In 2009, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) published a technical report titled "Indirect County and State Estimates of the Percentage of Adults at the Lowest Literacy Level for 1992 and 2003," (ED503830). NCES also published a corresponding online tool (http://nces.ed.gov/naal/estimates/index.aspx) that allows users to…

Documents the literacy proficiencies of U.S. adults, with a primary emphasis on the civilian labor force. Compares results for the employed and unemployed, as well as for various subpopulations of employed civilians. Also analyzes the relationship between literacy proficiency and employee earnings. (Author)

This article provides evidence that general intelligence ("g") has pervasive utility in work settings because it is essentially the ability to deal with cognitive complexity. Data from the National Adult Literacy Survey are used to show how higher levels of cognitive ability improve individuals' chances of dealing with the demands of…

The role of the response probability convention in reporting results from the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey is explored, using interviews with more than 26,000 adults and young adults. In order to summarize what respondents of a particular proficiency can do, it is convenient to adopt a convention for a sufficient response probability that…

The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), which is being developed for administration in 2002, will determine the status of adult literacy in the United States and serve as a follow-up to the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey. Three discussion groups consisting of a total of 23 literacy researchers, users of the 1992 survey, potential…

Examines four "puzzling" results of the National Adult Literacy Survey: (1) the ability to use printed information effectively is unevenly distributed in the United States; (2) adults exhibited a large gap between performance and perception of literacy skills; (3) increased literacy did not always correspond with significant earnings…

In 1993, under contract from the National Center for Education Statistics, the Educational Testing Service assessed the literacy proficiencies of a nationally representative sample of all adults, aged 16 and over, from nearly 27,000 homes. That assessment, the National Adult Literacy Survey, produced a profile of the English literacy skills of the…

This paper discusses the problem of African American adult literacy not as a problem of individuals, but as a problem integrally connected to African American communities. Part 1 describes the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) and provides an overview of results for African Americans. The NALS sample was composed of approximately 13,600…

Presents a portrait of adult literacy in Illinois based on the results of the State Adult Literacy Survey conducted in 1992 as part of the National Adult Literacy Survey. Highlights include age differences; foreign-born individuals; effects of education and training; employment, economic status, and civic responsibility; and language use.…

A discussion of issues concerning the feasibility of conducting a Spanish version of the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) is presented. The discussion is based on a 1992 seminar to address linguistic, political, and logistic concerns in such an undertaking. While the experience with the NALS guided discussion, the primary focus was on special…

This publication presents the results of the Iowa State Adult Literacy Survey as referenced in the publication "Adult Literacy in Iowa: Results of the State Adult Literacy Survey" in graphic form. The State Adult Literacy Survey was a research project in which 12 states assessed the literacy skills of their adult populations. As a…

The National Adult LIteracy Survey was a nationwide survey of a random sample of approximately 26,000 adults. The survey collected information about individuals' social, economic, and educational histories and their literacy activities. Their functional literacy was also assessed using simulated functional or real-world tasks designed to determine…

The 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) examined three types of literacy--prose, document, and quantitative--among the entire older adult population and various subgroups thereof. Of the nationally representative sample of 26,091 adults interviewed during the NALS, 2,267 were aged 60-69, 1,005 were aged 70-79, and 442 were at least 80 years…

This report assembles the best information available on past and future trends in employment and the education requirements of jobs in the post-World War II period, focusing on data for 1986 and 1996 and projections to 2006. The report's first section explains what is known from the 1992 National Adult Literacy Study, which measured prose,…

During the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), trained staff interviewed nearly 1,150 inmates in 80 federal and state prisons that had been randomly selected to represent prisons across the country. Survey participants completed diverse literacy tasks and answered questions regarding demographic characteristics, educational background, and…