National Literacy & Library Events :: November 2020

National Literacy & Library Events :: November 2020

Literacy & Library Events & Conferences

Events-National & International Events

Events-International: Language Magazine

 

Family Stories Month

National Family Literacy Month

National Novel Writing Month

National Picture Book Month

Nov. 01      Author's Day
Nov. 01      National Family Literacy Day
Nov. 04      CAEL Conference VIRTUAL
Nov. 04      Library Marketing & Communications Conf VIRTUAL
Nov. 05      CANCELLED - ALER Conference
Nov. 05      National Literacy Summit VIRTUAL
Nov. 06      Global Read Aloud - Juana Martinez-Neal: Alma
Nov. 08      International Games Week
Nov. 08      NAEYC Annual Conference VIRTUAL
Nov. 09      Children’s Book Week
Nov. 09      National Distance Learning Week
Nov. 13      International Dyslexia Association Conf VIRTUAL
Nov. 13      YallFest VIRTUAL
Nov. 13      YallWrite VIRTUAL
Nov. 15      I Love To Write Day
Nov. 16      American Education Week
Nov. 16      LERN Conference VIRTUAL
Nov. 16      World Nursery Rhyme Week UK
Nov. 17      Rutgers Conf Reading & Writing VIRTUAL
Nov. 18      National Black Storytelling Festival & Conf VIRTUAL
Nov. 19      National Council of Teachers of English VIRTUAL
Nov. 20      ACTFL Convention VIRTUAL
Nov. 21      Tellabration (Sat before Thanksgiving) Have the Talk of a Lifetime
Nov. 26      Great Thanksgiving Listen 2020
Nov. 29      ISTE20 VIRTUAL

State Library Associations :: Conferences

African American Book Events

Book Fairs by State Library of Congress

Children’s Book Council Kid Lit Events

College Children’s & Young Adult Literature Conferences Festivals

Everfest Book Festival Calendar

ILA :: Literacy Calendar Worldwide

Storytelling Events

US Book Festivals

How to Improve Your Reading Comprehension as an Adult ▬ Book Riot

How to Improve Your Reading Comprehension as an Adult

Book Riot: 10.27.2020 by Christine Ro

The ability to process and retain information from texts: it’s not just for kids. Reading comprehension, which has been defined as “the act of translating text into mental representations”, has also been described as the ultimate goal of reading. But the bulk of research on reading comprehension focuses on children. When it comes to adults, consensus-level findings and proposed suggestions are still emerging.

This also applies to non-text-based forms of reading. So this article mainly applies to people reading visually, rather than via listening, say, or Braille. The suggestions compiled here aren’t exhaustive.

SLOW YOUR ROLL

The good news from the research that does exist is that older adults do just as well as younger adults, or better, in many aspects affecting reading comprehension. While older adults have more general knowledge they can apply to a particular situation in a book, which helps them to understand it more readily, it takes them longer to encode new knowledge. So some aspects of reading performance do decline with age. Refusing to acknowledge this decline can worsen understanding.

This applies, for instance, to ambiguous passages. Older adults need to call on more of the brain to parse complex sentences. Take this benign-looking sentence:

While Anna dressed the baby played in the crib.

In one study, 70% of younger adults interpreted this correctly: while Anna put on clothes, the baby was playing. (This sentence is basically a PSA for comma use.) However, only 50% of older adults did.

Because eye movement and cognitive patterns change with age, older adults take longer to scan and process text. When reading Chinese, which is visually complex, older adults take almost twice as long as young adults.

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PRACTICE THE BASICS

“Print exposure” (how much someone reads) contributes to “crystallized intelligence” (accumulated knowledge, reasoning, and vocabulary). Crystallized intelligence helps people apply their reading skills. And print exposure plays an important role in word-reading processes, for children and adults alike.

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ACTIVATE THE SENSES

All that highlighting you did in history class may have helped. Highlighting, underlining, color-coding, note-taking, and other forms of active learning can help to identify the most pertinent information and enhance reading comprehension. But this is only up to a point. Excessive highlighting tends to defeat the purpose, and actually limits comprehension.

In a potential blow to diehard digital readers, reading comprehension is still stronger in print than onscreen (although more research is needed on the exact mechanisms for this). But visual aids can help readers of all ages in all formats, such as seniors choosing prescription drug plans on a Medicare website. Reading more comics and imagery-rich texts may also help to activate more of your visual sense while reading.

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THINK ABOUT READING

Annotation is a tool for active reading, or reading with a specific purpose. Along with the physical markings on a text, you can read actively by, for instance:

➧ summarizing or rephrasing what you’ve just read

➧ explaining it to others

➧ answering questions about it (looking up book club questions might be a useful aid here)

➧ assessing the difficulty of a passage

➧ making predictions about what will happen next in a book

➧ thinking about how your background knowledge is helping you understand a piece of text, or where there are gaps in your prior knowledge

➧ relating what you’re reading to your own experiences

➧ making associations and comparisons

All these strategies are part of metacognition: essentially, thinking about thinking.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 11

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 15-17 yrs. old

(Tenth to Eleventh graders)

Illiteracy Costs United States Billions Of Dollars Every Single Year? ▬ Libraries 2020

Did You Know Illiteracy Costs United States Billions Of Dollars Every Single Year?

Libraries 2020: 11.10.2019

Approximately 32 million adults in the United States can’t read, according to the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that 50 percent of U.S. adults can’t read a book written at an eighth-grade level.

According to the Literacy Center, low literacy individuals struggle to find employment; they settle for low-paying jobs; they have to fight hard to increase their earning power and to support their families. They under-utilize the healthcare system out of fear, or over-utilize it because they are unable to follow written instructions on prescriptions or discharge papers.

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Libraries build literate communities

Sign the pledge 

to support libraries

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If you think illiteracy doesn’t affect you, think again. The plight of low-literacy stretches beyond individual families and impacts us all. Here are some great tweetable facts that you can share to raise awareness about this important issue;

Low literacy costs American businesses and taxpayers more than $225 billion annually, through lost wages, unemployment, welfare and other government assistance. CLICK TO TWEET

Low literacy adds $230 billion to the annual cost of delivering healthcare in the United States. CLICK TO TWEET

There’s an undeniable link between low literacy, library funding, and crime. Seventy-five percent of adults incarcerated in state prisons lack a high school diploma or have low literacy skills. CLICK TO TWEET

Our national economy needs a prepared, educated, and literate workforce to create new businesses to keep pace with global technology. CLICK TO TWEET

Individuals with low literacy are less likely to vote or participate in civic activities. We need literate citizens to ensure the future of our Democracy. CLICK TO TWEET

Luckily, in America there is an easy solution to this problem. The data has repeatedly shown that we simply need to properly fund our libraries. That’s because there is an incredible link between access to reading materials, library programs, and a child’s ability to read later in life. Storytimes, lap-sit programs, and other services for young children are a major part of most public libraries’ missions and each of these helps ensure that our nation’s youth grow up to be literate and successful members of society.

You can help join our cause by signing and sharing the pledge for public libraries on Facebook and Twitter. You can also help us reach more Americans with this pledge by making a $10 donation today. We’ll put it to work by putting that pledge in front of 1,000 Americans for every $10 we raise.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 12

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 17-18 yrs. old

(Twelfth graders)

Literacy Reports & Statistics

Adult
2020: Assessing the Economic Gains of Eradicating Illiteracy Nationally & Regionally
in the United States, Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy
2020: US Skills Map: State & County Indicators of Adult Literacy & Numeracy, NCES
2019: Literacy Gap Map, Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy
2019: Adult Literacy in the United States, NCES 2019-179
2013: OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills, OECD
2009: Literacy of America's Least Literate Adults, NAAL 2003
2006: Literacy of America's College Students, AIR
2007: Literacy in Everyday Life, NAAL 2003
2003: National Assessment of Adult Literacy, NAAL
2000: Programs for Adults in Public Library Outlets, USDE, NCES
1992: National Adult Literacy Survey, NALS

Literacy – Spanning North America :: Cornwall ON :: Boynton Beach FL :: Honolulu HI

Literacy In The News :: Spanning North America

@TCLiteracy

Cashier And Customer Service Course At Tri-County Literacy Council
Standard Freeholdler: 10.08.2020 by Todd Hambleton

The Tri-County Literacy Council will offer a cashier training program that’ll be getting underway in less than three weeks.

It’s a new, free, four-week cashier and customer service skills development program that updates a lot of the traditional skills required for work in the sector – and focuses on very new, modern-day technology.

The literacy council says the old “clunkers” are for the most part, long gone, replaced with state-of-the-art digital “Point-of-Sale” (POS) machines.

“Today’s job market requires knowledge of current systems of controlling cash,” said Debbie Gareau, an instructor at the literacy council who’ll soon be delivering the cashier training sessions. “(Students will) be trained on the most updated POS (machines).”

The start day is Oct. 26, and space is limited, due to physical distancing considerations.

At least the classes are in-person – that wasn’t the case for many months earlier this year. Once the pandemic arrived, the TCLC had to cancel in-person classes. It continued to offer programs, online, including a volunteer tutor training session that began early in May, and student learning packets were able to be picked up and dropped off at the building.

In September, things got closer to normal, with in-person classes resuming.

“It’s been an adjustment, a new way of teaching and learning,” Gareau said. “We’re all working together to make the best of the (pandemic situation). . . it’s just so critical that these students have access to these services – the need is there.”

Concepts to be taught during the cashier program include practical math, retail applications, communication in the workplace, the importance of customer service, and handling customer complaints.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 11

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 15-17 yrs. old

(Tenth to Eleventh graders)

 

@literacypbc

‘The Nickel Boys’ Selected As County’s Read Together Book
Town-Crier: 10.08.2020

The Nickel Boys, a powerful tale of human perseverance, dignity and redemption, was recently announced as the 2020 Read Together Palm Beach County book during the Literacy Coalition’s annual Mayors’ Literacy Initiative.

Author Colson Whitehead won a 2020 Pulitzer Prize for the work of historical fiction. He also won the coveted prize in 2016 for The Underground Railroad.

The Nickel Boys was inspired by the revelations about the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida. The school, which was in operation from 1900 to 2011, was originally intended as a refuge for troubled children. But throughout its history, the reform school gained a reputation for abuse and even murder.

The Literacy Coalition’s Read Together campaign encourages adults throughout Palm Beach County to read the same book at the same time.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 11

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 15-17 yrs. old

(Tenth to Eleventh graders)

 

@HawaiiLiteracy

Platforms Change, But Mission Stays The Same For Hawaii Literacy
Business Journals: 10.09.2020 by Christina O'Connor

For nonprofit organization Hawaii Literacy, hands-on, personal interaction has always been a cornerstone of its operations, from its tutoring programs to its traveling bookmobiles.

Now, in the face of Covid-19, Hawaii Literacy has been forced to reinvent its standard operating procedures, shifting much of its programming online.

“We’ve had to adapt. We had to innovate and quickly build capacity to continue doing what we do,” said Jill Takasaki Canfield, executive director.

While key offerings might look a little different, they’re still intact. Founded in 1971 and now spanning three islands, Hawaii Literacy runs adult literacy, English learning and peer tutoring programs. Plus, its bookmobiles travel to underserved communities and it has family libraries at two public housing facilities.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Hawaii Literacy also has helped distribute food boxes and masks in partnership with other agencies, and has worked to share Covid-related information in a way that’s accessible to everyone.

Takasaki Canfield assumed her role with Hawaii Literacy in January, having spent most of her career working in educational nonprofits and schools, and most recently served as the director of dual language and international programs at Maryknoll School.

She said she was drawn to the organization after learning how widespread literacy challenges are.

“It was shocking to find out that one in six adults struggle with low literacy,” Takasaki Canfield said.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 14

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 21-22 yrs. old

(college level)

7 Tips for Getting More Responses to Your Emails ▬ Boomerang

7 Tips for Getting More Responses to Your Emails (With Data!)

Boomerang: 2.12.2016 by Alex Moore

Over the past year, our customers asked Boomerang to remind them if they didn’t get a response to over 40 million emails. Writing emails that get responses is an incredibly valuable skill – and what makes an email likely to get a response is hard to determine.

There’s a lot of advice about how to write a good email on the web, from general writing advice to full sets of pre-written email templates. But almost none of that advice shows the data behind it (usually because there isn’t any), and a lot of it is contradictory.

So when we set out to send out a year-in-review email to Boomerang users, we decided to make that email different from a typical startup year-in-review email. Instead of focusing how much we’ve grown or showing off our swanky new logo, we decided to figure out what factors really matter when you want to get a response to your messages and send that instead.

The results were so interesting that we decided to share them here as well.

═════════►
Write like a 3rd Grader

Our most surprising finding was that the reading grade level of your emails has a dramatic impact on response rates. Emails written at a 3rd grade reading level were optimal. They provided a whopping 36% lift over emails written at a college reading level and a 17% higher response rate than emails written even at a high school reading level.

═════════►
Write with Emotion

Another significant factor in determining response rates is how positive (words like great, wonderful, delighted, pleased) or negative (words like bad, hate, furious, terrible) the words in the message are. Emails that were slightly to moderately positive OR slightly to moderately negative elicited 10-15% more responses than emails that were completely neutral.

Flattery works, but excessive flattery doesn’t.

═════════►
Write short (but not too short!) emails

The sweet spot for email length is between 50-125 words, all of which yielded response rates above 50%.

Response rates declined slowly from 50% for 125-word messages to about 44% for 500-word messages. After that, it stayed flat until about 2000 words, then declined precipitously. So while the optimal length for an email is under 125 words, you shouldn’t worry too much if you need a few extra.

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Use short (very short) subject lines

Email marketing veterans know that testing subject lines is a critical step in designing an email campaign that will have a high open rate. Likewise, the length of your subject line impacts response rates, and the optimal length is shorter than we expected. Subject lines with only 3-4 words (excluding email conventions like Re: and Fwd:) received the most responses.

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Questions

The number of questions you ask in an email has a sweet spot, just like the number of words you write. We found that emails that asked 1-3 questions are 50% more likely to get a response than emails asking no questions.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 10

Reading Level: standard / average.

Reader's Age: 14-15 yrs. old

(Ninth to Tenth graders)

Health Literacy and Health Equity ▬ Health Literacy Out Loud

Health Literacy and Health Equity (HLOL #203

Health Literacy

Health Literacy Out Loud: 10.01.2020 by Helen Osborne

Janet Ohene-Frempong MS, is a plain language and cross-cultural communications consultant with decades of experience in patient/provider communications. Her accomplishments are many. They include leading workshops, keynoting conferences, writing and editing plain language projects, and consulting with a wide range of clients on health-related topics. Janet Ohene-Frempong has deservedly received numerous accolades and awards for her excellent work.

In this podcast, Janet Ohene-Frempong talks with Helen Osborne about:

Health literacy is not only about communicating in ways that others can understand but also including skills, actions, and other information to help people stay alive and live as well as possible.

Health equity is about giving everyone the same chance regardless of their skin color, money, education, living situation, and other life experiences.

Tips and strategies for communicating about health in equitable ways. This goes beyond clarity to include crafting messages with the audience in mind, being nonjudgmental, and considering people’s situational realities. In other words, being “open to their otherness.”

More ways to learn:

“Explainer: what is systemic racism and institutional racism?”
From The Conversation website.

“Len & Ceci Doak Discuss Health Literacy’s Past, Present, and Future (HLOL #13)
Health Literacy Out Loud podcast interview with Len & Ceci Doak who helped lead the way to health literacy.

"Archie Willard Talks About Struggling to Read (HLOL #187).”
Health Literacy Out Loud podcast interview with Archie Willard, who didn’t learn to read until he was 54 years old and diagnosed with severe dyslexia.

“Communicating About Food in Culturally Sensitive Ways (HLOL #159).”
Health Literacy Out Loud podcast interview with Janet Ohene-Frempong who, among her many “health literacy hats,” also has a background as a dietitian.

LISTEN 22:57

Read the transcript of this podcast

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 13

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 18-19 yrs. old

(college level entry)

Literacy – Spanning North America :: Cleveland OH :: North Bay ON :: Bloomfield Hills MI :: Salisbury NC

Literacy In The News :: Spanning North America

@seedsofliteracy

Seeds of Literacy Help Adult Students Stay On Track During COVID-19 P  andemic
News 5: 10.07.2020 by Jade Jarvis

From in-person to remote, and hybrid learning - the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way students are going to school this year.

But it's not just kids, adult students are also having to make adjustments.

Seeds of Literacy helps more than 1,000 adult students each year with free, basic education and preparation for the GED and other exams. When they had to shut down in March, their main concern was connecting with those students and making sure they could continue on that path to success.

“I said after I had turned a certain age, I would like to go back to school,” Eddie Clark, a Seeds student, said.

When he started coming to Seeds’ east side classroom about two years ago he struggled to read. But that soon changed after weekly lessons with his tutor, Ed Round.

“My reading has got better. My math is getting better. My personality is getting better because now I got a mission, you know, I got a goal,” Clark said.

Clark said he almost lost that momentum when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“I thought I would probably change my mind due to the corona, and probably be back out in the streets or whatever but the Lord didn't have that chance for me,” Clark said.

The staff at Seeds wasn’t going to let that happen either.

They shut down for two weeks in March but immediately started working on a remote learning strategy.

“We spent the first two weeks really trying to figure out - how can we make this work? What does it look like? So we decided to take an immediate approach with the free conference call lines,” Kara Krawiec, the site coordinator at Seeds East, said.  LISTEN 03:08

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 7

Reading Level: fairly easy to read.

Reader's Age: 11-13 yrs. old

(Sixth and Seventh graders)

 

@LiteracyNip

Literacy Nipissing Has Helped Adults Improve Their Life Skills For Over 40 Years
Bay Today: 10.07.2020 by Matt Sookram

It is never easy for a child to admit they aren’t sure of what’s being taught to them in school. It can be even harder for an adult to say, “I can’t do this, and I need help.” That’s where Literacy Nipissing has stepped in for the past 42 years.

“We help adults who want to upgrade their skills and/or get a GED Diploma Certificate,” says Executive Director Vandra McQuarrie. “We work with people who might have left school before they got their grade 12. We also work with people who have their high school diploma but might not know how to do a certain math that is required by their employer. So, we help them upgrade those skills.”

Since 1978 McQuarrie says they have helped approximately 5,200 learners over that time and have also worked with over 2,000 volunteers. McQuarrie has been with the Literacy organization for almost three decades herself.

“I started doing this over 28 years ago in Elliot Lake where the focus was on helping miners who had recently been laid off.”

She says the goal has always been to help people improve their life skills.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 7

Reading Level: fairly easy to read.

Reader's Age: 11-13 yrs. old

(Sixth and Seventh graders)

 

Oakland Literacy

Fighting Adult Illiteracy In Oakland County
Oakland Post: 10.07.2020 by Cayla Smith, Campus Editor

Two Oakland University students fight against the impact adult illiteracy in Oakland County.

The Oakland Literacy Council was founded in 1984 by Robert Gaylor, after attending a conference on adult illiteracy hosted by former First Lady, Barbara Bush. After 35 years of service, they’re still dedicated to ending adult illiteracy.

A recent study by The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) found that 111,000 adults in Oakland County are functionally illiterate.

“Functionally illiterate means that people function at the lowest level of illiteracy or below,” Executive Director Lisa Machesky said. “They would struggle to fill out job applications, read bus schedules, prescription labels or emails from their children’s school”.

Being a non-profit organization, the program relies on tutors in the fight against adult illiteracy.

Paul Kozlowski, biology major, had two motivations for getting involved: the misinformation spreading because of COVID-19 combined with the misunderstanding of information put out by the federal government and Kozlowski comes from a family of immigrants.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 14

Reading Level: very difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 21-22 yrs. old

(college level)

 

@RCLiteracy

Education Briefs: New Tutors At Literacy Council
Salisbury Post: 10.08.2020

The pandemic has brought at least one silver lining to the Literacy Council: a flood of new tutors.

“A few months into the pandemic, we noticed an uptick in new tutor applications. We started seeingout-of-area tutor applications–Goldsboro and Cullowhee for example— from college students,” said Literacy Council Program Coordinator Laurel Harry. “This is a game changer, and we hope to continue to attract new tutors from both inside and outside Rowan County.”

In the past tutors typically met students in the Rowan Public library for face-to-face tutoring.

When COVID19 necessitated a shift from in-person to virtual tutoring, tutors and students adjusted to meet over video-conferencing apps like Zoom or WhatsApp. It no longer mattered if either party was actually in Salisbury. “We started hearing about students attending class while driving to the mountains or beach, and tutors teaching from out of state. In the past, these trips would have meant lost classes.

Now, the tutoring can continue, even if folks are out of town,” said Harry.

New tutors will be working with students virtually. All tutors are working with either English as a Second Language students or GED students. LISTEN 05:11

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 9

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 13-15 yrs. old

(Eighth and Ninth graders)

Average American Reader Needs You to Write (Even More) Clearly ▬ Digital Gov

The Average American Reader Needs You to Write (Even More) Clearly

Average America Reader

Digital Gov: 5.13.2020 by  Dr. Meredith Larson

When communicating with the public, we must change our assumptions about their ability to understand text. This is especially true when the information keeps changing and is complex, or the stakes are high and people are in crisis.

Over 50% of U.S. adults score below an international benchmark for literacy, with roughly 20% scoring at the very lowest levels. These adults span all demographics and are a part of your audience. Don’t assume they’re not.

You must communicate clearly with your audience. Keep it simple and convenient, and use plain language. Present the most important information you want to convey first. Get feedback from your readers on whether they understand the information you’re trying to convey.

Background

The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is an international, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study used to assess the skills of literacy, numeracy, and digital problem solving in adults between the ages of 16 and 65. After collecting information on how their country’s population is performing, leaders can better target and help their people get access to the resources they need.

Basic Skills Assessed

PIAAC is designed to assess adults in different countries over a broad range of abilities, from simple reading to complex problem-solving skills. A country can check how its population stands in relation to the rest of the participating countries.

PIAAC has four domains:

1. Literacy

“Literacy is understanding, evaluating, using, and engaging with written text to participate in the society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential.” PIAAC Literacy Domain Page.

2. Numeracy

“The ability to access, use, interpret, and communicate mathematical information and ideas, to engage in and manage mathematical demands of a range of situations in adult life.” PIAAC Numeracy Domain Page.

Literacy and Numeracy has a 5-point scale.

We might consider adults scoring Below Level 1 and Level 1 “at risk”, and Level 2 may be “struggling.”

For Literacy and Numeracy, Level 3 should be sufficient for participation in modern economies.

The Skill Scales: Literacy and Numeracy

Below Level 1: Locate a single piece of information in familiar texts.

Level 1: Read relatively short digital print or mixed texts to locate single text.

Level 2: Make matches between text and information that may require low level paraphrasing and drawing low-level inferences.

Level 3: Identify, interpret, or evaluate one or more pieces of information and often require varying levels of inference.

Level 4: Perform multiple-step operations to integrate, interpret, or synthesize information from complex texts, and may require complex inferences.

Level 5: Integrate information across multiple dense texts; construct syntheses, ideas or points of view; or evaluate evidence based arguments.

3. Digital Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments

“Using digital technology, communication tools, and networks to acquire and evaluate information, communicate with others, and perform practical tasks.” PIAAC Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments Domain Page.

Digital Problem Solving has a 3-point scale.

For Digital Problem Solving, Level 2 should be sufficient for participation in modern economies.

The Skill Scales: Digital Problem Solving

Level 0: One-step or simple problem (“Click on Help tab”).

Level 1: Sorting emails into existing folders.

Level 2: Using website to return item.

Level 3: Navigating multiple pages to find a form, etc.

4. Reading Components

“Focuses on elements of reading that are comparable across the range of languages in the participating countries: reading vocabulary, sentence comprehension, and basic passage comprehension.” PIAAC Reading Components Domain Page.

00:00 Intro

05:00 The Skill Scales: Literacy and Numeracy

08:45 Examples

10:45 United States Statistics

15:20 Demographics for struggling individuals

22:00 Skills predicting information seeking behavior

22:45 What low literacy correlates with

23:40 Adult levels

24:55 How to make things better for people

31:40 Specific things you can try

36:00 resources

READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 11

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 15-17 yrs. old

(Tenth to Eleventh graders)

This presentation (PDF, 3.6 MB, 51 pages), crafted by Dr. Meredith Larson of the U.S. Department of Education, offers detailed information on literacy skills of U.S. adults, including digital literacy, and the implications for communicating with the public.

Hosted by Plain Language Community of Practice and Digital.gov