I am posting this on behalf of Dr. Daphne Greenberg, Moderator of the  
Poverty, Race, Women & Literacy Discussion List.


Title of Discussion:
Gender, Race, SES and Adult Literacy:  What does the National Assessment of 
Adult Literacy (NAAL) tell  us?

When:
May 21-May 29, 2007

Where: 
Poverty, Race, Women,  and Literacy List. To subscribe (and later unsubscribe 
if you wish) go to:  
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen

Guest  Discussant: 
Elizabeth Greenberg

Guest  Bio:
Elizabeth Greenberg, is a principal research analyst at the American  
Institutes for Research (AIR), and is AIR's Project Director for the 2008  National 
Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) Special Studies contract.  She  was also 
AIR's Deputy Project Director for the 2003 NAAL Design, Analysis, and  Reporting 
contract. In her role as Deputy Project Director for the 2003 NAAL,  she led 
the development of the NAAL background questionnaire and assessment  items. 
She is a lead author or co-author of several reports based on the 2003  NAAL, 
including A First Look at the Literacy of America's Adults in the 21st  Century, 
The Health Literacy of America's Adults, Literacy in Everyday Life,  Literacy 
Behind Bars, and the 2003 NAAL Public-Use Data File User's Guide.   Elizabeth 
is also an author or co-author of several reports and articles based  upon 
the 1992 adult literacy data, including English Literacy and  Language
Minorities in the United States.   


Resources  for Discussion:
A First Look at the Literacy of America's Adults in the 21st  Century
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007473

The  Health Literacy of America's  Adults
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007473

Literacy  in Everyday  Life
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007480

Literacy  Behind  Bars
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007473


Key  Points from NAAL 2003 related to Literacy, Gender, Race, and  SES:

Gender

•    Between 1992 and 2003, women’s average  document and quantitative 
literacy scores increased.  During the same time  period, men’s average document 
literacy score decreased and there was no  statistically significant change in 
average quantitative literacy for men.  

•    Between 1992 and 2003, women’s average prose literacy  score stayed the 
same, while men’s average prose literacy score  decreased.   

•    In 2003, women had higher average  prose and document literacy than men, 
and men had higher average quantitative  literacy than women.  In 1992, there 
was no statistically significant  difference between men and women in their 
average prose literacy, but men had  higher average document and quantitative 
literacy than women.   

Race

•    Between 1992 and 2003, average prose,  document, and quantitative
literacy increased for Black adults.   

•    Between 1992 and 2003, average prose and document  literacy decreased 
for Hispanic adults.  Average quantitative literacy did  not change for Hispanic 
adults.  The percentage of the adult population  (age 16 and older) that 
identified themselves as Hispanic increased from 8  percent in 1992 to 12 percent 
in 2003.

•    Between 1992 and  2003, average prose literacy increased for 
Asian/Pacific Islander adults and  there was no statistically significant change in 
average document and  quantitative literacy for this group.

•    Between 1992 and  2003, there was no statistically significant change in 
average prose and  document literacy for white adults, but there was an 
increase in quantitative  literacy.  

SES

•    Among adults with Below Basic  prose literacy, 26 percent lived in 
households with average incomes of less than  $10,000 and only 7 percent lived in 
households with average incomes of $60,000  or greater.  Among adults with 
Proficient prose literacy, 2 percent lived  in households with average incomes of 
less than $10,000 and 65 percent lived in  households with average incomes of 
$60,000 or greater.  

•   Higher percentages of adults with higher literacy levels than adults with 
 lower literacy levels were employed full-time, and lower percentages were 
out of  the labor force.  Sixty-four percent of adults with Proficient prose  
literacy were employed full-time, compared with 29 percent of adults with Below  
Basic prose literacy.  Eighteen percent of adults with Proficient prose  
literacy were not in the labor force, compared with 57 percent of adults with  
Below Basic prose literacy.

•    The occupational groups with  the highest average prose, document, and 
quantitative literacy scores were  Professional and related and Management, 
Business, and Financial.  The  occupational groups with the lowest average prose 
document and quantitative  literacy scores were Service; Farming, Fishing, and 
Forestry; Transportation and  Material Moving; Production; and Construction 
and  Extraction.


Daphne Greenberg
Assistant  Professor
Educational Psych. & Special Ed.
Georgia State  University
P.O. Box 3979
Atlanta, Georgia 30302-3979
phone:  404-651-0127
fax:404-651-4901
dgreenberg at gsu.edu

Daphne  Greenberg
Associate Director
Center for the Study of Adult  Literacy
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3977
Atlanta, Georgia  30302-3977
phone:  404-651-0127
fax:404-651-4901
dgreenberg at gsu.edu



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