Literacy Crisis in the United States

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Literacy crisis is a term to describe the difficulty of students meeting academic challenges due to alarmingly low literacy skills. Literacy crises are often due to one of two factors: a "decline in reading and writing abilities" or a sense that current literacy education lags behind high-tech or scientific innovation. The U.S. Department of Education declared a "crisis" in adolescent literacy in 2018. America has had a history of literacy crises, dating back to the 1970s, as highlighted in Merrill Sheils' 1975 Newsweek article, "Why Johnny Can't Write." The recent COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the decline of literacy skills in schools across America. Race and income gaps have also played a significant role in the literacy rate among marginalized individuals.

NAAL Definitions of Literacy

History

In the 1980s, America experienced a literacy crisis as seen in the 21st century. A 1983 report from the Department of Education's National Commission on Excellence in Education (NCEE) provided evidence of the crisis in education and the specific crisis in literacy:

• Approximately 23 million Americans are functionally illiterate
• Approximately 13% of all 17-year-olds in this country are functionally illiterate
• Among minority youth, the figure rises to nearly 40%
• Average scores on the Verbal Section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test declined by more than 50 points during the period 1963-1980
• Approximately 40% of the nation's 17-year-olds cannot draw inferences from the material they read, and only 20% can write a persuasive essay
• One quarter of recent recruits to the U.S. Navy cannot read at the ninth grade level

Robin Varnum also argues that America's first literacy crisis occurred simultaneously with the Industrial Revolution. As early as 1865, the President of the National Education Association complained that no subject was "taught so wretchedly as the English Language."

The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) is a national assessment of English literacy among American adults age 16 and older. Sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), NAAL is the nation's most comprehensive measure of adult literacy since the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS). NAAL not only provides information on adults' literacy performance but also on related background characteristics that are of interest to researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and the general public.

The NAAL defines literacy as both task-based and skills-based. Task-based literacy focuses on the everyday literacy tasks that an adult can and cannot perform. Skill-based literacy, on the other hand, focuses on the knowledge and skills an adult must possess in order to perform these tasks. Skills have ranged from basic, word-level skills (such as recognizing words) to higher level skills (such as drawing appropriate inferences from continuous text). These definitions provide concrete data improve understanding of the skill differences between literate adults and illiterate adults.

NAAL has developed three types of literacy to measure the literacy of individuals.

1. Prose Literacy: the knowledge and skills needed to perform prose tasks, (i.e., to search, comprehend, and use continuous texts). Examples include editorials, news stories, brochures, and instructional materials.
2. Document Literacy: the knowledge and skills needed to perform document tasks, (i.e., to search, comprehend, and use non-continuous texts in various formats). Examples include job applications, payroll forms, transportation schedules, maps, tables, and drug or food labels.
3. Quantitive Literacy: the knowledge and skills required to perform quantitative tasks, (i.e., to identify and perform computations, either alone or sequentially, using numbers embedded in printed materials). Examples include balancing a checkbook, figuring out a tip, completing an order form or determining the amount.

According to the NAAL, between 1992 and 2003, prose literacy declined for adults with a high school diploma, and prose and document literacy declined for adults with some college or with higher levels of education.

Literary crisis of 21st century

The United States Department of Education has declared a "crisis" in adolescent literacy, stating that "the literacy skills of many students in grades 4–12 are so alarmingly low that the students have difficulty meeting the academic challenges of high school and are ill prepared for post-secondary education and the workforce." The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) assesses adult skills in literacy, numeracy, and digital problem solving, as well as collects information on adults' education, work experience, and other background characteristics. PIAAC defines literacy as "the ability to understand, evaluate, use and engage with written texts to participate in society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential."

In addition, the PIAAC interprets an individuals' literacy skills based on their proficiency levels ranging from 1 to 5.

PIAAC Proficiency Levels for Literacy

Achievement Level	Score Range	Task Description
<1	0-175	The tasks at this level require the respondent to read brief texts on familiar topics to locate a single piece of specific information.
1	176-225	Most of the tasks at this level require the respondent to read relatively short digital or print continuous, non-continuous, or mixed texts to locate a single piece of information that is identical to or synonymous with the information given in the question or directive
2	226-275	Tasks at this level require respondents to make matches between the text and information, and may require paraphrasing or low-level inferences.
3	276-325	Texts at this level are often dense or lengthy, and include continuous, non-continuous, mixed, or multiple pages of text.
4	326-375	Tasks at this level often require respondents to perform multiple-step operations to integrate, interpret, or synthesize information from complex or lengthy continuous, non-continuous, mixed, or multiple type texts.
5	376-500	Tasks may require the respondent to search for and integrate information across multiple, dense texts; construct syntheses of similar and contrasting ideas or points of view; or evaluate evidence-based arguments.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of Americans, which is about 130 million people, lack proficiency in prose literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level. In addition, a 2019 report by the National Center for Education Statistics determined 79% of Americans have mid to high literacy with 21% of American adults categorized as having low level English literacy, including 4.1% classified as functionally illiterate. In addition, today’s economy and the complex political and social challenges facing the nation demand more advanced literacy skills than ever before.

COVID-19 pandemic

As COVID-19 circulated around the globe, economies began to shut down, institutions were forced to halt operations, as well as supply chains and transportation routes were stalled. In addition, schools across the country began to shut down and moved remote learning which further decreased student's literacy rates. In addition to these disruptions, "Education stands on fragile ground everywhere. Without remedial measures, this crisis will magnify the educational failures that already existed before it", said UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, Ms Stefania Giannini at the opening of the UNESCO global webinar held on International Literacy Day (ILD). The COVID-19 pandemic further revealed the fragility of adult literacy programs. Marginalized individuals suffered the most as they were failing to acquire basic reading and numeracy skills before the pandemic. As the pandemic spread, many individuals did not have the resources to continue to improve their literacy skills, causing the literacy rate to gradually drop. Furthermore, Mr. Borhene Chakroun, Director of the Division for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems at UNESCO Education Sector emphasized the lack of policy attention to youth and adult literacy and emphasized for recovery plans. A UNESCO impact survey of the COVID-19 crisis on literacy programs conducted in August 2020 revealed that more than 90% of 49 adult literacy programs were either fully or partially suspended during lockdown.

In 2020, instead of 460 million children experiencing reading difficulties, that number jumped to 584 million. This 20% increase wiped out two decades of education gains for students across the globe. The pandemic has caused complete or partial closures of schools which have disrupted the education of students for an average of 25 weeks. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has further increased the achievement gap among students, which has resulted in increasing the preparation gap of a child's early years. For example, when children enter school, the gap created before kindergarten typically follows them year after year. So students who are behind, stay behind. This is largely due to the pandemic disrupting schooling for many (young) children in 2020.

Statistics

Twenty-five million children in the U.S. cannot read proficiently (Based on an analysis of NAEP test scores).

Of all children in the United States:

• 34% of children entering kindergarten lack the basic skills needed to learn how to read
• 65% of 4th graders read below grade level, contributing to 8,000 students dropping out of high school every day
• 37% of students graduate high school at or above reading proficiency

Of all adults in the United States:

• 93 million read at or below the basic level needed to contribute successfully in society
• 43% are functionally illiterate

Possible Solutions

According to Yates, Boynton-Jarrett, and Wolf, there are two possible solutions to overcoming this literacy crisis: (1) Change the universal assumptions around how young children learn and (2) Equip teachers with access to social-emotional skills and training in order to successfully teach their students against the cycle of injustice. Every student learns differently. In addition, educators need to teach their students to listen rather than them demand to be quiet. Interactive serve and return language engagement can foster healthy, positive relationships with students. These relationships help for children to build their psychological strength and brain capacity to learn through developing social-emotional techniques. Social-emotional learning will provide students success from preliterate language development, to explicit reading instruction, to deep reading, and, ultimately, to the will to make a difference in the lives of others. Reading deeply allows children to think beyond preconceived ideas. Well-trained teachers will have the resources to reduce structural inequities in our education system, such as underfunding education by ZIP code and institutional racism.

Importance of Social Emotional Learning

These proposed solutions argue that social emotional learning is the key to overcoming the literary crisis. Without connections built through language in safe emotional spaces, healthy child development will continue to worsen. The capacity to engage with words, thoughts, and feelings are crucial for construction of the "deep reading" brain. The solution requires early social-emotional engagement, language input and exchange, and development of children’s executive functions like self-regulation in the first five years. In the following five years of every child’s life, they need teachers who understand both the science and the poetry of teaching children to read and think with all their intelligence.

File:National Assessment of Educational Progress Test Score Trends in Reading- National Averages for Thirteen-Year-Olds (Eighth Grade).png

National Assessment of Educational Progress Test Score Trends in Reading: National Averages for Thirteen-Year-Olds (Eighth Grade)

Literacy rate gaps

Race

Institutional racism (or systemic racism) is a form of racism that is embedded in the laws and regulations of a society or an organization. It often manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, health care, education, and political representation. According to Mary Ann Corley in her article "Poverty, Racism, and Literacy," "In education, institutional racism can play out in various ways, including standardization, tracking, and "hidden curricula."

2019 NAEP (The Nation's Report Card) Grade 4 reading levels at Proficient level and Basic level by Race / Ethnicity

File:Average Reading Achievement Scores for Black and White Children (1990-1993).gif

Average Reading Achievement Scores for Black and White Children (1990-93)

Standardization

According to Corley, standardization implies that a core curriculum exists and students must demonstrate mastery of the knowledge and skill sets. However, since "there is no room for 'otherness,' standardization entails injustice and the erasure of difference and diversity." This often results in children of the affluent outperform children of the poor, and White children generally outperform children of color in terms of performances on standardized tests and core curriculum. For example, 52% of Black fourth graders scored below the basic level for reading proficiency, as did 45% of Hispanic and 50% of American Indian fourth graders.

Tracking

Tracking refers to the sorting of students on the basis of race and social class, with the lower tracks predominantly filled by children of color and children from low-income families. The U.S. Department of Education's data demonstrates patterns of overrepresentation of children of color in special education. In addition, data shows that African-American students are up to four times more likely as white students to be identifies as mentally ill or emotionally disturbed. With this tracking placed in the school systems, it is difficult to 'detrack' as it is often politically charged, with issues of power and control being reinforced in the struggles.

Hidden curricula

Hidden curricula refers to "unstated norms, values, and beliefs that are transmitted to students through underlying rules that structure the routines and social interactions in the educational setting." For example, educators analyzed the content of school textbooks and found that cultural representation of sexism, racism, and socioeconomic stereotypes is "an everyday 'hidden' presence that abounds in the popular literacy reading materials." Students of color are disproportionately represented in the books that are used to teach them for many years in the future.

Income

Children’s early vocabulary skills are linked to their economic backgrounds. By age 3, there is a 30 million word gap between children from the wealthiest and poorest families. In addition, 34% of students entering kindergarten lack the basic language skills needed to learn how to read. In addition, a study down by sociologist Sean Reardon shows, "Among children born during the 1940s, the gap between the average reading achievement of those growing up in families at the 10th percentile of the income distribution and those growing up in families at the 90th percentile of the income distribution was about 0.60 standard deviation. Among cohorts born in the first years of the twenty-first century, the corresponding gap in average reading skills is twice as large, about 1.25 standard deviations." By the time children from low-income families enter grade school, their proficiency in reading has already become an issue. 47% percent of fourth graders from low-income families read below the basic level.

References

• "Educational Achievement and Black-White Inequality". nces.ed.gov. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
• "See how U.S. students performed in reading at grades 4 and 8". The Nation's Report Card. 2019. Retrieved 3/9/2022.

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