Literacy ▬ Spanning the US :: Lee MA :: Cocoa FL :: Philadelphia PA

Literacy In The News :: Spanning the US

@litnetsb

Four LitNet Learners Are Recipients Of Diane Laurin Memorial Fund
Berkshire Edge: 4.28.2021 by Amanda Giracca

The Literacy Network of South Berkshire (LitNet) recently announced that Guadalupe Miranda, Claudia Villamil, Viviana Moreno, and Carolina Escobar are the recipients of the Diane Laurin Memorial Fund Scholarship, a grant for LitNet learners established to honor the memory of LitNet Board member and colleague Diane Laurin, who passed away suddenly in 2009. LitNet’s volunteer tutors were asked to nominate learners who fit the scholarship descriptor: learners who demonstrate commitment to their learning goals, to improving their financial stability, and to gaining independence, and who will use the fund to further their educational and civic goals. The $150 award is to be used as the recipient sees fit.

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“It was such a pleasure to read the nomination letters from tutors and to then hear the sense of gratitude and inspiration from the learner recipients upon receiving these unexpected funds,” said LitNet Executive Director Leigh Doherty. “My guess is Diane Laurin herself would feel very proud to be able to acknowledge such committed people who are on the road to transforming their lives.”

Diane Laurin was the publisher of Laurin Publishing in Pittsfield and throughout her life was involved with several area nonprofits, educational programs, and cultural venues, and was serving on the board of LitNet at the time of her death.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 17

Reading Level: difficult to read.

Reader's Age: College graduate

 

Literacy for Adults 
in Brevard

Volunteer Programs Helps Adults With Literacy
Hometown News: 4.29 2021 by Josh Whitener

The adult illiteracy rate in the United States is 21% according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Literacy for Adults in Brevard (LAB) is a local nonprofit staffed by volunteers from around the county who work with adult residents on literacy composition. LAB started in 1971 and the organization will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in October.

“It actually got started in Titusville by a group of Methodist women who wanted to help the migrants,” said Vicky Dunn, volunteer and vice-president of LAB.

For the past five decades the organization has helped residents qualify for jobs, work towards citizenship requirements and improve the quality of their reading and writing skills.

“We’ve been up and down and all around with how many volunteers we’ve had and of course COVID has had an impact on us,” she said. “We were pretty quiet during 2020. We couldn’t meet in the libraries which is our primary space to see our students, but we’re coming back to life now. A lot of our volunteers have already had their vaccine and we’re reaching out to our students that we’ve had to see if they are ready to start up again.”  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. olds

(Tenth to Eleventh graders)

 

Beyond Literacy

Beyond Literacy: Combining Nearly 90 Years Of History Into One Org
Generocity: 4.29.2021 by Grace Shallow

Access to a college education changed Enrico Crispo’s life about 25 years ago.

“I went to a public high school in a blue-collar town in North Jersey, and I was lucky to get an athletic scholarship to go to a good college and get a good education,” Crispo said. “For me, education opened a lot more doors.”

Crispo now serves as the board president of Beyond Literacy, the product of a merger between two long-standing Philadelphia organizations—the Community Learning Center and the Center for Literacy. He credits the The Nonprofit Repositioning Fund and William Penn Foundation for providing critical support and funding to aid the merger and its strategic planning activities.

Beyond Literacy (BeLit) will focus on expanding opportunities for adults through education and workforce readiness.

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Education gaps are a prevalent issue in Philadelphia. According to an interactive mapping tool by the National Center for Education Statistics, 32 percent of Philadelphians lack basic literacy and 49 percent lack basic math skills. These numbers have serious implications; a report by the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board linked low levels of literacy with poverty, poor health and the likelihood of incarceration. The same report noted adult education as a powerful driver of the local economy.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

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 the US :: Madison WI :: Stevens Point WI :: Dayton OH

Literacy In The News :: Spanning the US

@LitNet

Former Student Alejandra Muñoz Contreras Promoted To Student Services Manager At Literacy Network
Madison 365: 4.23.2021 by Mackenzie Krumme

Alejandra Muñoz Contreras started at the Literacy Network when it was just a small building on Park Street on Madison’s south side.

Today, she, along with the organization, has grown into a new role and position. In April, she was promoted to the student services manager where she is a resource and a guide for the 1,000 adults that use the center each year. The building where she is now is still on Park Street, but is two stories high, with 10 classrooms, a large lobby and a library.

Muñoz Contreras started at the network in 2015 while she was applying for citizenship. She said it is a rigorous process that involves many tests including reading, writing, pronunciation and filling out legal documents like a 128-question questionnaire.

Muñoz Contreras came to the U.S from Mexico 16 years ago. She has lived in Colorado, and Tennessee before making her way to Wisconsin. It was a goal of hers when she came to Wisconsin in 2013 to become a citizen; and now she gets to help others obtain those same goals.  READ MORE ➤➤

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 8

Reading Level: standard / average.

Reader's Age: 12-14 yrs. old

(Seventh and Eighth graders)

 

Portage County 
Literacy Council

Security Health Plan of Wisconsin, Inc: Teaching Adults To Read And Changing Their Worlds – One Person At A Time
Wis Business: 4.23.2021

Have you ever thought about how hard it would be to live your everyday life if you didn’t know how to read, write or speak English?

Literacy affects every aspect of life and directly impacts our ability to work, care for our families by providing food and shelter, secure safe transportation, and even understand health care information, including health insurance coverage.

The Portage County Literacy Council (PCLC) in Stevens Point works with adults who want to improve their reading, writing and/or math skills. They offer one-on-one tutoring and small group sessions free of charge to people with all kinds of socioeconomic and racial/ethnic backgrounds throughout Portage County – including immigrants and refugees learning English, and native speakers with a learning difference, lack of education, or any other reason.

Security Health Plan of Wisconsin, Inc., along with Marshfield Clinic Health System, recently donated funds to PCLC, most of which will go directly toward the costs of running their adults tutoring programs.

“We are very thankful for our community partners, like Marshfield Clinic Health System and Security Health Plan, whose generous donation will go directly towards supporting PCLC programs and services. We could not do this work without them!” said Shannon O’Donnell, Co-Director of the PCLC.

PCLC helps adult learners increase their ability to read and understand materials that can have a huge impact on their family’s health and wellness. A person’s ability to read and write in English in order to understand health care information is directly linked to their health outcomes and costs. ProLiteracy, the largest adult literacy and basic education membership organization in the nation, reports that over $230 billion in health care costs each year are linked to low adult literacy.  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)

 

@BrunnerLiteracy

1 In 5 Adults In Montgomery County Are Illiterate, This Crisis Has Far-Reaching Effects
Dayton 247 Now: 4.24.2021 by Allison Walker

The United States started the first public education system in the world but still, we're faced with a shocking crisis, 43 million, adults in the U.S. can’t read. That's 21 percent of our nation's adult population. It's a problem non-profit leaders say has hit our community hard here in Montgomery County. The Brunner literacy center told me that 1 in 5 adults in the Greater Dayton area are at or below a level 1 literacy level.

“If you're at level 1 you can identify street signs you may be able to sight-read some basic words but you can't fill out a job application. You can't do a quick google search and get an answer, you can't read a prescription label so all of these typical things we might take for granted in life,” Ashley Lackovich, the executive director of the Brunner Literacy Center said.

Lackovich explained that this issue is underreported as many adults develop sophisticated coping skills, so no one finds out they can't read or write. Still the numbers are staggering-at their center-they teach around 350 people to read every year.

“If kids have parents who are illiterate with low levels of literacy no matter what we're doing at the school, those kids are still statistically more likely to have low levels of literacy themselves. 43 percent of people with low literacy live in poverty and we also know it's intergenerational,” Lackovich stated.

Lackovich added that this basic skill is the root of so many other problems. She shared data that shows illiteracy rates are costing our healthcare system hundreds of billions of dollars every year since adults with limited literacy use emergency services at significantly higher rates. Yet-federal funding for adult literacy programs have been cut 18 % in the last two decades.  WATCH 03:02

 

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 10

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 14-15 yrs. old

(Ninth to Tenth graders)

Literacy – Spanning the US :: Honolulu HI :: Crestview FL :: Kent Ohio :: Hendersonville NC

Literacy In The News :: Spanning the US

@HawaiiLiteracy

Why 1 In 6 Hawaii Residents Struggle To Read
Civil Beat: 12.09.2020 by Anita Hofschneider

As a kid growing up in Hanapepe, Kanani Santos never felt like he fit in at school. His hyperactivity confounded his teachers, who put him in special education classes. Even though Santos is part Hawaiian, he was often teased for his haole looks.

By the time Santos went to high school, drugs and alcohol became his pathway into social acceptance. He estimates he graduated at a seventh-grade reading level.

It wasn’t until Santos was in his mid-30s, a businessman with children of his own, that he decided he wanted to be a better reader. He started one-on-one tutoring through Hawaii Literacy, a statewide nonprofit, and kept it up for more than a year.

Santos, 43, says improving his reading helped him better read the bills, contracts and invoices necessary to grow his landscaping business. But the bigger benefit was intangible.

“Doing something like that gave me more confidence in life,” he said. “A lot of people don’t really understand how difficult or how embarrassing it can be for a person to not be able to read.”

Nearly 200 years ago, literacy in the Hawaiian islands exceeded 90%, making the Hawaiian Kingdom one of the most literate nations in the world.

Today, one in six adults in Hawaii struggle with reading English, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.  That means that they may be able to read simple texts but have trouble understanding more complex material.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 10

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 14-15 yrs. old

(Ninth to Tenth graders)

 

@cvwlibrary

Crestview Library Free ESOL, GED And Adult Literacy Classes
WAAZ1047: 12.09.2020

It’s a sad fact that within North Okaloosa County, the people who most need to know about the information that follows will be unable to read it. That is why the Crestview Public Library has created a multi-faceted literacy program — the only one in Northwest Florida west of Panama City.

“Our program is three-fold,” explained adult services librarian Augusta Whittle, who developed the program. “We have literacy for learning to read or write, or to read and write better. Then we have the ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) component. And we have a GED (general equivalency diploma) study prep part.”

Ms. Whittle was an ESOL instructor for 20 years before coming to Crestview and is the program’s lead instructor.

“This is the only library literacy program in the Florida panhandle,” library Director Jean McCarthy said. “Other libraries, three in fact, have called on Augusta to benchmark her program. I’m really proud that we are able to offer this service to our community.”

Ms. Whittle said the literacy program, which started in August, has begun attracting more people as word gets out.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 8

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 12-14 yrs. old

(Seventh and Eighth graders)

 

@OhioLiteracyRC

Impact of Illiteracy Has Far Reaching Effect
The Daily Jeffersonian: 12.10.2020 by  Kristi R Garabrandt

Imagine being an unemployed father desperately trying to find a job to support his family while having to rely on public transportation to get to job interviews and not being able to read a bus schedule or tell time. Then picture this father's search for employment being hampered even more due to his inability to read a job application.

Now imagine being a mother, with a sick child, worried about giving her child the wrong dosage of medication because of an inability to read the directions.

This is what is known as functional illiteracy and it's an often unseen daily reality for many.

Functional illiteracy is defined according to Kent State University as having the ability to read between a fourth-grade and sixth-grade level.

The Ohio Literacy Resource Center estimates that there are 44 million people in the United States that are unable to fill out an application, read a food label, or read a simple story to a child.

@MidEastDistrict

According to Barb Funk, CARE coordinator/assistant director at Mid-East Career and Technology Centers, literacy ratings indicate that an estimated 22% of Guernsey County residents may be functionally illiterate or innumerate (ability to read numbers).

Ohio's overall average is 18% statewide, while the national average is about 22%.

Funk also noted that the average drop out or educational obtainment rate is probably about 12%.  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)

 

Henderson County Women Find Career Success Through BRLC, BRCC Partnership
Blue Ridge Now: 12.10.2020

Two Henderson County women found jobs that advance their career goals, despite the pandemic, thanks to help from the Blue Ridge Literacy Council and Blue Ridge Community College, according to a news release from BRLC.

The two organizations have partnered providing literacy programs for more than 40 years.

Teresita Gamboa was a registered nurse in her native Costa Rica. When she came to the U.S. to join her fiancé, she spoke little English but was determined to learn quickly. She enrolled in Blue Ridge Community College English Language Acquisition classes.

Gamboa asked Literacy Council staff to find a tutor who could assist her in her goal of becoming a registered nurse in the United States. A Literacy Council tutor and retired registered nurse, Sheila Feaster, agreed to tutor Teresita in medical terminology, health literacy and English.  READ MORE ➤➤

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on 7 readability formulas:

Grade Level: 10

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 14-15 yrs. old

(Ninth to Tenth graders)

COVID19 Slide ▬ What Happens to Students Who Were Already Behind? ▬ Washington Monthly

What Happens to Students Who Were Already Behind?

COVID19 Slide

Washington Monthly: 10.29.2020 by Jem Bartholomew

Candace Spencer, a literacy tutor in Washington, D.C., logs onto her computer each weekday morning, opens recording software, smiles at the camera, and begins sounding out phonetics. The response is silence; in fact, there’s no one on the other end at all.

“Mentally, you picture your student in your head,” said Spencer, who works for The Literacy Lab, a non-profit focused on tutoring low-income students. “Maybe even some of the things that they would say in return.”

Before the pandemic, Spencer would arrive at one of the organization’s partner schools every morning to tutor kids one-on-one all day. Now, she pre-records literacy lessons for more than fifteen K-3 students. Spencer conducts live virtual sessions too, but the recorded videos are crucial; many of her students have parents who work two jobs, and the video lessons can be viewed whenever fits the family schedule.

“The students that are going to fare best throughout all of this are coming from households that have access to a lot of learning resources,” said Sarah Rose Dorton, Literacy Lab’s D.C. regional director. Most parents can’t afford the private tutors or live-in nannies that affluent families are splashing out for.

But that means that many of the students most in need are being left behind. NWEA, an education non-profit focused on learning assessments, estimated that reading gains would drop by 30 percent after about a semester of remote-only learning. According to an AP analysis of U.S. Census data, about one in five schoolchildren in D.C. live in households without internet access. Almost 30 percent lack a computer in their household, making it the worst in the nation for student technology access. The students who need literacy tutoring the most often lack the resources to learn remotely.

The long-term consequences could be stark. Poor literacy keeps people from graduating from high school and prevents them from studying at college. As many as 43 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills, according to a 2019 report from the National Center for Education Statistics. This cohort suffers a raft of ostracizing repercussions—from low-confidence to difficulty finding work. Adults with low literacy are over-represented within incarcerated populations and among those receiving public assistance.

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The pandemic has threatened the progress of adult literacy learners, too. “Not everybody even has internet, or has a computer, or knows how to use those things,” said Amy Goodman, executive director of Washtenaw Literacy, a non-profit in Michigan offering tutoring for adults. Around 90 percent of learners who come to the organization live below the poverty line, Goodman explained. Some are native English speakers who never learned to read; others are learning English as a second language.

Goodman’s lessons look different now. Tutors work with whatever technology the learner has access to. “In some cases that’s a cell phone, in some cases that’s WhatsApp, in some cases that’s—God bless it—U.S. mail,” she said. Goodman’s organization developed technology training sessions to bridge the digital skills divide. “Anything from ‘What is a mouse?’ to ‘How do I use my cell phone for Zoom?’”

Like many literacy tutoring non-profits across the country, Reading Partners D.C. fast-tracked new digital resources to aid virtual tutoring. The organization offers free instruction for students in under-resourced schools, 79 percent of whom are low-income, and 90 percent of whom are students of color. The hope is that remote learning innovations, with the right investment, could enable tutors to coach more kids with fewer resources—“to expand our reach and work quickly to close the literacy divide,” said Shukurat Adamoh-Faniyan, executive director of Reading Partners D.C. But that dream is a long way off.  READ MORE ➤➤

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)

U.S. Skills Map: State & County Indicators of Adult Literacy & Numeracy via NCES

U.S. Skills Map: State and County Indicators of Adult Literacy and Numeracy

NCES: April 2020

U.S. Skills Map

The National Center for Education Statistics surveyed 12,330 U.S. adults ages 16 to 74 living in households during 2012 to 2017 for the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), an international study involving over 35 countries. Using small area estimation models, indirect estimates of literacy and numeracy proficiency have been produced for all U.S. states and counties. By using PIAAC survey data in conjunction with data from the American Community Survey, the Skills Map provides reliable estimates of adult literacy and numeracy skills in all 50 states, all 3,141 counties, and the District of Columbia.

At or below Level 1: 22% National est.

read short digital or print texts to locate a single piece of information

At Level 2: 32% National est.

make matches between the text, either digital or printed, and information, and may require paraphrasing or low-level inferences

At or above Level 3: 46% National est.

often dense or lengthy. Understanding text and rhetorical structures is often required, as is navigating complex digital texts

National Average Scale Score: 264 (between 1-500)

Top 10 States – At or below Level 1: 22%

11: NH

13: AK ME MN MT ND VT

14: WY

15: IA WI

Bottom 10 States – At or below Level 1

29: NM

28: CA MS TX

27: LA

25: NV

24: AL FL GA NY

States above National Average Scale Score: 264

279: MN NH

277: AK DC VT

276: ND

275: WA

274: UT

States below National Average Scale Score

252: LA MS NM

254: TX

255: NV

256: AR

257: CA

259: AL FL

READ MORE  ➤➤

Literacy Reports & Statistics

Adult

2020: US Skills Map: State & County Indicators of Adult Literacy & Numeracy, NCES

2019: Adult Literacy in the United States, NCES 2019-179

2019: Literacy Gap Map, Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy

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

US Born Adults :: Largest % With Low English Literacy via Air

NCES Data Point: Adult English Literacy in the United States

AIR: 7.11.2019

The ability to read and understand basic texts is vital in modern society. Though many adults take this skill for granted, it has a deep impact on an individual’s ability to participate in society, achieve his or her goals, and fully develop their knowledge and potential.

A National Center for Education Statistics Data Point shows that one in five adults in the United States have low English literacy skills, meaning that they would have difficulty understanding, evaluating, using, or engaging with written texts. On a practical level, this means that they might struggle to compare and contrast, paraphrase, or make low-level inferences. Of the 43 million adults in the U.S. with low English literacy skills, two-thirds of them were born in the U.S.  READ MORE >>

Literacy Reports & Statistics

Adult

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

Automatic Readability Checker

Based on (7) readability formulas:

Grade Level: 10

Reading Level: fairly difficult to read.

Reader's Age: 14-15 yrs. old

(Ninth to Tenth graders)