Arizona Department of Education

Tom Horne, Superintendent of Public Instruction

     ► FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ADULT LITERACY

·       The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) report estimates the number of adults in the U.S. in the below basic literacy category to be 14%, or 30 million people.

 ·        In Arizona , 819,000 adults (20.4%) do not have a high school diploma or GED; 246,168 adults  (4%) cannot communicate effectively in the English language.[1]

 ·        Only 13% of out-of-school youth are employed. 25% of high school dropouts have received    taxpayer supported public assistance compared to 10% of high school graduates.[2]

 ·        80% of the fastest growing jobs in the U.S. require some post-secondary education.[3]

 ·        More than 40% of the U.S. workforce and more than 50% of high school graduates do not have the basic skills for employment.[4]

 ·        American business spends $16.6 billion each year on employees who lack basic skills for   employment.[5]

 ·        Individuals with low literacy skills have a higher rate of hospitalization and increased incidents   of medication and treatment errors than the general public.[6]

 ·        The health care industry estimates $73 billion per year of unnecessary health care expenses attributable to poor literacy.[7]

 ·        Children whose parents have low literacy skills are more likely to become adults with low  literacy skills than children whose parents are good readers.[8]

 ·        Parents enrolled in basic literacy programs participate in school activities and support their children’s success in school more, and their children’s school achievement improves.[9]

 ·        A rise of just one percent in a nation’s literacy scores yields a 2.5% increase in labor productivity    and a 1.5% increase in GDP per person. These raw numbers mean a real improvement in quality  of life.[10]