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Literacy Facts
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| There have
been many debates about the meaning of literacy
in our society but a commonly cited source for a
working definition of literacy is the one given
from the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey: |
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Literacy terms
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- Literacy -
using printed and written information to function
in society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop
one’s knowledge and potential. There are three
types of literacy ranked into 5 levels, with Level
1 being the lowest literacy level and Level 5 the
highest. Individuals identified at Level 1 are termed
functionally illiterate; they cannot perform basic
tasks such as locating a particular intersection on
a map, reading transportation schedules, or comparing
prices on two items at a grocery store. Although people
in Level 2 may be able to perform basic tasks, they
lack the important ability to locate and synthesize
information.
- Family Literacy - refers
to a continuum of programs that address the intergenerational
nature of literacy.2 The essence of family literacy
is that parents are supported as being the first people
to introduce their children to print. Family Literacy
programs usually have some combination of the following
components3:
® Adult Literacy Education
® Early Childhood Education
® Parent and Child Time Together
® Parent Time
- Emergent Literacy –
a term usually used to suggest that literacy development
is a category of language development that occurs
as a child is exposed to print. This is a gradual
process.
- Reading Readiness –
a term usually used to denote that a child has mastered
the prerequisites necessary to participate in reading
and writing instruction.
- ESOL – English
for speakers of other languages. This population may
or may not be literate in their primary language.
Literacy and the Young
Child
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- According to Marian Wright Edelman,
founder and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund
and author of Wasting America’s Future: The
Children’s Defense Fund Report on the Costs
of Child Poverty, children’s literacy needs
interlock with other social problems, including poverty,
poor health and nutrition, neighborhood problems,
housing problems, and fewer resources for learning.16
While poverty is often called the “root cause”
of literacy needs for young children, illiteracy (especially
generational family illiteracy) becomes a root cause
of poverty.
- Between 1971 and 1992 the number of
preschool children living below the poverty level
increased 70%. In 1994, a quarter of the children
under six in America lived in homes beneath the poverty
level. A study conducted by Lisbeth Schorr of the
Harvard Project on Schooling and Children tells us
that childhood poverty is the most important risk
factor causing damaging outcomes in families.
- Parental income and marital status
are both important predictors of success in school,
but neither is as significant as having a mother (or
primary caregiver) who completed high school.
- Children of parents who are unemployed
and have not completed high school are five times
more likely to drop out of school than children of
parents who are employed.
- A study conducted by Fred Morrison,
Ph.D. of Loyola University found that children entered
kindergarten with as many as eight to nine skill-years
apart on all literacy and social skills (level of
2 years old to 10 years old). By the end of second
grade these individual differences increase. The strongest
predictor of all four literacy skills was IQ. However,
home literacy environment also played a significant
role. Home environment is crucial to literacy.
- Children benefit from their parents’
participation in literacy programs and/or training.
- A 1991 study of the Intergenerational
Literacy Action Research Project showed that 65%
of children benefited from mother’s participation.21
90% of the mothers gained awareness of their influence
on their children’s educational achievements,
would read to them more often, made greater efforts
to help them with homework, and took them to the
library more frequently.
- Short-term studies of the National Center for
Family Literacy Program indicate that children
participating in programs showed gains at least
three times greater than would have been expected.
80% of children who attended family literacy programs
in their preschool years were rated at or above
grade level in elementary school. They were all
below 20 percentile when they first enrolled in
a family literacy program. In addition, children
whose families participated in these programs
showed an increase in school attendance, an increase
in parental support, and a decrease in behavior
problems.
The Prevalence
of the Literacy Problem
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Results of the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey
done by the U.S. Dept. of Education’s Center for
Education Statistics show:
- 21 to 23 percent (1 out of 5,
or some 40 to 44 million of the 191 million adults
aged 16 or older) in this country demonstrate skills
at the lowest level (Level 1) of prose, document,
and quantitative proficiencies. Most of these people,
66-75% described themselves as being able to read
and write English “well” or “very
well”.
- Another 25-28% of adults (50 million
people) function at Level 2. Almost all of them, 93-97%,
describe themselves as being able to read or write
English “well” or “very well”.
- Adults in New York State lag behind
the U.S. averages for literacy: 25-28% of the adults
demonstrated Level 1 skills and 26-29% demonstrated
Level 2 skills.
- The percentage of African Americans
and Latinos at the two lowest literacy levels is higher
than that observed for Whites. However the number
of Whites at those levels is far greater.
- 70% of prisoners score in the two lowest
literacy levels.
- Almost 50% of adults on welfare do
not have a high school diploma.
The Problem of Illiteracy
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The Problem in Onondaga
County
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The following are the literacy rates for adults
16 and over in Onondaga County.
| Onondaga
County |
City
of Syracuse |
|
Percent |
Number |
level 1 |
16 |
58,474 |
level 1 or 2 |
38 |
138,879 |
|
Percent |
Number |
24 |
31,231 |
51 |
66,365 |
|
|
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