Literacy Statistics
Literacy Data and its impact on the Nation
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Illiteracy has become such a serious problem in our country that 130 million adults are now unable to read a simple story to their children
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21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2022
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54% of adults have a literacy below 6th grade level
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45 million are functionally illiterate and read below a 5th grade level
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44% of the American adults do not read a book in a year
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The Top 3 states for highest child literacy rates were Massachusetts, Maryland, and New Hampshire, in that order (highest to lowest).
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The Bottom 3 states for child literacy rates were Louisiana, Mississippi, and New Mexico, (highest to lowest).
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Literacy Data and its impact on the Economy
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3 out of 4 people on welfare can’t read
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20% of Americans read below the level needed to earn a living wage
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50% of the unemployed between the ages of 16 and 21 cannot read well enough to be considered functionally literate
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Between 46% and 51% of American adults have an income well below the poverty level because of their inability to read
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Illiteracy costs American taxpayers an estimated $20 billion each year
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School dropouts cost our nation $240 billion in social service expenditures and lost tax revenues
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Literacy Data and its impact on Society
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3 out of 5 people in American prisons can’t read
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To determine how many prison beds will be needed in future years, some states actually base part of their projection on how well current elementary students are performing on reading tests
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85% of juvenile offenders have problems reading
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Approximately 50% of Americans read so poorly that they are unable to perform simple tasks such as reading prescription drug labels
Literacy Data and its impact in the classroom
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Approximately 40% of students across the nation cannot read at a basic level.
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Almost 70% of low-income fourth grade students cannot read at a basic level.
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49% of 4th graders eligible for free and reduced-price meals finished below “Basic” on the NAEP reading test.
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Teacher disposition changes drastically during reading instruction with poor readers.
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Student disposition changes when they are made to feel inadequate.
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Students struggle in other academic areas.
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60% of the behavioral problems occur during reading assignments- group or independently.
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Struggling readers suffer socially.
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Struggling readers suffer emotionally.
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The student's family feels the emotions and social effects.