MEASURES AND LEVELS OF LITERACY

Literacy, as defined in the 1991 National Literacy Act, refers to:

An individual's ability to read, write, and speak in English, and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one's goals, and develop one's knowledge and potential.

For the NALS survey, literacy was defined as involving three sets of skills: Prose literacy is the ability to understand and use information from texts; Document literacy refers to the ability to locate and use information from such materials as job applications, bus schedules, and tables; and Quantitative literacy refers to the ability to do arithmetic calculations. Literacy levels from this study are presented as ranging from Level 1 (lowest) to Level 5 (highest).

In Hartford, it is estimated that 41% of the population, aged 16 and over, fall into Level 1, the lowest level of literacy; and, another 32% fall into Level 2. These estimates of literacy rates show that considerably more Hartford residents are in these two lower levels of literacy than in Connecticut as a whole and in the nation:

	LEVEL 1	LEVEL 2	TOTAL
HARTFORD	41%	32%	73%
CONNECTICUT	16%	25%	41%
NATION	22%	27%	49%

According to the survey, adults at Level 1 (estimated to be approximately 40,000 people in Hartford) function within a fairly wide range of literacy skills. Some would be able to perform none or very few of the tasks associated with Level 1, whereas others would be able to perform simple, routine tasks such as filling out a deposit slip, locating information on a flyer, and identifying a piece of information in a brief news article. Those who cannot speak or read English, but may be proficient in another language, are included in this lowest category, as are those who, for other physical, mental, or health reasons, would be unable to perform the tasks.

Survey results indicate that adults at Level 2 (estimated to be approximately 31,000 people in Hartford) would be likely to be able to succeed at such tasks as underlining the meaning of a term in a brochure, locating two types of information in an article, identifying and entering information on an application, and determining the difference between two prices. But, individuals at Level 2 are not likely to succeed at the tasks of Level 3: the ability to write a brief letter, find information in a bar graph, or calculate miles per gallon using information from a mileage record chart, for example.

People at Level 2, as well as those at Level 1, are lacking the higher-level reading ability and problem-solving skills judged to be necessary for functioning in today's economy and society.

For more information, contact the Greater Hartford Literacy Council 860-522-7323 or go to the National Institute for Literacy web site: www.nifl.gov.

Levels of Adult Literacy

Listed below are samples of activities that could be performed by adults functioning at each of the five levels of literacy defined in the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey.

Level 1
Sign your name.
Locate expiration date on driver's license.
Locate time of meeting on a form.
Total a bank deposit ticket.
Identify country in short article.

Level 2
Locate intersection on a street map.
Locate eligibility from table of employee benefits.
Fill in application for social security card.
Determine difference in prices for two shows.
Calculate total costs of purchase from order form.
Locate two features of information in sports article.
Interpret instructions from an appliance warranty.

Level 3
Identify information from bar graph depicting source of energy and year.
Use bus schedule to determine appropriate bus.
Use calculator to determine discount for paying a bill within 10 days.
Plan travel arrangements using flight schedule.

Level 4
Determine correct change using information from a menu.
Using information in news article, calculate amount of money to raise a child.
State in writing an argument made in lengthy news article.
Explain difference between two types of employee benefits.
Compare two metaphors used in a poem.

Level 5
Determine shipping and total costs on an order form for items in a catalog.
Using calculator, determine cost of carpet for a room.
Use information in table to complete a graph.
Use table comparing credit cards.
Using a table depicting information about parental involvement in school survey to write a paragraph summarizing how parents and teachers agree.

Source:
US Dept. of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Adult Literacy Survey, 1992
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