Literacy

Within the last 50 years, educators and the general public have become concerned with American students’ lagging proficiency in basic literacy skills. Literacy is the ability to interact with written material at a level that permits an individual to be a productive member of society. Over time, this standard has changed, as the Industrial Revolution and the emerging post-industrial economy have required individuals to attain greater proficiency in key literacy skills such as reading, writing, and mathematics.

The definition of a “literate” American has changed over time. In the early American republic, an individual who could sign his name was considered literate. The Industrial Revolution changed the definition of literacy, however. A factory worker often had to be able to read instructions and manuals that required a higher level of literacy. By the 1930s the government considered a person literate if he or she had completed three years of schooling. World War II also increased literacy requirements, as military training required mastering written materials and math skills. By the end of the war, the standard of literacy had risen to five years of schooling. As complex technology became ever more prevalent in American society, standards of literacy continued to rise, reaching a ninth-grade level by 1970. At the beginning of the 21st century, the U. S. Department of Education considered a high school diploma plus some post-secondary education to be the minimum standard for literacy.

Many Americans, however, have had difficulty meeting this standard. Most college graduates read at about an 11th - or 12th-grade level. At this level, one should be able to read technical manuals, compute a tax return, and write a letter. However, according to the U. S. Education and Labor Departments, about half the workforce had difficulty with these tasks. As a consequence, these individuals found themselves shut out of well-paying jobs in the modern economy. Several studies in the 1990s showed that businesses perceived their workers’ low literacy levels as the chief obstacle to their success. Many companies created math and English tests as part of pre-employment testing regimes. Other studies have compared Americans’ literacy levels with that of other nations. The International Adult Literacy Survey (1997) ranked Americans 12th in prose literacy out of 20 industrialized countries surveyed. In the

Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey (2003), the United States ranked fifth out of six countries surveyed.

Studies of literacy levels in the United States were most often focused on literacy in the English language. Consequently, these studies sometimes classified immigrants who did not speak or write English well as illiterate or minimally literate. In contrast, studies that focused on literacy and language diversity indicated that many immigrants were literate in their native languages. These studies led many literacy programs to incorporate language diversity by offering bilingual instruction as a bridge to English literacy.

By the beginning of the 21st century, changes in technology, however, continued to outpace literacy gains. Some educators argued that the United States must restructure its education system in order to make faster gains in literacy or otherwise risks being left behind in the post-industrial economy. State and local policy makers continued to experiment with a variety of solutions.

—Amy Wallhermfechtel