“Current funding provides three million adults with the help they need to improve their ability to read, write, and do math, or to learn English. But there are 30 million adults in the U.S. who need these services, as shown by the National Assessment of Adult Literacy,” Harvey said. “Almost all of ProLiteracy’s 1,200 local member literacy programs in the U.S. report waiting lists. Our member programs desperately need a funding increase through WIA Title II to serve these additional students.

Harvey estimated that a $25 million increase in Title II funding would make it possible for as many as 30,000 more adults to access basic reading, writing, math, and English-as-a-second language services.

Harvey told lawmakers that an investment in adult basic education programs is an investment in the U.S. workforce and the country’s ability to remain competitive globally.

“I recently joined ProLiteracy Worldwide as the organization’s new President and CEO because I could no longer stand to see America ignoring the implications of adult illiteracy here at home,” Harvey said. He pointed to reports that indicate people need at least some college education to function in most of the fastest-growing jobs. “I would think the fact that 14 percent of our population struggles to understand a simple newspaper article and can barely use a TV guide would be all the encouragement Congress needs to support additional funding for programs working to change this situation,” he said.

Adults who improve their reading, writing, math, and English-speaking skills become better able to take care of their families; their health improves, and “They also become more involved in their children’s education, a key factor in breaking the low literacy cycle,” Harvey noted.

David C. Harvey
President and CEO

Here is the list of media coverage found by ProLiteracy Worldwide. Many of the links to these articles are no longer available; however, you can search the individual publication's archives for copies of some articles. ProLiteracy Worldwide has hard copies of the articles and can provide a copy via fax if required.

12/15/2005:
· “Austin's literacy rate high, but not 100 percent” News8 Austin (TX)
· “Study: 11m U.S. Adults Can't Read English” The Daily Northern Virginia
· “Missouri Adults Stand Out on New National Assessment of Literacy” Missouri Dept. Elementary & Secondary Education
· “Study: 11m U.S. Adults Can't Read English” SFGate (San Francisco)
· “ALA responds to national adult literacy study” ALA Media Relations, Larra Clark
· “Family Literacy Program Targeting Hispanics Prove Successful” Louisville, KY Hispanic Business
· “New Report on Adult Literacy Levels Shows Need for High School Reform” www.Ed.gov, Washington D.C.
· “Study: 11m U.S. Adults Can't Read English” Washington Post
· “Federal Report finds mixed results on Adult Literacy” Education Week
· “Study: 11 Million in U.S. Illiterate in English” Fox News
· “Study: 1 in 20 Can't Read English” CBS News
· “Report Touts Hispanic Financial Counseling” Newsday
· “Study: 11m U.S. Adults Can't Read English” Newsday
· “No advances made in adult literacy, study says” CNN
· “Study Shows Millions of American Adults Continue to Lack Basic Literacy Skills” Florida Literacy Coalition

12/16/2005:
· “Report: Bay State scores higher in literacy” MetroWest Daily News (MA)
· “Importing Illiteracy?” Investors Business Daily
· “Adult literacy levels in America aren't increasing, a study finds” St. Louis Post Dispatch
· “11 million in U.S. can't read English” Pittsburgh Post Gazette
· “U.S. study finds puzzling stagnation in English literacy” Philadelphia Inquirer
· “Hispanic literacy in U.S. shows troubling signs” Houston Chronicle
· “1 in 20 U.S. adults can't understand this: NJ Star Ledger
· “Study: 11million adults in the US lack English Skills to do basic tasks” The Seattle Times
· “No improvement seen in adult literacy Federal study finds” The Boston Globe
· “11 million adults in U.S. not literate in English” Chicago Sun-Times
· “1 in 20 Americans is Not Literate, a National Survey Suggests” LA Times
· “Better educated but less literate” Baltimore Sun
· “Study: 11m U.S. Adults Can't Read English” Salon Media Group San Francisco
· “Literacy Findings” The Standard-Times, Southcoast Today
· “Troubling Numbers on literacy” 6 News WLNS (Lansing, MI)
· “Study: Millions not literate in English” Detroit Free Press
· “U.S. Literacy Rate is little changed from 1992” Wall Street Journal
· “Literacy Falls for Graduates from College, testing finds” NY Times
· “Survey finds 1 in 20 lack basic English skills” USA Today
· “11 million Adults Illiterate, Study Shows” ABC news
· “11 million U.S. adults can't read in English” The Buffalo News
· “Millions in U.S. can barely read English” Montgomery Adviser
· “Graduated but not Literate” Inside Higher Ed
· “See Spot run' befuddles fewer Americans” The Christian Science Monitor
· “Illiteracy remains a problem in the U.S.” Madison, WI
· “No Improvement in Americans Literacy, Officials Report” Axcess News Washington D.C.
· “Study Finds Literacy Rates NOT Improving” WZZM 13 ABC
· “NCES Study Shows 11 Million Adults Nonliterate in English” American Library Association

12/17/2005:
· “If you can read this, there's a future 4 u” The Indianapolis Star editorial

12/18/05:
· “Report: Hispanics lag behind in literacy” The Advocate (CT)
· “College graduates’ cognitive skills sink” The Detroit News

12/19/2005:
· “And low reading scores for the adults, too” Journal & Courier (IN)
· “Study: 23 million adults in U.S. can't read” The News Journal (DE)
· “Missouri Adults Stand Out on New National Assessment of Literacy” infoZine
· “Illiterate” The Post & Courier, Charleston (SC)
· “Study: Degrees Up, Skills Down” The Cincinnati Post
· “Low US literacy rate costs billions” The Financial Express (Bloomberg)
· “A question of Literacy” Lompo Record
· “Erosion of literacy in America must be tackled and reversed” Morning Journal, Cleveland

12/21/05:
· “How Should the Scale of Need for Adult Literacy Provision be Determined?” NALD
· “NCES releases results of adult literacy survey” Kingsport Times-News (TN)
· “Nashville Group Battling to Improve Staggering Illiteracy Rate” Newschannel 5, Nashville
· “Many N.Y. Grads Can't Read This” NY Post
· Adult Literacy radio forum broadcast on KQED, Public Broadcasting Northern California: click here for KQED
· “Literacy Levels of Kentucky Adults Comparable to Those in Other States, Study Says” ChallengerNKY.com (KY)

12/22/05:
· “Family Literacy Programs Targeting Hispanics Prove Successful While Bridging the Learning Gap Still Needs Concerted Effort, Attention” National Center for Family Literacy
· “NAAL Reports find 30 Millions Adults At ‘Below Basic’ Levels of Literacy” Report on Literacy Programs

12/25/05:
· “Literacy of College Graduates is on Decline” Washington Post

ProLiteracy Letter to the Editor: NAAL Survey Results Suggest Major Challenge to Country (12/22)

The release of the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) on Dec. 15, 2005 and its news that the literacy skills of adults in the U.S. have not changed in ten years was not encouraging.

We should not be complacent about the fact that adults’ ability to read, write, and do math in English is no worse than the last time they were tested. In 10 years literacy rates in this country may have stayed the same but the world around us has not stood still. Managing the increased complexities of economic, social, and political life in the U.S. requires greater literacy skills, not less nor the same as ten years ago.

The NAAL showed that 14% of the individuals age 16 and over in this country — some 30 million individuals — read so poorly, they could not calculate a five cent per gallon deduction on a heating oil bill. They had difficulty filling in the name and address on a certified mail receipt. Adults at the bottom of this below basic literacy level could not even find a straightforward piece of information in a very simple pamphlet. Difficulties with these tasks can be explained for the 7 million individuals in this group for whom English is not their native language, but that leaves some 19 million English speakers who exhibit no more than the simplest literacy skills.

We also should not be content with the fact that 63 million adults fall into the basic literacy category. While adults in this category were able to find simple facts in a newspaper article, they had difficulty understanding articles about differing political systems and evaluating information in legal documents. And less than one-third of all individuals tested could use the math skills taught in third and fourth grade to compute gas mileage since a previous fill-up.

How can we expect our citizens to be informed voters when they cannot compare and contrast news articles about different political systems or make well-reasoned decisions as jurors when they don’t understand legal documents? How can we expect them, as parents, to oversee the education of their children when they themselves cannot solve the simplest of math problems? How can we expect them to find jobs that pay them enough to support their families unassisted when they can’t read well enough to fill out an application? How can we expect the U.S. to maintain a competitive position in the global marketplace if employers can’t find adequately educated unskilled labor, not to mention the engineers and scientists they currently seek? We cannot and we must not!

If the U.S. is to remain competitive in the increasingly globalized economy, if we are to ensure stable and responsive government, and if we expect to leave no child behind in education, we cannot afford to leave behind a substantial number of adults either.

The NAAL survey results suggest a major challenge to our country. National education policies need to be consistent with the economic, social, and political needs of our population. How we accomplish this should be at the top of our national agenda.

Robert Wedgeworth
President and CEO
ProLiteracy Worldwide

Note: ProLiteracy Worldwide is the largest organization of community-based adult literacy programs in the world. Its 1,200 affiliates provide one-on-one and small group instruction to adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

See the Proliteracy Worldwide website for more current literacy news:  http://www.proliteracy.org.

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