Andrew Sum, Irwin Kirsch and Robert Taggart, Policy Information Center, Educational Testing Service
February 2002
This interesting and disturbing 42-page analysis of adult literacy in the United States was published last month by Educational Testing Service's Policy Information Center. The authors took two important multi-national studies of adult literacy that were conducted during the 1990's and reanalyzed their data, both to see how the U.S. fared overall and, more interestingly, how various sub-populations did. The results are generally sobering, and written in unusually strong language: "The U.S. spends more per capital on education than nearly all other high-income countries... [yet] our average proficiency scores at best only match the world average....Our educational system is clearly less productive in raising the literacy skills of students per dollar spent....[T]his inefficiency is a major drain on our economy. Further, our renewed national commitment to educational improvements over the past decade has thus far yielded only minor gains....[T]he U.S. appears to be living off its past higher educational investments and will inevitably lose ground in the coming decade." We learn that older adults are more literate than younger adults; that white adults are notably more literate than minorities; and that native-born Americans are significantly more literate than immigrants. The upshot, say the authors, is that big trouble lies ahead in terms of America's economic competitiveness as well as various gauges of domestic equality. Thus the report's provocative title. (The authors also offer policy recommendations, though these are less interesting.) Download a copy at http://www.ets.org/research/pic or order a hard copy for $15 by calling 609-734-5694 or e-mailing [email protected].
