Statistics Related to Literacy

Literacy in Everyday Life: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy: The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) just released Literacy in Everyday Life, the most recent publication of the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). This report provides extensive information on the literacy of American adults age 16 and older and changes in their performance since 1992. Furthermore, it examines the relationship between literacy and several demographic variables including education, occupation, and income.

Some of the key findings:

• Women have closed the gap with men in Quantitative literacy. They are doing better than men in Document and Prose literacy.
• Younger and older adults have lower literacy than adults in other age groups.
• Median weekly earnings increased with each level of literacy.
• At each higher level of Prose literacy, more adults were employed full time.

Adult Education in America: A new study funded by OVAE, was released by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) February 27, providing a comprehensive picture of federally supported adult education activities in the U.S. Data from more than 6,000 adult learners in 1,200 programs nationwide revealed that a large share of learners demonstrated skills in the lowest level on proficiency scales. This is the first nationally representative study of learners and programs using comparable measures to assess participants' literacy and numeracy skills. The survey is the first allowing researchers to compare adult education students' skills to those of the general adult population. The study also marks the first time a large-scale measure of literacy skills was conducted in both Spanish and English.  An interactive data tool also is available. Get the study and tool at http://www.ets.org

Abstract and Full Report of the Adult Education Program Survey (AEPS)

Literacy Tool from ETS

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) "The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), located within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences, is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education."

The Latest Census Information: This shows Georgia's high school graduation rate (78.6%) in comparison to the national high school graduation rate (80.4%). This data can be found in the item titled, High school graduates, percentage of persons age 25+,2000. This page provides statistics comparing Georgia rates to national rates in a variety of areas.

United States Census 2000: This is the main page of the US Census Bureau's 2002 Census information. From this page you are able to access census data by using a number of tools including the American FactFinder, State & County QuickFacts, a street address and a Data Highlight link.



At the bottom each web page on this site are Census Bureau Links to the Home page, Search, Subjects A-Z, FAQ's, Data Tools, Catalog, Census 2000, Quality, Privacy Policy and a Contact Us page.



The US Census is a highly complex undertaking and that complexity is reflected by this web site. There is often more than one way to access the same information but for the purpose of this site we will describe 3 common tasks:

• How to find out how many (ABE/GED) undereducated people there are in a county?
• How to find out how many non-English speakers are in a county.
• How to find a map.

1. To find out census information for Greene County, Georgia go to the American Fact Finder web page and type Greene County in the "city/town, county, or zip" field in the Fast Access to Information section of the page. Next use the "state" pull down menu and select Georgia. Click the red "GO" button and you will see the Census 2000 Demographic Profile Highlights for Greene County, Georgia. This page includes four major categories of information:

• General Characteristics,
• Social Characteristics,
• Economic Characteristics,
• Housing Characteristics.

To find information about the undereducated population scroll down the page to the Social Characteristics listing. Here you see the total population 25 years and over 9,508 and that 6,662 (70.1%) have are high school graduates.

2. To find out how many non-English speakers there are in Greene County continue down the page to the page and you see that there are 487 people over the age of 5 years who peak a language other than English at home.

3. Each category on the page includes a link to a popup map that illustrates the data.

U.S. Census Bureau - Factfinder: "The Census Bureau conducts many important censuses and surveys. The most well-known is the official population census of the United States, called the decennial census. It is conducted every ten years, most recently in April 2000. During each decennial census, the Census Bureau collects data from every household in the U.S. and its territories... Besides the decennial census, the Census Bureau conducts nearly one hundred other surveys and censuses every year. By law, no one is permitted to reveal information from these censuses and surveys that could identify any person, household, or business. Individual records from each decennial census are made public 72 years after the census has been taken. In the meantime, the information collected for each census and survey is summarized by geographic area and then published in a variety of formats, including printed reports, CD-ROM, DVD, and on the Internet... American FactFinder displays the results of a census or survey in table and map formats."

Georgia County Guide: The premiere demographic resource for Georgia counties. "It puts the answers you need right at your fingertips in a comprehensive, easy-to-use format that covers all 159 counties in Georgia with more variables than any other county data source."