 About Us |
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The Need for Adult English Literacy Services |
The numbers are staggering:
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93 million adults in the United States—almost half of the adult population—demonstrate, at best, only basic English literacy skills. |
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Of that number, 30 million perform at the lowest English literacy skill level. |
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11 million adults with below basic skills are considered non-literate in English. |
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From the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy |
Massachusetts statistics are equally disturbing:
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As many as 46% of Massachusetts adults struggle with the most basic literacy tasks. |
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Within the English At Large 20-town service area, more than 38,000 adults need English literacy services. |
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More than 90% of these adults include immigrants, a population with disproportionately low scores on the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy. |
These numbers reflect problems with reading, writing, speaking, and/or understanding English—problems with both individual and community consequences.
The Consequences of Low Adult Literacy
Adults with low English reading and writing skills struggle with tasks that others may accomplish
with little effort: |
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Balancing a checkbook
Reading a bus schedule
Identifying a location on a map
Understanding instructions before or after a medical procedure
Using a television guide
Signing a form |
Adults who struggle to speak or understand English face an additional set of challenges: |
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Advocating for their children at school
Describing symptoms to a physician
Obtaining emergency services
Speaking to a neighbor
Presenting themselves as competent and intelligent
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Their struggles impact the community. They are less likely to vote than their more-educated neighbors. They suffer from more health problems and lose time from work because they often cannot obtain appropriate and timely medical care.
Unrealized Individual and Economic Potential
Recent research suggests that immigrants represent the primary source of new workers in Massachusetts—that the education and skills of the immigrant population are increasingly connected to the state's economic health. Other research points to the potential of immigrants to keep the U.S. globally competitive by driving economic growth in urban areas and centers of innovation.
For example, the benefit of immigrant entrepreneurship to local and national economies is well documented: According to a 2006 study by Duke University and the University of California at Berkeley, 25% of engineering and science companies nationally were founded with at least one immigrant—companies that produced $52 billion in sales and employed 450,000 workers in 2005. A Massachusetts study commissioned by the Immigrant Learning Center found that immigrant storefront businesses are especially valuable to neighborhoods in decline as they revive commerce and investment, provide employment, improve physical appearance, and enhance public safety.
Yet in spite of all this potential, the low English literacy skills of so many immigrants present major obstacles to their ability to simply provide for their families and connect to the communities in which they live.
Lack of Opportunity
The problem of low adult English literacy can seem overwhelming. Due to insufficient funding, adults who try to enter a program must usually wait from six months to two years. In 2006, only 1.2 million adult learners were able to enroll in federally funded ESOL programs—a fraction of the population that needs these services. Nearly 15,000 adults are waiting for basic education services in Massachusetts.
But there is hope. With the support of dedicated donors who share our vision, English At Large is making a very real difference for about 250 adults every year. Read about our impact.
References
2006 MCAE Adult Basic Education Fact Sheet (pdf)
2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy
Adult Literacy Education in Immigrant Communities
A Human Capital Concern: The Literacy Proficiency of U.S. Immigrants
Immigrant Learning Center – Briefing Book and Studies
State of Adult Literacy 2005, ProLiteracy (pdf)
MCAE highlights of the Massachusetts State Assessment of Adult Literacy (pdf)
The Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassInc)
Mass. Department of Education Adult and Community Learning Services Needs Points Chart |
