Facts About Literacy
(Courtesy of California Literacy, Inc.)
Illiteracy contributes to every major social problem facing our cities, counties, state, and nation:
According to the recent National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), as may as 93 million people need some kind literacy service. These adults include parents, out-of-school youth, recent immigrants, the unemployed and underemployed, and incarcerated individuals. They do not have the basic tools they need to succeed in modern America.
14% of these people, or 30 million, are at-risk adults. They are categorized by the NAAL as "below basic." This group includes individuals with few basic literacy skills, including those who have great difficulty reading and are both poorly skilled and unable to read and understand any written information in English.
Another 29 % percent of the population, or 63 million adults can read, but not well. They are only able to understand materials that are simply written and clearly articulated.
Currently, adult education programs are serving only 3 million people. The NAAL gives a very stark picture of the challenges we must tackle.
But illiteracy is also a problem with a solution.