America’s Most Literate Cities: 2013

America’s Most Literate Cities: 2013

Drawing from a variety of available data resources, the America’s Most Literate Cities study ranks the largest cities (population 250,000 and above) in the United States. This study focuses on six key indicators of literacy: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources.

Top 10 Cities

1  Washington, DC

2  Seattle, WA

3  Minneapolis, MN

4.5 Atlanta, GA

4.5 Pittsburgh, PA

6  Denver, CO

7  St. Paul, MN

8  Boston, MA

9  St. Louis, MO

10 San Francisco, CA

Bottom 15

63  Arlington, TX

64  Los Angeles, CA

65  Memphis, TN

66  Glendale, AZ

67  Long Beach, CA

68  Mesa, AZ

69  Aurora, CO

70  Chula Vista, CA

71  Fresno, CA

72  Anaheim, CA

73  San Antonio, TX

74  El Paso, TX

75  Stockton, CA

76  Corpus Christi, TX

77  Bakersfield, CA

Dr. John W. Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University, is the author of this study. Research for this edition of AMLC was conducted in collaboration with the Center for Public Policy and Social Research at CCSU.

The original study was published online in 2003 at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Literacy: Spanning North America - Nassau NY, Abington PA, Sioux Falls SD, Burnaby BC

Literacy: Spanning the U.S. & Canada

Literacy Blooms In Hicksville

Anton News: 1.29.2014 by Emily Cappiello

Speaking and understanding English is something that a lot of people take for granted. Many of us were brought up speaking it fluently and learn how to become advocates for ourselves using the language. However, there are many people — from immigrants to native speakers — who cannot fully grasp English and cannot communicate their needs. Literacy Nassau is battling this problem head on, by teaming up with the Hicksville Public Library to offer its services to those in the area that need help mastering English.

Since 1968, Literacy Nassau has been helping adults who struggle with reading, writing and speaking English. The organization offers three programs: Adult Literacy Education (a one-on-one tutoring program), conversation groups, and citizenship programs.  Literary specialist Ocaria Silva says that one of Literacy Nassau’s most popular offerings in Hicksville is the citizenship programs, which are offered on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturday. Not only does Literacy Nassau offer classes to assist those who need it in mastering English, but the organization also stands by its members in the fight to become U.S. citizens. READ MORE !

VIDEO: Abington Township Public Library offers literacy program

Montgomery News: 1.24.2014 by Jarreau Freeman

When Erika Witt, 71, retired after 41 years of teaching, she didn’t hesitate to jump back into teaching again.

Instead of teaching children, she set her sights on adult education.

It’s been more than three years since Witt became a volunteer tutor with the Abington Township Public Library’s Adult Literacy Program, and she said her time as a tutor has been “extremely rewarding.”

“[Tutoring] brings me more than I’m sure I can give [the students],” she said with a chuckle. “They are just so grateful and so eager, and it’s just a rewarding thing to [witness] for someone who is a teacher.”

The Adult Literacy Program was established in 1984 to fill a growing need in the community and surrounding areas by helping adults who could not read and write, explained Program Coordinator Rob Naborn.

According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy in April 2013, 32 million adults cannot read — that’s 14 percent of the population. Another 21 percent of adults read below a fifth-grade level.

The program has grown to include English as a Second Language and GED tutoring in addition to basic reading and writing assistance, Naborn said.

With more than 100 volunteer tutors, the program services approximately 130 people a year. Many of the adults participating in the program are ESL students from China, Japan, Korea, Latin America, Russia and the Ukraine, Naborn said.  READ MORE !

Reading tutors help illiterate reach goals

Argus Leader: 1.17.2014 by Beth Wischmeyer

For almost 30 years, the Sioux Falls Area Literacy Council has helped adults learn to read but also gain the confidence to perform basic life tasks, such as filling out a job application or navigating the Internet.

Tutors last year provided almost 60 adult learners with more than 3,000 hours of one-on-one instruction to instill critical literacy skills.

Though the organization has been around for more than two decades, officials say their name is not well known and hard to remember. So, they’ve change their name to just one word: REACH.

Executive Director Paige Carda recently answered five questions about the name change.

Question: What’s the history of the literacy council?

Answer: “We’ve been around for 27 years. When it first started, they did prison ministry. One of our volunteers, who is still with us today, went up to the prison and then they worked with the inmates there. A couple of years later, they moved into becoming more out into the community. The mission has always been to teach adults to read, so that has stayed the same, and really working with whoever we come across.”  READ MORE !

Literacy helps improve family’s life

Burnaby News Leader: 1.23.2014 by Mario

For Rajeeta Samala, it was literacy that brought her family to Canada.

When Samala and her husband Jithender Reddy had their daughter Sahithi, they wanted to ensure she’d have every chance at success in her life. They even timed her birth so she’d be able to start school at the earliest opportunity.

But they couldn’t do anything about the educational system into which she’d been born. In Bahrain, where the family was living at the time, there’s limited post-secondary opportunities. In their native India, Rajeeta explains, learning is so book-based, there’s no allowance in the curriculum for social or physical development.

So in 2009 Rajeeta, a teacher, packed up her family and moved to Canada.

“We knew she’d need a good educational system,” says Rajeeta. “We wanted her to be able to apply her schooling to real life.”

While the family already spoke English, when they arrived in their new home they realized they had much to learn about Canada’s culture.

So they went to the library.

Having such ready access to so many books was foreign to them. Being able to bring them home an amazing gift.

.     .     .     .     .     .     .

Sahithi says her reading skills have made her more confident and independent. Rajeeta says those traits will serve her daughter well as she finds her way in the world, assured that she’ll be able to try her hand at many things. And those reading sessions together have had a lasting impact on her own life; she’s the coordinator of the adult literacy program at Burnaby Neighbourhood House. To learn more about Family Literacy Day, go to www.abclifeliteracy.ca. READ MORE !

Reading Bowl MMXIV: Seattle v. Denver

Reading Bowl MMXIV

Seattle v. Denver

It's @SPLBuzz v. @denverlibrary in the Reading Bowl! Seattle Public Library challenged Denver Public Library to see which city can get the most people talking on Twitter about what they're reading: using the tags #SEAreads #DENreads and #ReadingBowl.

What's at stake: The winning library gets smug satisfaction; the non-winning library (because no library is a loser) will create a prominent display of books/movies/music set in the winning library's city.

Libraries - Share What You Know About Adult Literacy

TimetoReskill Slide Show

Share What You Know About Adult Literacy:

Libraries Invited to Provide Input

UpNext: The IMLS Blog: 1.23.2014 by mheintz

A Joint OVAE-IMLS UpNext Blog Post

Results from the latest international study of adult skills, Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) Survey of Adult Skills, show that the U.S. workforce trails many other developed nations in foundational skills essential for both individuals and the nation as a whole to thrive. These skills include the ability to read, the ability to understand numbers and do math, and the ability to solve problems using technology.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education and the Institute of Museum and Library Services invite libraries to visit TimetoReskill.org to learn more about hosting a roundtable.

The site’s many resources include:

-A consultation paper, a 10-page paper that can be shared in advance of an event to provide background on the skills issue and the framework for the National Action Plan

-A toolkit, a step-by-step guide to running a local roundtable from types of people to invite to what questions to pose

-An online feedback form (Submit comments by March 14 to be considered in the Plan.)

Learn more about the results of the study by reading Time for the U.S. to Reskill? What the Survey of Adult Skills Says, a report completed by OECD at the request of the U.S. Department of Education.

Libraries play an important role in boosting adults’ foundational skills and they have the ability to offer important insights that can help shape the national action plan. Libraries can take part by hosting roundtable discussion to provide input on the plan.

Literacy: Spanning the U.S. - Highlands Co FL, Salem IN, Mercer Co NJ

Literacy: Spanning the U.S.

20 percent of Highlands adults are illiterate

Highlands Today: 1.15.2014 by Gary Pinnell

Are you more literate than a third grader? Thirteen percent of Americans may not be.

"There are currently more than 30 million adults in the United States whose ability to read, write, and do basic math is at or below the level of the average third grader," said a Dec. 11 Remapping Debate web story.

"I would agree," said Sylvia Turner, director of South Florida State College's Adult Education Department, "based on what I see, through the students who come to us, who don't know how to do reading and writing or math."

Literacy isn't just the ability to read basic words. The National Assessment of AdultLiteracy measures the skill to search, comprehend and read continuous texts; to use payroll forms, job applications, transportation schedules, maps, tables and food labels; and the proficiency to balance a checkbook, figure a waiter's tip, or complete an order form.

Eleven million Americans are non-literate in English, 7 million couldn't answer test questions, 4 million couldn't take the NAAL because of language barriers.

Today's digital society presents ever-larger challenges.

"The GED is comprised of more and more advanced math," said Turner. The General Education Development test includes measurements, geometry, data analysis, statistics, probability, algebra and patterns.

Eighteen percent of Highlands County's 80,000 adults lack basic literacy skills, according to the Florida Literacy Coalition's 2003 assessment. That's 2 percent better than the rest of the Sunshine State. In 13 of Florida's counties, 20 percent or more lack skills, according to the FLC's 2003 report "Getting Started in Adult Literacy."

Those are the most current statistics available from the Florida Literacy Coalition in Orlando, Turner said. READ MORE !

SOAR! literacy group to close doors Jan. 31

Salem Leader: 1.17.2014 by Marcia Walker

It looks like it's all over for SOAR!, the local organization with a main focus of helping people age 18 and over improve their reading skills in preparation for taking the high school equivalency exam.

Board members have crunched the numbers and know there isn't enough money to keep the program going. Expenses include rent, materials and salary for a part-time director.

Plans are to close the organization as of Jan. 31. Some $25,000 is needed to keep the program going for a year; $6,000 would carry it to March and its first fundraiser, a chili cook-off.

It's a decision that rankles Alice Nevels, both a board member and a tutor as well as a retired educator. Nevels pointed out that the community is losing a valuable resource, both the program and the part-time director, Erica Schmidt. Once gone, there's no getting either back, she said. Schmidt works part-time and much of her time is spent raising money; time Nevels said would be better spent working with students.

"I feel this is a program that should be using her more, not closing down and sending her packing," Nevels said. "SOAR! should be benefiting from this resource. Once gone, we won't get it back."

There is a program available to county residents that helps people prepare for the high school equivalency exam but students who end up in SOAR! don't qualify because most can't read at the required fifth-grade level. SOAR! tests them to determine their reading level then matches them with a trained, volunteer tutor who works with them one-on-one.

U.S. adult literacy stats

-14% of adults over 16 read at or below 5th grade level.

-75% of state prison inmates didn't complete high school or can be classified as low literate.

-The effects of low literacy cost the U.S. more than $225 billion each year in non-productivity in the workforce and loss of tax revenue due to unemployment. Individuals at the lowest level of literacy have a higher rate of unemployment than the national average - 14.5% in 2011.  READ MORE !

Literacy Volunteers of Hamilton share wisdom

NJ.com: 1.09.2014 by Amanda Ippolito

According to Literacy Volunteers in Mercer County, there are about 60,000 adults in Mercer County reading at fifth-grade level or below.

The Hamilton-based nonprofit wants to change that.

The 36-year-old organization provides free, confidential services to adults in Mercer County hoping to improve their ability to read, write and speak English. It offers individual and group lessons for adults whose native language is English, and for English speakers of other languages.

There currently are about 140 active tutors and 165 students, and 85 adults waiting for help. Group classes are offered in conversational and computer skills.

There is “never a shortage of students, always a shortage of teachers,” program coordinator Victoria Golden said.

Tutors come from “very diverse backgrounds,” Golden said, and should have a high school diploma or its equivalent. They do not need education training, a college degree or foreign language knowledge.  READ MORE !

National Literacy Action Week (NLAW) January 27 – February 1

National Literacy Action Week (NLAW)

January 27 – February 1

NLAW is a Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education [SCALE] initiative for strengthening literacy activism. During the week, campus literacy programs nationwide join together to raise awareness about literacy and create change on their campuses and in their communities.

To raise awareness:

- Help people understand the need for literacy services locally or nationally.

- Inform your community about the importance of having adequate literacy skills, and what it means for those who do not.

- Raise awareness about your program’s activities and the essential work you do.

- Make connections between literacy and other social justice issues by demonstrating the very real relationships operating in society (e.g., literacy and racism, poverty, sexism, immigration, health needs).

To make change:

- Address a social justice issue in your local community or on campus.

- Advocate for changes in a local school.

- Lobby local, state or national elected officials to commit more resources for literacy initiatives.

- Pressure decision-makers in education (or other human service areas) to embrace policies and practices that benefit learners most and lead to greater justice and equality.

Virtual Conference

February 1, 2014 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM (EST)

Hunter Phillips Goodman @ 10am

the history of student-led service movements

Lucy Lewis @ 11am

her experiences with voting rights in the 1970s and now

Kate DiCamillo - National Ambassador for Young People's Literature: Jan 10

National Ambassador for Young People's Literature: 2014-15
Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo Named New National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.

“Stories Connect Us” to Be Her Platform

Kate DiCamillo, Newbery Medal Award-winner and honoree, today was named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. DiCamillo will serve in the position during 2014 and 2015, succeeding Walter Dean Myers. She has chosen "Stories Connect Us" for her platform. The inauguration ceremony will take place Jan. 10 at 11 a.m. in Room LJ-119 of the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C.

The theme of hope and belief amid impossible circumstances is a common thread in much of Kate DiCamillo’s writing. In her instant No. 1 New York Times best-seller “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” (2006), a haughty china rabbit undergoes a profound transformation after finding himself  face down on the ocean floor -- lost and waiting to be found. “The Tale of Despereaux" (2003), the Newbery Medal-winning novel that later inspired an animated adventure from Universal Pictures, stars a tiny mouse with exceptionally large ears who is driven by love to become an unlikely hero. And “The Magician’s Elephant” (2009), an acclaimed and exquisitely paced fable, dares to ask the question, What if?

Kate DiCamillo’s own journey is something of a dream come true. After moving to Minnesota from Florida in her 20s, homesickness and a bitter winter helped inspire “Because of Winn-Dixie” (2000), her first published novel, which, remarkably, became a runaway best-seller and snapped up a Newbery Honor. “After the Newbery committee called me, I spent the whole day walking into walls,” she says. “I was stunned. And very, very happy.”  READ MORE !

The National Ambassador program was established in 2008
Jon Scieszka, 2008-2009.
Katherine Paterson, 2010-2011
Walter Dean Myers, 2012-2013