Literacy in America

LITERACY IN AMERICA 93 MILLION ADULTS in the country have extremely Limited or limited reading and quantitative skills 30 MILLION American adults read at a below basic level No more than the most simple and concrete titeracy skills. 63 million American adults read at a basic Level Can perform simple and everyday literacy activities. LITERACY AND EMPLOYMENT 8.6% increase in EMPLOYEES PRODUCTIVITY for each additional year of schooling Those who have a skill level of a typical high school dropout qualify for only 34.1% 10% OF ALL NEW JOBS of job applicants Lack Ehe Literacy skills needed to do the job they seek Isabel improved her reading scores from a 4.5 GLE (grade-level equivalent) to a 9.3 GLE, retained her job, and passed the test to become a U.S. citizen ISABEL 54 LITERACY AFFECTS WELFARE & POVERTY Adults who have literacy problems or who have dropped out of high school are much more likely to live in poverty or on welfare. 70% 47% 43% of adult welfare recipients have Low Level Literacy of adult welfare recipients of adults with very Low Literacy skills Live in povèrty from high school skills Once adults attended Literacy programs their earning increased. Simon couldn't wrestle in college because he couldn't qualify academically-his reading scores have improved from a 3 GLE to a 6.9 GLE in just 8 months SIMON 25 LITERACY AND HEALTH INDIVIDUALS WITH LOW LITERACY SKILLS ARE: Less likely to get their Blood pressure checked Less Likely to have a Fire extinguisher Less likely to have a first aid kit Less likely to make informed decisions regarding treatment Less Likely to have access to health care Valerie's mother had to fill out her first job application. Valerie weighed 300 pounds and worked long hours on an assembly line when she began work with Project Read. She now works office jobs on a computer and has lost over 180 pounds because she was able to read the literature for a 12-step weight-loss program and food labels. VALERIE 50 Individuals with Low Literacy skills have an average annual heaLth care cost of about $13,000 compared with the average of about $3,000 Troy, was a High School graduate, yet couldn't read the most simple book. He improved his scores and passed the tests to become a pilot, general contractor, and insurance salesman. Now he runs his own business and has donated over $13K to Project Read TROY 30 LITERACY CHANGES LIVES. SOURCES • http://blog.writeathome.com/index.php/2011/06/couldnt-resist-one-more-education-infographic-illiteracy/ • http://begintoread.com/research/iteracystatistics.html • http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acs-14.pdf • http://nces.ed.gov/naal/estimates/State Estimates.aspx • http://www.livescience.com/3211-14-percent-adults-read.html • http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_lit_tot_pop-education-literacy-total-population • http://www.proliteracy.org/page.aspx?pid=345 • http://www.readfaster.com/education_stats.asp • http://www.usd376.com/gs/staff/humphreysl/iliteracy.htm PROJECT READ I Changing Lives Through Literacy