Are we having a U.S. literacy crisis?
Accept the challenge of these 14 questions to check your literacy awareness.

1. According to statistics on front page newspaper articles in September, 1993, reporting on "the most comprehensive literacy study ever done by the U.S. government," what percentage of U.S. adults "read and write so poorly that it is difficult for them to hold an above-poverty-level-wage job."?
   17%27%37%47%
2. In a 1998 study of job applicants to major U.S. firms by the American Management Association, what percentage of applicants "lacked sufficient reading and math skills to do the job they sought"?
   16%26%36%46%
3. According to the most extensive and statistically accurate study of U.S. adult literacy ever commissioned by the federal government, what percentage of employees in U.S. businesses is functionally illiterate?
   10%20%30%40%50%
4. The average U.S. taxpayer pays at least what amount each year for (1) increased taxes for government programs that illiterates use, (2) increased taxes to pay for police, court, and jail or prison costs directly related to truancy, juvenile delinquency, or crimes committed by illiterates, and (3) increased costs for consumer goods because of the cost of recruiting, training in basics that should have been learned in school, prevention of mistakes and correction of mistakes and inabilities of illiterates in the U.S. work force?
   $1700$2700$3700$4700
5. An October 28-31, 1998, poll by Pew Research Center asked the importance of various national issues to those polled. More people chose education as "very important" than any other national issue. What percentage of people named education as "very important"?
   58%68%78%88%
6. What was the ranking of the U.S. in international competition with 20 other nations in science and math as reported in newspapers on February 25, 1998?
   1st7th13th19th
7. U.S. Department of Education figures from December 1995 show that what percentage of inmates in U.S. prisons are functionally illiterate?
   45%55%65%75%
8. In a July 5, 1990 report in The Washington Times, Albert Shanker, President, American Federation of Teachers, is quoted as saying that what percentage of "the kids who go to college in the United States would not be admitted to college anywhere else in the world."?
   65%75%85%95%
9. According to a Washington Post article on Nov. 25, 1982 and a Foundation News report, Jan./Feb. 1983, what was the U.S. literacy ranking among the 158 nations of the U.N. (in 1983)? (The answer, which follows, shows a more recent comparison of worldwide literacy—facts hard to put into question form.)
   9th19th29th39th49th
10. According to Carmen Hunter's and David Harman's book, Adult Literacy in the United States, published in 1985, what percentage of adult illiterates complete enough training after leaving elementary or high school to achieve the equivalent of eighth grade reading ability?
    0.6%1.6%11.6%21.6%31.6%
11. According to a February 21, 1988 newspaper report, the number of functionally illiterate adults is growing by how many every year?
    1 million1.5 million2 million2.5 million3 or more million
12. Frank Laubach taught adults to read in 300 languages. He found that in 295 languages other than English (95% of them), his students could learn to read fluently in what period of time?
    less than 3 monthsless than 6 monthsless than 9 monthsless than 12 monthsless than 24 months
13. What is the average amount of time required for those who learn to read well enough in U.S. schools to become functionally literate?
    3 to 6 monhs6 to 9 months9 to 12 months1 to 1-1/2 years1-1/2 to 2 years2 to 4 years
14. Following the April 6, 1983 Nation At Risk report there "was a movement to raise standards, improve schools and hold educators and students accountable for academic performance" according to Fredreka Schouten of Gannet News Service. Ms. Schouten studied the results of twenty years of improvement effort following the Nation At Risk report. Her study was reported in newspapers on April 20, 2003. The following is a list of items that she may or may not have included in her report. If you think that any part of one or more of these items were NOT included in her report, click False below. Otherwise click True.
    1. More than one third of college freshmen and sophomores in the 1999-2000 school year had taken at least one remedial class in college.
    2. Reading scores of 9-year-olds are flat (essentially unchanged since 1983).
    3. High school seniors recently ranked near the bottom in a 23 nation comparison of math and science scores.
    4. Almost 60% of high school seniors scored below basic levels in recent U.S. history tests.
    5. Average scores on the verbal portion of SAT college entrance tests were 503 in 1983 and 504 in 2002.
    6. Average ACT college entrance tests were 19.9 in 1983 and 20.5 in 2002.
    7. Manufacturers recently claimed that about half of their employee training costs are for remedial work.
    8. Seventy-eight percent of high school teachers presently believe high school graduates have the skills needed to succeed in the workplace.
    9. Forty-one percent of employers presently believe high school graduates have the skills they need to succeed in the workplace.
    10. Forty-seven percent of college professors believe high school graduates are ready for college.
    True False

Answers

1. The "Adult Literacy in America" study initiated by Congress in 1988 and reported upon in1993 was a $14 million 5-year study by the National Assessment Governing Board in conjunction with the National Center for Educational Statistics "based upon lengthy interviews with 26,000 adults [from 16 to 65 years old] in a dozen states." "They used careful demographic sampling with accurate proportions of males and females, all ethnic and racial groups, and balanced for geographic location (urban, inner city, rural, etc.)." They used an innovative and objective way to measure functional literacy, the ability to use reading skill to perform the normal activities of modern life. The Educational Testing Service ensured that all interviewees were also monitored by outside testers. "Strict guidelines were set up for scoring responses, and data analysis was done by trained specialists at a central location. All test items were secured, and no school had access to any of them or even samples of them." They reported in 1993 that 92 million Americans, over 47 % of adults, "read and write so poorly that it is difficult for them to hold an above-poverty-level-wage job."
   Source: (1) Mary Jordan, writer for The Washington Post, "Nearly Half of Adults in America Lack Necessary Skills, Study Says," The Salt Lake Tribune, September 9, 1993, p. A1, col. 2-3. (2) Diane McGuinness, Ph.D., Why Our Children Can't Read (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997), pp. 7-10. (3) http://nces.ed.gov/pubs93/93275.pdf, a free, downloadable government report.
2. The American Management Association, a not-for-profit provider of management training based in New York, reported that the overall failure rate of job applicants to meet the minimum job requirement for the job they sought for the 1990s (until 1996, the year of the report) was 36.3%.
   Source: Associated Press, "Job Seekers Can't Read Or Do Math," The Salt Lake Tribune, May 8, 1996, p. B12, col. 4-5.
3. The Literacy in the Labor Force report proved that more than 40% of employees in U.S. businesses are functionally illiterate. Source: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs99/1999479.pdf.
4. Jonathan Kozol's book, Illiterate America, updated with more recent newspaper articles show that illiteracy cost the average taxpayer at least $3700 each year. This is made up of at least $100 billion for government programs providing services for illiterates and at least $200 billion for the higher consumer costs as a result of illiterates in the workplace each year, giving a total of at least $300 billion each year. At least 30% of the $450 billion annual cost of crime in the U.S. (which does not include the cost of running prisons, jails, and the probation and parole system, which would probably add another $40 billion) can be directly attributed to illiteracy, adding another $135 billion. A total of $435 ($300 billion plus $135 billion) divided by 117.6 million persons in the labor market in December 1990, the latest readily available figure, results in at least $3700 per taxpayer each year.
   Source: (1) Jonathan Kozol, Illiterate America (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1985), various places throughout the book, as summarized on the back jacket cover (2) The Washington Post, "Illiteracy 'Crisis' Scares U.S. Executives," Salt Lake Tribune, October 8, 1995, p. F8, col. 1-2 (3) Anne C. Lewis, special to The Baltimore Sun, "Press Misses Scary Story In Failing to Cover Literacy Adequately," The Salt Lake Tribune, September 14, 1989, p. A17, col. 2-3 (4) Associated Press, "U.S. Crime's Price Tag Runs $450 Billion a Year," The Salt Lake Tribune, April 23, 1996, p. A7.
5. The Pew Research Center poll showed that 88% of those polled considered education "very important." A 1993 magazine poll showed that "63% of Americans rate the quality of public education as poor or fair." A recent newspaper article said that parents seemed "desperate," sometimes standing in line all night to get their children enrolled in an elementary school that they thought would be better.
   Source: (1) Pew Research Center poll, October 28-31, 1998 (2) Mark Clements, "What's Wrong With Our Schools," Parade Magazine, May 16, 1993, p. 4 (3) Richard Whitmire, for Gannett News Service, "Parents in 90s Desperate About Quality Education," The Salt Lake Tribune, April 7, 1996, p. A10, col. 1-2.
6. The U.S. high school students ranked 19th in international science and math competition with 20 other industrial nations, exceeding only Cyprus and South Africa. Asian nations were not included in the competition; if Asian nations such as Japan, Korea, and Taiwan had been included, the U.S. ranking would undoubtedly have been worse than it was.
   Source: Prime-time major network news coverage on February 25, 1998.
7. U.S. Department of Education figures show that "75% of prison inmates and 85% of juveniles in correctional facilities are functionally illiterate." This compares to 47% of all adults in the U.S. who are functionally illiterate, as shown in question 1.
   Source: Taylor Syphus, "He's Learning to Read, " The Salt Lake Tribune, December 16, 1995, pp.E1 and E10.
8. Albert Shanker stated, "Ninety-five percent of the kids who go to college in the United States would not be admitted to college anywhere else in the world."
   Source: Carol Innerst, "Schools 'Really Bad' Says AFT Leader," The Washington Times, July 6, 1990 as quoted in Dr. Bill Bennett's book The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), p. 89, an excellent source for educational and other measures of America's social problems.
9. The U.S. ranked 49th among 158 U.N. nations in 1983. More recent direct comparisons are not readily available, but a more recent comparison is available by comparing the above stated 47% illiteracy rate (or a 53% literacy rate) with the international literacy rate of 72%. It may well be that the evaluation criteria used in the international study was less rigorous that the U.S. study, but it should be noted that many other nations do not have mandatory elementary school education as does the U.S., and a much smaller percentage of the population in many nations have enough education to achieve literacy. Furthermore, many nations do not try to ensure that every student can graduate from elementary school, as the U.S. does. As a result, the "best and brightest" in many nations receive an education; the others "flunk out."
   Source: (1) Jonathan Kozol's book, Illiterate America, pp. 5 and 226, which quotes The Washington Post and Foundation News articles mentioned in the question on the previous page (2) "Numbers," Time magazine, July 26, 1999, p. 17.
10. Less than 4% of adult illiterates enroll in any of the government and private literacy programs. Only 15% of adult illiterates who enroll in literacy programs complete the eighth grade. The percentage of all adult illiterates who achieve eighth grade reading ability is about 0.04 times 0.15 or 0.6%.
    Source: (1) Kozol's book Illiterate America, p. 5 (2) Carmen Hunter's and David Harman's book Adult Literacy in the United States (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1985), p. 165.
11. It has been pointed out that two million students drop out of school or graduate every year who cannot even read whatever diploma they may receive, and less than one percent of them ever become proficient readers after leaving school, as question 9 shows.
    Source: Rick Gladstone, Associated Press writer, "Reading Writing on the Wall? America May Face Literacy Crisis," The Salt Lake Tribune, February 21, 1988, p. F4, col. 1.
12. Frank Laubach stated in his books that students of 95% of the languages in which he taught became fluent readers in less than three months. Source: (1) Frank C. Laubach, Forty Years With the Silent Billion, pp. 36 and 478. (2) Sanford S. Silverman, Spelling for the 21st Century, p. v.
13. It takes most of our students who learn to read well enough to become functionally literate two to four years! Source: Rudolph Flesch, Why Johnny Can't Read, pp. 76-77.
14. All of the items were included in Ms. Schoutten's report. Source: Fredreka Schouten, for Gannett News Service, " 'At Risk' Report 20 Years Later," The Salt Lake Tribune, April 20, 2003, p. A13.