

Did not participate

Participated







Figure 4-9. Percentage of adults in each quantita-

tive literacy level who thought their

computer skills limited their job

opportunities “a lot” or “some,” by

whether or not they participated in

job training that emphasized comput-

ers: 2003



Participation

Did not participate

Participated 20 37 33 10

38 35 22 5







Public Assistance Participation10

As found with the 1992 National Adult LiteracySurvey, there is a relationship between literacy andparticipation in public assistance (Barton and Jenkins1995).Among women with Below Basic prose litera-

cy, 10 percent had previously received public assis-tance and 4 percent were currently receiving publicassistance (figure 4-10a). For women with Basicprose literacy, 11 percent had previously receivedpublic assistance and 3 percent were currentlyreceiving public assistance. In contrast, amongwomen with Proficient prose literacy, 3 percent hadpreviously received public assistance and less than 0.5percent were currently receiving public assistance.

58


10 The main public assistance program in the United States isTemporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). This programtargets needy families with children, primarily single mothers.Therefore the analyses in this section are limited to women only.

Figure 4-10a. Percentage of women who were cur-

rently receiving public assistance or

had received public assistance in the

past, by prose literacy level: 2003

Never Past participation Current participation

Literacy level


Percent never received public

assistance

Percent received public assistance

0

20

40

60

80

100

60

80

40

20

8697

104

113

81

3#

86 91

# Rounds to zero.






Figure 4-10b. Percentage of women who were cur-



past, by document literacy level:

2003


86 87 91 96

114

103

82

4

Literacy level


0

20

40

60

80

100

60

80

40

20


assistance


#

# Rounds to zero.






The patterns for the document and quantitativescales were similar (figures 4-10b and 4-10c).

Respondents who had received public assistancewere asked the total amount of time they hadreceived public assistance in their lifetime.Table 4-4displays the percentages of women who were onpublic assistance for various amounts of time: never;less than 6 months; 6 months to a year; over a yearbut less than 2 years; 2 to 3 years; and over 3 years.

In general, a lower percentage of women with high-er levels of literacy than women with lower levels ofliteracy received public assistance. If they did receivepublic assistance, they participated for shorter periodsof time. Of those who received public assistance forover 3 years, higher percentages of women were atthe Basic literacy level than at the Intermediate level ofliteracy across all three scales. Similarly, higher per-centages of women with prose, document, and quan-titative Intermediate literacy received public assistancefor over 3 years than women with Proficient literacy.On the quantitative scale, a higher percentage ofwomen with Below Basic literacy than with Basic lit-eracy received public assistance for over 3 years.

59


Figure 4-10c. Percentage of women who were cur-



past, by quantitative literacy level:

2003


83 89 93 98

134

102

61 2

Literacy level


0

20

40

60

80

100

60

80

40

20


assistance


#

# Rounds to zero.






Summary

This chapter examined literacy skills in relation toemployment status, occupational attainment, weeklywage or salary, perceived job opportunities, and pub-lic assistance participation for the 2003 householdsample. In addition, trends in adult literacy between1992 and 2003 were discussed for employment statusand occupational attainment.

A higher percentage of adults with higher literacylevels were employed full-time and a lower percent-age were out of the labor force than adults with lowerliteracy levels.

On all three literacy scales, individuals with Proficientliteracy levels were most likely to be employed inProfessional and related and Management, Business, andFinancial occupations. Many individuals with lowerliteracy levels were employed in Service occupations.Specifically, 30 to 35 percent of adults with Below

Basic and 22 to 24 percent of adults with Basic prose,document, and quantitative literacy worked inService jobs. Conversely, 7 to 12 percent of adultswith Proficient literacy were employed in Serviceoccupations.

In general, those with lower literacy levels earnedlower incomes. In the three lowest income cate-gories, a greater percentage of adults scored in theBelow Basic or Basic levels when compared with thepercentage of those with Proficient literacy.Conversely, of adults earning $1450 or more a week,fewer than 5 percent were at the Below Basic literacylevel, compared with the approximately 25 percentwho scored at the Proficient level of literacy on any ofthe three scales.

Of adults with Below Basic prose and document liter-acy, 34 to 35 percent felt that their reading skills lim-ited their job opportunities “a lot.” Of adults with

60


Table 4-4. Percentage of women who received public assistance for varying lengths of time, by prose, docu-

ment, and quantitative literacy level: 2003

Less than 6 months More thanLiteracy scale and literacy level Never 6 months to 1 year 1–2 years 2–3 years 3 years

Prose

Below Basic 87 2 1 3 2 6

Basic 87 2 2 2 2 5

Intermediate 91 2 2 1 2 3

Proficient 97 1 1 1 # 1

Document


Basic 87 2 2 2 2 5


Proficient 96 1 1 1 # 1

Quantitative


Basic 89 2 2 2 2 4


Proficient 98 1 # 1 # 1

# Rounds to zero.


or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003) are excluded from this table.


Below Basic quantitative literacy, 25 percent felt limit-ed by their mathematics skills, while 43 to 51 percentof adults with Below Basic document and quantitativeliteracy felt hindered by their computer skills.A smallproportion (8 to 12 percent) of adults who reportedthat their job opportunities were limited “a lot” or“some” by insufficient reading, mathematics, or com-

puter skills participated in training or educationwithin the previous year.

In general, women with higher levels of literacy wereless likely to have received public assistance. If theydid receive public assistance, they reported participat-ing for a shorter amount of time when comparedwith women with lower levels of literacy.

61


63

# toc

1CHAPTER ONE

Literacy and the Family

The analyses in this chapter examine howparents, grandparents, and guardians withdifferent literacy levels interacted with the

children living in their homes around issues relatedto literacy and school.The analyses also examine therelationship between the literacy of adults living ina home and whether or not the home had educa-tional resources—including books and comput-ers—that encourage children to read and activelyengage in other academic and intellectual pursuits.

Throughout the chapter, the word parent refers toparents, grandparents, or guardians who had chil-dren living in their household for at least 10 daysout of the month.

Parent-Child Literacy-Related

Interactions

Educational Resources in the

Home

School Involvement

Summary

5CHAPTER FIVE


Parent-Child Literacy-Related Interactions

Reading to Children

Higher percentages of parents with Intermediate orProficient prose literacy than parents with Basic proseliteracy who had children under age 8 reported thatthey read to their children 5 or more days a week:half of parents with Proficient prose literacy and 44percent of parents with Intermediate prose literacyread to their children 5 or more days compared with36 percent of parents with Basic prose literacy (figure5-1). Additionally, a higher percentage of parentswith Basic than with Below Basic prose literacy whohad children under age 8 reported that they read totheir children 5 or more days a week: 36 percent of

parents with Basic prose literacy read to their children5 or more days compared with 27 percent of parentswith Below Basic prose literacy.

A lower percentage of parents with Below Basic thanwith Basic prose literacy who had children under age8 reported that they read to their children during theprevious week: 41 percent of parents with Below Basicprose literacy did not read to their children at allcompared with 25 percent of parents with Basic proseliteracy (figure 5-1).Additionally, a lower percentageof parents with Basic prose literacy than parents witheither Intermediate or Proficient prose literacy reportedthat they read to their children at all during the pre-vious week: 25 percent of parents with Basic proseliteracy did not read to their children at all comparedwith 17 percent of parents with Intermediate prose lit-eracy and 14 percent of parents with Proficient proseliteracy.

Learning the Alphabet

In addition to reading to their children, parents mayparticipate in other types of literacy-related activitieswith them.Knowing the letters of the alphabet beforestarting school is a predictor of a school-age child’sreading level (Adams 1990,Schatschneider et al. 2004;Whitehurst and Lonigan 2001).The 2003 adult liter-acy assessment background questionnaire included aquestion asking parents with young children howoften they tried to teach their children the letters ofthe alphabet. Parents were given the option of sayingthat their children already knew the letters of thealphabet. In this section, results are reported on thisquestion for parents with children ages 3 through 5.

A higher percentage of parents with Intermediate orProficient prose literacy than parents with Basic proseliteracy reported that they had children between theages of 3 and 5 who knew the letters of the alphabet.Additionally, a higher percentage of parents with Basic,Intermediate, or Proficient prose literacy than parents

Figure 5-1. Percentage of parents who read to or

with their children under age 8 during

the previous week, by prose literacy

level: 2003

Never 1 to 2 days 3 to 4 days 5 or more days

4125

17 14

Percent did not read to child

Percent read to child

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

18

27

21

36

21

44

22

50

19 1414 18

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Adults are defined as people 16 years of age

and older living in households. Adults who could not be interviewed because of language spoken or

cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003) are excluded from this figure. Parents includes -

parents, grandparents, and guardians who had a child living with them 10 or more days a month.



64

with Below Basic prose literacy reported that they hadchildren between the ages of 3 and 5 who knew theletters of the alphabet (figure 5-2). Among parentswith children between the ages of 3 and 5 who didnot already know the letters of the alphabet, 19 per-cent of parents with Below Basic prose literacy report-ed that they never tried to teach their children theletters of the alphabet, compared with 7 percent ofparents with Intermediate prose literacy and 8 percentof parents with Proficient prose literacy (figure 5-3).

Learning to Read Words

Most parents reported that they pointed out words totheir children under the age of 8 and asked the chil-dren what the words meant at least a few times aweek (table 5-1). Across literacy levels, there wereonly a few significant differences in the frequencywith which parents reported that they tried to teachtheir children to read words: a higher percentage ofparents with Intermediate prose literacy than parentswith Below Basic prose literacy taught their childrenwords a few times a week or more, and a higher

65

Chapter 5: Literacy and the Family

Figure 5-2. Percentage of parents whose children

between the ages of 3 and 5 knew the

letters of the alphabet, by prose literacy

level: 2003

1221

2731

ProficientIntermediate Basic Below Basic

Literacy level

Percent

0

20

40

60

80

100

NOTE:Adults are defined as people 16 years of age and older living in households.Adults who could

not be interviewed because of language spoken or cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in

2003) are excluded from this figure. Parents includes parents, grandparents, and guardians who had

a child living with them 10 or more days a month.

SOURCE: U.S.Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for


Figure 5-3. Percentage of parents with children

who did not already know the letters of

the alphabet who tried to teach their

children between the ages of 3 and 5

the letters of the alphabet during the

previous month, by prose literacy level:

2003

197 8

62

10

10

73

10

10

73

10

11

66

12

14

Never Less than once a week

Once a week Every day/a few times a week

Percent did not teach child

letters

Percent taught child letters

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

7

NOTE:Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Adults are defined as people 16 years of age

and older living in households.Adults who could not be interviewed because of language spoken or

cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003) are excluded from this figure. Parents includes


SOURCE: U.S.Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for


Table 5-1. Percentage of parents who tried to teach

their children under the age of 8 to read

words during the previous month, by

prose literacy level: 2003

Less than Every day/Child already once Once a a few times

reads well Never a week week a weekBelow Basic 5 25 9 8 53

Basic 4 22 8 7 59

Intermediate 4 20 8 7 61

Proficient 4 20 11 8 57



cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003) are excluded from this table. Parents includes




66


percentage of parents with Proficient prose literacythan parents with Basic or Intermediate prose literacytaught their children to read words less than once aweek. There were no statistically significant differ-ences across parents’ prose literacy levels in the per-centage who reported that their children under age8 could already read well (table 5-1).

Rhyming Activities

The ability to hear and understand rhymes is animportant skill for children learning to read (Anthonyand Lonigan 2004). Parents of young children oftenengage in a variety of activities that help make theirchildren sensitive to the sounds of rhymes: singingsongs, reciting nursery rhymes, or playing rhyminggames such as “patty cake” or “ring around the rosey.”The percentage of parents who reported that theyhad engaged in some type of rhyming activity withtheir children under the age of 8 during the previousmonth ranged from 81 to 90 percent across the fourprose literacy levels (figure 5-4). Higher percentagesof parents with Intermediate or Proficient prose literacythan parents with Basic prose literacy reported engag-ing in rhyming activities with their children, and ahigher percentage of parents with Basic prose literacythan parents with Below Basic prose literacy reportedengaging in rhyming activities.

Talking to Children About School and Homework

Schools usually encourage parents to be activelyinvolved in their children’s education (Carey, Lewis,and Faris 1998). The percentage of parents whoreported that they talked to their school-age chil-dren every day about things they studied in schoolranged from 56 to 71 percent across the four proseliteracy levels (figure 5-5). A lower percentage ofparents with Below Basic prose literacy than parentswith Basic, Intermediate, or Proficient prose literacyreported that they talked to their children about

things they studied in school. Eleven percent of par-ents with Below Basic prose literacy who had school-age children never talked to their children aboutthings they studied in school compared with 2 per-cent of parents with Basic, Intermediate, or Proficientprose literacy. Conversely, a lower percentage of par-ents with Intermediate or Proficient prose literacy thanparents with Basic prose literacy reported that theytalked to their children every day about things theystudied in school, and a higher percentage of parentswith Basic prose literacy than parents with BelowBasic prose literacy talked to their children every dayabout things they studied in school.

Figure 5-4. Percentage of parents who engaged in

rhyming activities with their children

under the age of 8 during the previous

month, by prose literacy level: 2003

Never Less than once a week

Once a week Every day/a few times a week

13 10 1019

Percent did not engage in

rhyming activities

with child

Percent engaged in

rhyming activities

with child

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

811

68

810

71

711

73

9

62

11







67

The percentage of parents who reported that theyhelped their children with homework or workedwith their children on homework at least occasion-ally ranged from 75 to 92 percent across the four lit-eracy levels (figure 5-6). The percentage of parentswho reported that they never worked with theirchildren on homework declined with each increas-ing prose literacy level: 25 percent of parents withBelow Basic prose literacy, 14 percent of parents withBasic prose literacy, 11 percent of parents withIntermediate prose literacy, and 8 percent of parentswith Proficient prose literacy never helped or workedwith their children on homework.

Educational Resources in the Home

Families’ environments differ in the extent to whichthey provide resources that encourage children toread and actively engage in other academic andintellectual pursuits.The next section of this chap-ter examines the relationship between parents’ liter-acy and educational resources in the home.

Reading and Reading Materials in the Home

According to parents’ self-reports, parents with highliteracy levels were more likely to be seen reading bytheir children. Ninety percent of adults with Proficientprose literacy, 81 percent of adults with Intermediate


Figure 5-5. Percentage of parents who talked to

their school-age children about things

they studied in school, by prose literacy

level: 2003

11

13

21

56

2

12

21

65

2

8

21

69

2

5

22

71

Percent did not talk to child

about school

Percent talked to child about

school

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

Never Once a week or less

A few times a week

Every day







Figure 5-6. Percentage of parents who helped or

worked with their school-age child on

homework, by prose literacy level: 2003

2514 11 8

17

19

39

19

26

42

22

30

38

27

32

34

Percent no homework

with child

Percent homework

with child

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

Never Once a week or less

A few times a week

Every day







prose literacy, 73 percent of adults with Basic proseliteracy, and 60 percent of adults with Below Basicprose literacy said that their children ages 2 through17 often saw them reading (figure 5-7).

The percentage of adults who lived with childrenunder the age of 18 and had no reading materials intheir home decreased with each increasing level ofprose literacy: 19 percent of adults with Below Basicprose literacy and 3 percent or fewer of adults withhigher levels of literacy who lived with childrenunder age 18 reported that they had no readingmaterials in their home (figure 5-8).11

Conversely, the percentage of adults who lived withchildren under the age of 18 and reported that theyhad many reading materials in their home increasedwith each increasing level of prose literacy: 54 percentof adults with Below Basic prose literacy, 83 percent ofadults with Basic prose literacy, 92 percent of adults

with Intermediate prose literacy, and 96 percent ofadults with Proficient prose literacy who lived withchildren under the age of 18 reported that they hadmany reading materials in their home.12

68


12 The 2003 background questionnaire asked all adults with chil-dren under age 18 living in their home whether they had 25 ormore books in their home and also whether they had a variety ofmagazines and other reading materials in their home. Adults whohad both 25 or more books and a variety of magazines and otherreading materials in their home were categorized as having manyreading materials in their home; adults who had either 25 or morebooks or a variety of magazines and other reading materials in theirhome were categorized as having some reading materials in theirhome; adults who had neither 25 or more books nor a variety ofmagazines and other reading materials in their home were catego-rized as having no reading materials in their home.

Figure 5-8. Percentage of adults who lived with

children under age 18 and had reading

materials in the home, by prose literacy

level: 2003

None Some Many

19

28

3

14

18 4

Percent no reading

materials in home

Percent reading

materials in home

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

#

54 83 92 96

# Rounds to zero.








ages 2 through 17 often saw them read-

ing, by prose literacy level: 2003

60

7381

90

Percent

0

20

40

60

80

100

ProficientIntermediateBasicBelow Basic

Literacy level

NOTE: Adults are defined as people 16 years of age and older living in households. Adults who could






11 Questions about reading materials in the home were not asked ofrespondents who were under the age of 18 unless there wereyounger children in the home.

Across the four prose literacy levels, 93 to 100 per-cent of parents said that their children ages 2 through17 had at least one or two books of their own (fig-ure 5-9). However, higher percentages of parents

with Intermediate or Proficient prose literacy than par-ents with Basic prose literacy reported that their chil-dren had their own books, and a higher percentageof parents with Basic prose literacy than parents withBelow Basic prose literacy reported that their childrenhad their own books.

Computers in the Home

Adults were asked whether they had a computer intheir home that could be used for word processingand whether they had a computer in their homewith Internet access. Among adults living in house-holds with children under the age of 18, the percent-age of adults who said they lived in a home that hada computer with word processing capability orInternet access increased with every increasing levelof prose literacy (figure 5-10).

69



ages 2 through 17 had their own books,

by prose literacy level: 2003

9398 99 100

Percent

0

20

40

60

80

100


Literacy level







Figure 5-10. Percentage of adults living in households with children under age 18 who had a computer in their

home with word processing capability or Internet access, by prose literacy level: 2003

93

39

67

83

Computer with word processing capability

Computer with Internet access

Percent

0

20

40

60

80

100Percent

0

20

40

60

80

100

50

75

8996

ProficientIntermediateBasicBelow Basic ProficientIntermediateBasicBelow Basic

NOTE: Adults are defined as people 16 years of age and older living in households. Adults who could not be interviewed because of language spoken or cognitive or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003) are

excluded from this figure. Parents includes parents, grandparents, and guardians who had a child living with them 10 or more days a month.


70


School Involvement

Parents of school-age children were asked whetherthey had been involved in their children’s schoolsduring the previous year in any of the followingways:

■ Volunteered to help out at the school, includingin the classroom, on a field trip, or at a schoolevent such as a party or school fair

■ Gone to a parent-teacher or other type ofmeeting at the school

■ Spoken individually with a teacher to see howtheir children were doing in school

■ Sent food or other items to share in the class-room

Forty percent of parents with Proficient prose literacyreported doing all four activities during the previousyear compared with 29 percent of parents withIntermediate prose literacy, 25 percent of parents withBasic prose literacy, and 23 percent of parents withBelow Basic prose literacy (figure 5-11).A higher per-centage of parents with Below Basic prose literacy thanparents with Intermediate or Proficient prose literacy haddone none of these activities during the past year.

Summary

This chapter examined how parents with differentliteracy levels interacted with the children living intheir homes around issues related to literacy andschool.13 In general, parents with higher literacy didmore literacy-related activities with their childrenand had more educational resources in their home.

Specifically, higher percentages of parents withIntermediate or Proficient prose literacy than parentswith Basic prose literacy read to their children under

age 8 five or more days a week, and a higher percent-age of parents with Basic prose literacy than parentswith Below Basic prose literacy read to their children5 or more days a week.

Additionally, the percentage of parents with childrenages 2 through 17 whose children often saw themreading increased with each increasing prose literacylevel.The percentage of adults who lived with chil-dren under the age of 18 in homes that had manyreading materials also increased with each increasingprose literacy level.At every prose literacy level, morethan 90 percent of parents of children ages 2 through17 said that their children had at least one or twobooks of their own. However, higher percentages ofparents with Intermediate or Proficient prose literacy

Figure 5-11. Percentage of parents who were

involved in one to four activities in

their children’s schools, by prose litera-

cy level: 2003

Percent not involved in

school activities

Percent involved in

school activities

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

None One Two Three Four

15 11 9 7

16

23

18

28

14

25

23

28

11

29

21

29

9

40

15

29

Number of activities







13 Throughout the chapter, the word parents refers to parents, grand-parents, or guardians who had a child living with them 10 days amonth and that convention is also followed in this summary section.

71

than parents with Basic prose literacy had childrenwho had their own books, and a higher percentage ofparents with Basic prose literacy than parents withBelow Basic prose literacy had children who had theirown books. The percentages of adults living withchildren under the age of 18 who had a computer intheir home with word processing capability orInternet access increased with each increasing proseliteracy level.

A lower percentage of parents with Below Basic proseliteracy than parents with Basic, Intermediate, orProficient prose literacy ever talked to their school-agechildren about things they studied in school.

Conversely, higher percentages of parents withIntermediate or Proficient prose literacy than parentswith Basic or Below Basic prose literacy talked to theirschool-age children every day about things theystudied in school.

At every prose literacy level, three-quarters of parentswith school-age children helped their children withhomework or worked on homework with their chil-dren at least occasionally. However, the percentage ofparents who never helped or never worked onhomework with their children declined with eachincreasing prose literacy level.


73

# toc

1CHAPTER ONE

Voting

Sources of Information About

Current Events, Public Affairs,

and the Government

Volunteering

Online Communities

Summary

6CHAPTER SIX

Community and Civic Involvement

The analyses in this chapter examine howadults with different literacy levels partici-pated in government and community affairs

by voting, staying informed, and volunteering.Theanalyses in the chapter also examine the extent towhich adults of different literacy levels participatedin online communities through sending e-mail andusing the Internet to find information.

Voting

Among U.S. citizens of voting age, the percentageof adults who voted in the 2000 presidential elec-tion was higher in each literacy level than in thenext lower literacy level on the prose and documentscales (figure 6-1).Approximately half of adult citi-zens with Below Basic prose and document literacyreported voting in the 2000 presidential electioncompared with 84 percent of adult citizens withProficient prose and document literacy.

74


Sources of Information About CurrentEvents, Public Affairs, and the Government

Adults can get information about current events,public affairs, and the government from printed andwritten sources, including newspapers, magazines,books and brochures, and the Internet.They can alsoget information from nonprint sources, includingfamily, friends, or coworkers and radio and television.

Printed and Written Information

Many adults receive information about current events,public affairs, and the government from traditionalprinted sources such as newspapers, magazines, books,and brochures. Additionally, over the past decade, theInternet has become an increasingly important sourceof written information on these topics.

CCoommppaarriissoonnss aaccrroossss lleevveellss.. Lower percentages ofadults with Below Basic prose and document literacythan other adults reported reading any informationabout current events, public affairs, and the govern-ment in newspapers, magazines, books, or brochuresor on the Internet14 (figure 6-2).Twenty-nine percentof adults with Below Basic prose literacy reportedobtaining no information about current events, pub-lic affairs, and the government from newspapers com-pared with 12 percent of adults with Basic prose liter-acy, 8 percent of adults with Intermediate prose litera-cy, and 7 percent of adults with Proficient prose litera-cy. Seventy-seven percent of adults with Below Basicprose literacy reported that they received no informa-tion about these topics from the Internet comparedwith 53 percent of adults with Basic prose literacy, 31percent of adults with Intermediate prose literacy, and16 percent of adults with Proficient prose literacy.

CCoommppaarriissoonnss aaccrroossss ssoouurrcceess ooff wwrriitttteenn iinnffoorrmmaattiioonn..Lower percentages of adults with Below Basic, Basic,and Intermediate prose literacy got information aboutcurrent events, public affairs, and the governmentfrom the Internet than from other written sources.For adults with Proficient prose literacy, this gap didnot exist; a higher percentage of adults with Proficientprose literacy got information about these topicsfrom the Internet than from books or brochures, andthere was no measurable difference in the percent-ages of adults with Proficient prose literacy who gotinformation from the Internet and from magazines.Higher percentages of adults at all levels of prose lit-eracy got written information about current events,public affairs, and the government from newspapersthan from other written sources.

Figure 6-1. Percentage of adult citizens of voting

age who voted in the 2000 presidential

election, by prose and document litera-

cy level: 2003

14 Document results are in appendix E.

5763

71

84


Literacy scale

Prose Document

Percent

0

20

40

60

80

100

5362

7384



2003) are excluded from this figure.



Chapter 6: Community and Civic Involvement

75

Figure 6-2. Percentage of adults who got information about current events, public affairs, and the government

from each of the following sources: newspapers, magazines, books or brochures, the Internet, by


29

25

26

20

12

23

35

8

23

36

33

7

26

32

35

Newspapers

Percent got no information

Percent got information

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

Magazines

4225 18 16



0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

23

25

9

30

34

12

35

37

10

37

37

10

None A little Some A lot

Books or brochures



0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

44

23

25

8

26

30

33

11

20

34

35

11

21

39

30

9

Internet

77

53

3116

698

13

17

17

18

25

26

22

31

31



0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

30


or mental disabilities (3 percent in 2003) are excluded from this figure.


76


Nonprint Information

Nonprint sources of information about currentevents, public affairs, and the government includefamily, friends, or coworkers and radio and television.A lower percentage of adults with Below Basic proseand document literacy than other adults obtainedinformation about these topics from nonprintsources (figure 6-3).15 Twenty-one percent of adultswith Below Basic prose literacy reported getting noinformation about current events, public affairs, andthe government from family, friends, or coworkersduring the previous year compared with 10 percentof adults with Basic prose literacy, 6 percent of adultswith Intermediate prose literacy, and 4 percent of

adults with Proficient prose literacy. The differenceswere smaller or not statistically significant amongadults at different literacy levels with regard to theamount of information about these topics they gotfrom radio and television.

Volunteering

Volunteering—working in an unpaid capacity for acommunity group or an organization—is anotherway adults can participate in civic and communitylife. Adults may volunteer only occasionally, such asworking at a fair in a school or making phone callsto raise funds for a nonprofit group, or they may vol-unteer regularly, such as coaching a community orchurch sports team or serving as an unpaid memberof the board of a nonprofit organization.

Figure 6-3. Percentage of adults who got information about current events, public affairs, and the government

from each of the following sources: family members, friends, or coworkers, radio and television, by





Family, friends, or coworkers



0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

21

24

33

23

10

25

42

23

6

29

44

21

4

34

44

18

Radio and television



0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

5

14

26

56

2

9

27

62

17

30

62

1

9

32

58

None A little Some A lot

15 Document results are in appendix C.

77


The percentages of adults who volunteered once aweek or more were higher in each prose and docu-ment literacy level than in the next lower level (fig-ure 6-4).Twenty-five percent of adults with Proficientprose literacy reported volunteering once a week ormore during the previous year compared with 20percent of adults with Intermediate prose literacy, 15percent of adults with Basic prose literacy, and 10 per-cent of adults with Below Basic prose literacy.Conversely, higher percentages of adults with lowerlevels of literacy than adults with higher levels of lit-eracy reported that they did not volunteer at all dur-ing the previous year. Eighty-three percent of adultswith Below Basic prose literacy did not volunteer dur-ing the previous year compared with 69 percent ofadults with Basic prose literacy, 55 percent of adultswith Intermediate prose literacy, and 43 percent ofadults with Proficient prose literacy.

Online Communities

Communicating with neighbors and other individu-als in a community on issues of common interest andconcern has traditionally been a key aspect of com-munity involvement.These types of communicationshave increasingly been conducted on the Internet andthrough e-mail, making it easier for online commu-nities to develop among people who share commoninterests and concerns. Higher percentages of adultswith high levels of prose and document literacy thanadults with lower levels of literacy sent and receivede-mail or used the Internet, two activities generallyrequired for participating in online communities (fig-ures 6-5 and 6-6).

Eighty percent of adults with Below Basic prose liter-acy reported that in the year prior to the 2003

Figure 6-4. Percentage of adults who volunteered during the past year, by prose and document literacy level:

2003




Prose

Never Less than once a week Once a week or more

Document

82

9

69

16

57

24

47

29

83

8

69

16

55

25

43

32

Percent did not volunteer

Percent volunteered

Percent did not volunteer

Percent volunteered

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

1014

1924

10

15

2025

assessment, they did not send or receive any e-mailcompared with 52 percent of adults with Basic proseliteracy, 24 percent of adults with Intermediate proseliteracy, and 8 percent of adults with Proficient proseliteracy (figure 6-5). Sixty-seven percent of adultswith Proficient prose literacy reported sending orreceiving an e-mail message at least once a day com-pared with 48 percent of adults with Intermediateprose literacy, 24 percent of adults with Basic proseliteracy, and 8 percent of adults with Below Basicprose literacy.

Additionally, lower percentages of adults with lowlevels of prose and document literacy than adultswith higher levels of literacy used the Internet (fig-ures 6-5 and 6-6). Seventy-seven percent of adultswith Below Basic prose literacy did not use theInternet in the year prior to the 2003 adult literacyassessment compared with 46 percent of adults with

Basic prose literacy, 20 percent of adults withIntermediate prose literacy, and 6 percent of adultswith Proficient prose literacy (figure 6-5).Almost halfof adults with Proficient prose literacy used theInternet every day in the year prior to the 2003 adultliteracy assessment compared with 35 percent ofadults with Intermediate prose literacy, 20 percent ofadults with Basic prose literacy, and 7 percent ofadults with Below Basic prose literacy (figure 6-6).

Summary

This chapter examined how American adults withdifferent levels of prose and document literacy par-ticipated in community and civic affairs.

Among U.S. citizens of voting age, the percentage ofadults who voted in the 2000 presidential electionwas higher in each prose and document literacy levelthan in the next lower level.

78


Figure 6-5. Percentage of adults who sent or received e-mail messages and found information on the Internet,

by prose literacy level: 2003

E-mail Internet

Less than once a week Never Once a week A few times a week Every day

7

1422 24

11 1415

77

6

46

14

20

14 11

80

52

9

24

1086

6

24

Percent never use e-mail

Percent use e-mail

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

Percent not online

Percent online

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

3

7 7

20

8

35

9

49

4358 5 5

48

4

67




Lower percentages of adults with low levels of proseand document literacy than adults with higher levelsof literacy obtained information about currentevents, public affairs, and the government from avariety of print and nonprint sources. Lower per-centages of adults with Below Basic prose and docu-ment literacy than other adults reported reading anyinformation about current events, public affairs, andthe government in newspapers, magazines, books, orbrochures or on the Internet; they were also less like-ly to obtain information about these topics fromnonprint sources, including family members, friends,or coworkers and radio and television. Additionally,lower percentages of adults with Below Basic, Basic, orIntermediate levels of prose literacy got informationabout current events, public affairs, and the govern-ment from the Internet than from other written

sources.There was no measurable differences in thepercentages of adults with Proficient prose literacywho got information from the Internet and maga-zines, and a higher percentage of adults with Proficientprose literacy got information from the Internet thanfrom books or brochures.

Adults with higher levels of prose and documentliteracy volunteered more frequently than adultswith lower levels of literacy: the percentage ofadults who volunteered once a week or more dur-ing the previous year was higher at each increasinglevel of literacy. Adults with higher levels of proseand document literacy were also more likely to sendand receive e-mail or use the Internet—two activi-ties generally required for participating in onlinecommunities.

79



by document literacy level: 2003

E-mail Internet

Less than once a week Never Once a week A few times a week Every day

7

1420 26

82

55

9

26

1096

79

6

50

12

21

15

8

12

1014

16


Percent use e-mail

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

Percent not online

Percent online

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

4

22

5

46

4

65

3

66

18

9

35

9

46

4258



SOURCE:U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy.

80



by quantitative literacy level: 2003

69

3618

8

74

41

219

85

99

14

8

18

25

15

9

22

37

108

25

50

63610

115

12

32

95

15

51

5314

69

E-mail Internet

Less than once a week NeverOnce a weekA few times a weekEvery day


Percent use e-mail

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level

Percent not online

Percentonline

0

20

20

40

40

60

60

80

80

100


Literacy level



SOURCE: U.S.Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy.

Documents

Education and Literacy · (table 3-1).Between 1992 and 2003,the percentage of adults who did not have a high school diploma but were not still in school declined by 6 percentage points,