Literacy Statistics

Why learn to read early? Two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of the 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare. The fourth grade is the watershed year.

Literacy Statistics According to  the National Center for Education Statistics

• About one in 20 adults in the U.S. is not literate in English
• 11 million Americans lack the skills to handle many everyday tasks
• 30 million adults may not be able to make sense of a simple pamphlet
• Adults with ability to perform challenging and complex reading tasks made an average yearly salary of $50,700 in 2003. That is $28,000 more than those who lacked basic skills.

Literacy statistics and juvenile court

• 85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illerate.

• More than 60 percent of all prison inmates are functionally illerate.

• Penal institution records show that inmates have a 16% chance of returning to prison if they receive literacy help, as opposed to 70% who receive no help. This equates to taxpayer costs of $25,000 per year per inmate and nearly double that amount for juvenile offenders.

• Illiteracy and crime are closely related. The Department of Justice states, "The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure." Over 70% of inmates in America's prisons cannot read above a fourth grade level.

Many of the USA ills are directly related to illiteracy. Just a few statistics:

• Literacy is learned. Illiteracy is passed along by parents who cannot read or write.

• One child in four grows up not knowing how to read.

• 43% of adults at Level 1 literacy skills live in poverty compared to only 4% of those at Level 5

• 3 out of 4 food stamp recipients perform in the lowest 2 literacy levels

• 90% of welfare recipients are high school dropouts

• 16 to 19 year old girls at the poverty level and below, with below average skills, are 6 times more likely to have out-of-wedlock children than their reading counterparts.

• Low literary costs $73 million per year in terms of direct health care costs. A recent study by Pfizer put the cost much higher.

America's Reading Problem

Every year, at least two million adults considered to be functionally illiterate are added to the ranks of Americans unable to read. If this critical problem isn't addressed soon, society will most certainly pay the price.

Illiteracy Statistics

• 42 million American adults can't read at all; 50 million are unable to read at a higher level that is expected of a fourth or fifth grader.
• The number of adults that are classified as functionally illiterate increases by about 2.25 million each year.
• 20 percent of high school seniors can be classified as being functionally illiterate at the time they graduate.

Source: National Right to Read Foundation

Where Illiteracy Leads

• 70 percent of prisoners in state and federal systems can be classified as illiterate.
• 85 percent of all juvenile offenders rate as functionally or marginally illiterate.
• 43 percent of those whose literacy skills are lowest live in poverty.

Source: National Institute for Literacy

America is supposed to be one of the world's most affluent and technologically-advanced societies. Free public education is available everywhere in this country, and the federal government spends about $10 billion every year battling illiteracy.

So why do Americans have this problem with reading?

According to some, the root of this problem lies with our public education system. National Assessment of Educational Progress testing indicates that the percentage of American children who are able to read well hasn't improved at all in the last 25 years.

The method of teaching that has been in use since 1927 is the 'look and say' method and relies on memorizing and recognizing words on sight.

This is extremely unusual given the fact that hundreds of studies have shown the phonics method consistently provides better results. Phonics first teaches the relationship between letters and sounds, only later focusing on reading-the exact opposite of the look and say approach.

The U.S. Department of Education actually recommends the phonics approach, yet many American schools and teachers do not accept this recommendation.

WHAT CAN PARENTS DO:

If your child or a child you know is about to enter an American school, talk to the teacher to find out the method being used and ask how you may be able to supplement the reading education your child receives in class at home.

Reading should begin early: at home, making books accessible to children from the very start. Parents should also encourage reading and make it a large part of daily routine.