Facts

NATIONAL LITERACY

• More than 90 million adults (51%) function at the two lowest levels of literacy (reading at or below a fifth-grade level) -- far below the level needed to earn a living wage (According to the National Adult Literacy Survey).

• Fewer than 10 percent of adults without a high school diploma or GED enrolled in adult basic education programs in 1996. Adult learners participate in literacy programs offered by the following:
  • 60% Local Education Agencies
  • 15% Community Colleges
  • 14% Community-Based Organizations
  • 7% Public and Private Non-Profits
  • 4% Correctional Facilities

• English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) is the fastest growing area of the adult basic education system. Nearly 32 million people in the U. S. speak languages other than English -- a 38 percent increase since 1980.

• Nationally, there is not enough space in programs to serve everyone who wants to learn English. Most cities have waiting lists of several months to several years, and some rural areas have no available classes.

• " Approximately 300,000 Greater Hartford adults, or roughly 41% of the adult population, ages 16 and above, are functioning within the lowest two of five literacy levels. This is the same as the state's average, and slightly lower than the national average of 49%. These individuals would have problems filling out a job application or following an ATM screen (National Adult Literacy Survey).

  Population of adults performing at the lowest literacy level:

  • Hartford 41%
  • New Britain 26%
  • Bloomfield 25%
  • East Hartford 18%
  • Wethersfield 18%
  • Windsor 18%

• Throughout the Greater Hartford region, nearly half (48%) of tenth grade students performed below the state goal on the Connecticut Academic Performance Test in reading. For example, in Hartford 91% were below state goal, in Bloomfield 70%, in New Britain 73%, and in Windsor 64%. Likewise, just under half (46%) of the state's fourth graders did not meet proficiency goals in language arts (CT Department of Education 2003/2004).

• A mother's literacy level is one of the most significant predictors of a child's future literacy ability - more significant than income level and employment status (Pennsylvania State Literacy Survey, Adult Literacy in Pennsylvania, Education Testing Service, 1995).

• Programs intended to improve the literacy levels of children often find that other family members are also in need of literacy services (GHLC Task Forces).

• Children of adults who participate in literacy programs improve their grades and test scores, improve their reading skills, and are less likely to drop out of school (National Institute for Literacy- NIFL).

• Over $60 billion lost in productivity each year by American businesses due to employees' lack of basic skills (NIFL).

• 38% of job applicants tested for basic reading and math skills in 1999 were deficient in those skills, up from 22% in 1997 (American Management Association 2001).

• Almost 50 percent of adults on welfare do not have a high school diploma or GED (NIFL).

• 43% of people with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty, 17% receive food stamps, and 70% have no job or a part-time job (NIFL).

• $73 billion annually is the burden on the national health care system due to low health literacy (American Medical Association).

• Approximately 90 million Americans experience difficulties in accessing healthcare systems and healthcare information (Pfizer Health Literacy Initiative).

• 70% of prisoners function at the bottom two of five literacy levels (NALS).

• More than one-third of all juvenile offenders confined to correctional facilities read below the fourth-grade level (Open Society Institute: Criminal Justice Initiative).

• Completing an educational program during a period of incarceration is positively related to recidivism. 49.04% of those receiving no educational programming while incarcerated were reincarcerated, while only 20.17% of those completing educational programming were reincarcerated (Virginia Dept. of Corrections, 2000).

• In the 1998 congressional elections, college graduates ages 25-44, were 77% more likely than high school graduates of the same age group to vote. High school dropouts in the same age range were 52% less likely than high school graduates to vote (U.S. Department of Education, The Condition of Education, 2000).

• Studies show that as many as 61% of low-income families have no books at all in their homes for their children. While low-income children have - on average - roughly four children's books in their homes, a team of researchers have concluded that nearly two thirds of the low-income families they studied owned no books for their children (Reading Literacy in the United States, 1996).

• One recent report funded by the Packard and MacArthur Foundations found that the average child growing up in a middle class family has been exposed to 1,000 to 1,700 hours of one-on-one picture book reading before entering school. The average child growing up in a low-income family, however, has only been exposed to 25 hours of one-on-one reading during this same time period.

• According to the Literacy Council's Need for Books Survey of area literacy programs, more than 15,000 books for infants through adults were needed to meet the demand in 20 area programs in 2003 alone.

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