Adult Illiteracy in America
Few people realize the prevalence of adult illiteracy in the United States. According to a 1993 study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education - entitled the National Adult Literacy Survey and updated in 1998 - one out of five adults in America reads below the fifth grade level. The study further revealed that nearly half the adult population is condemned to poor earnings and limited opportunities because of insufficient skills. Also, more than fourteen million U. S. workers read below the fourth grade level. One fourth of all students in the United States lack a high school diploma. Nearly 60% of prison inmates are dropouts. Indeed the relationship between illiteracy and

other social indicators such as poverty, employment, crime and health is firmly established in the Department of Education study.

The impact and the cost to our quality of life is indeed overwhelming. Business and industry lose billions of dollars each year in diminished productivity. Those who cannot secure sustainable employment for lack of basic skills cost the economy because they cannot purchase goods and services or pay taxes. Furthermore, children of parents who do not have a basic education are severely disadvantaged when they enter school - they are twice as likely to leave school before

graduating.

The cost of adult illiteracy to society is indeed great; but to the individual who cannot read it is even greater. Imagine not being able to read a menu, bus schedule, tax return, a child's report card, or traffic signs. For thousands of people in our community that is a reality.

Project: LEARN is here to help people alter that reality: permanently and for the better. We give them a chance to build their skills so that their lives become more enriched by their own independence. Former Project: LEARN student, Carl Bell, put it best when he said:

Before I came to Project: LEARN I didn't feel I was worth anything. Now that I can read I'm worth something to myself, and I can be worth something to somebody else. Project: LEARN gave me my life back.

For more detailed information on adult literacy contact the National Institute for Literacy at www.nifl.gov/.

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This site was last updated on Saturday, December 16, 2006.

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