Improving Literacy in the United States: Recommendations for Increasing Reading Success via American Progress

Improving Literacy in the United States: Recommendations for Increasing Reading Success

American Progress: 5.28.2020 by Alpha Diallo

Adult illiteracy directly affects an individual’s employment options, likelihood to live in poverty, likelihood to be incarcerated, access to adequate health care and health outcomes, and life expectancy. Generational illiteracy makes it increasingly difficult to escape these circumstances, and millions of Americans face this reality every day.

From 2011 to 2014, the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies conducted a study of adult literacy in the United States, finding that approximately 43 million Americans possess low literacy skills and 8.4 million American adults are classified as functionally illiterate—defined as having literacy skills at a third-grade level, or “no more than the most simple and concrete literacy skills.” In the past decade, average reading proficiency scores across the country have decreased, leaving millions of students without the necessary skills to become active and informed members of society. Particularly vulnerable are Black, Latinx, and low-income students, who score well below the national average. The wide-ranging consequences of functional illiteracy include large-scale political disengagement; aggregated economic loss in the form of suppressed GDP; greater dependency on social welfare programs; and higher incarceration costs. In total, these consequences represent an estimated 2 percent of annual GDP in developed nations—equivalent to an opportunity cost of $428 billion in 2019. Solving illiteracy will require greater federal investment and leadership, including by providing specific avenues for local literacy programs to access and utilize federal funds and supporting states that adopt explicit literacy training standards for teacher certification.

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Policy interventions

Given the relationship between literacy and outcomes related to health, employment, and poverty, the federal government should view funding toward literacy programs as a long-term investment and priority, especially for underserved and marginalized groups.

Provide clear guidelines on federal funding for local literacy programs

The U.S. Department of Education should include grant application guidelines on how to utilize Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) funds to specifically support effective local literacy programs. Providing clear avenues for the use of federal funding for effective programs may benefit students and families by removing barriers such as cost and transportation.

Establish new requirements for pre-K and elementary certification

The federal government should encourage incorporating reading instruction standards across disciplines for teacher preparation programs and early child and elementary licensure.

The future of literacy

Educators at the K-12 level have tested various ways to disrupt the pattern of illiteracy and support struggling readers, but the advancement of literacy as a national priority has thus far been inconsistent. READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on (7) readability formulas:

Grade Level: 18

Reading Level: very difficult to read.

Reader's Age: College graduate