Table 383. | Literacy skills of adults, 16 years old and over, by selected characteristics: 1992 |
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | Prose literacy\1\ | Document literacy \2\ | Quantitative literacy \3\ Selected |______________________________|______________________________|______________________________ characteristics | Av- |Percent of adults with |Av- |Percent of adults with |Av- |Percent of adults with |erage| proficiency at level |erage| proficiency at level |reage| proficiency at level |score|________________________|score|________________________|score|________________________ | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 ____________________________|_____|____|____|____|____|____|_____|____|____|____|____|____|_____|____|____|____|____|____ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 ____________________________|_____|____|____|____|____|____|_____|____|____|____|____|____|_____|____|____|____|____|____ Total ....................| 272 | 21 | 27 | 32 | 17 | 3 | 267 | 23 | 28 | 31 | 15 | 3 | 271 | 22 | 25 | 31 | 17 | 4 |_____|____|____|____|____|____|_____|____|____|____|____|____|_____|____|____|____|____|____ Sex | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Male .....................| 272 | 22 | 26 | 31 | 18 | 4 | 269 | 23 | 27 | 31 | 17 | 3 | 277 | 21 | 23 | 31 | 20 | 5 Female ...................| 273 | 20 | 28 | 33 | 17 | 3 | 265 | 23 | 30 | 31 | 14 | 2 | 266 | 23 | 28 | 31 | 15 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Age | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 16 to 18 years old .......| 271 | 16 | 35 | 38 | 11 | 1 | 274 | 15 | 34 | 38 | 12 | 1 | 268 | 20 | 35 | 33 | 12 | 1 19 to 24 years old .......| 280 | 14 | 29 | 37 | 18 | 2 | 280 | 14 | 29 | 37 | 18 | 2 | 277 | 16 | 28 | 37 | 16 | 2 25 to 39 years old .......| 284 | 15 | 24 | 34 | 22 | 5 | 282 | 16 | 25 | 35 | 21 | 4 | 283 | 17 | 23 | 33 | 21 | 5 40 to 54 years old .......| 286 | 15 | 23 | 34 | 22 | 5 | 278 | 17 | 27 | 33 | 19 | 3 | 286 | 16 | 22 | 33 | 23 | 6 55 to 64 years old .......| 260 | 26 | 31 | 30 | 12 | 1 | 249 | 30 | 34 | 26 | 8 | 1 | 261 | 25 | 30 | 30 | 13 | 2 65 years old and older ...| 230 | 44 | 32 | 19 | 5 | 1 | 217 | 53 | 32 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 227 | 45 | 26 | 20 | 7 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Race/ethnicity | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | White ....................| 286 | 14 | 25 | 36 | 21 | 4 | 280 | 16 | 27 | 34 | 19 | 3 | 287 | 14 | 24 | 35 | 21 | 5 Black ....................| 237 | 38 | 37 | 21 | 4 | 0 | 230 | 43 | 36 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 224 | 46 | 34 | 17 | 3 | 0 Asian or Pacific Islander | 242 | 36 | 25 | 25 | 12 | 2 | 245 | 34 | 25 | 28 | 12 | 2 | 256 | 30 | 23 | 27 | 16 | 4 American Indian ..........| 254 | 25 | 39 | 28 | 7 | 1 | 254 | 27 | 37 | 29 | 7 | 0 | 250 | 33 | 32 | 28 | 7 | 1 Hispanic, Mexican ........| 206 | 54 | 25 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 205 | 54 | 25 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 205 | 54 | 25 | 17 | 4 | 0 Hispanic, Cuban ..........| 211 | 53 | 24 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 212 | 48 | 30 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 223 | 46 | 20 | 25 | 6 | 3 Hispanic, Puerto Rican ...| 218 | 47 | 32 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 215 | 49 | 29 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 212 | 51 | 28 | 17 | 3 | 1 Hispanic, Central/ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | South American .........| 207 | 56 | 22 | 17 | 4 | 0 | 206 | 53 | 25 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 203 | 53 | 25 | 18 | 4 | 0 Hispanic, other ..........| 260 | 25 | 27 | 33 | 13 | 2 | 254 | 28 | 26 | 32 | 12 | 2 | 246 | 31 | 25 | 31 | 11 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Highest level of education | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Still in high school .....| 271 | 16 | 36 | 37 | 11 | 0 | 274 | 15 | 35 | 38 | 12 | 1 | 269 | 19 | 35 | 32 | 12 | 1 0 to 8 years .............| 177 | 75 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 170 | 79 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 169 | 76 | 18 | 5 | 1 | 0 9 to 12 years ............| 231 | 42 | 38 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 227 | 46 | 37 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 227 | 45 | 34 | 17 | 3 | 0 GED ......................| 268 | 14 | 39 | 39 | 7 | 0 | 264 | 17 | 42 | 34 | 7 | 0 | 268 | 16 | 38 | 35 | 10 | 1 High school diploma ......| 270 | 16 | 36 | 37 | 10 | 1 | 264 | 20 | 38 | 33 | 9 | 1 | 270 | 18 | 33 | 37 | 12 | 1 Some college .............| 294 | 8 | 23 | 45 | 22 | 3 | 290 | 9 | 27 | 42 | 20 | 2 | 295 | 8 | 23 | 42 | 23 | 4 Associate degree .........| 308 | 4 | 19 | 41 | 32 | 4 | 299 | 6 | 23 | 43 | 25 | 3 | 307 | 4 | 19 | 43 | 29 | 5 Bachelor's degree ........| 322 | 4 | 11 | 35 | 40 | 10 | 314 | 4 | 15 | 37 | 36 | 8 | 322 | 4 | 12 | 35 | 38 | 12 Graduate studies/degree ..| 336 | 2 | 7 | 28 | 47 | 16 | 326 | 3 | 10 | 34 | 41 | 12 | 334 | 2 | 9 | 30 | 42 | 17 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Region | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Northeast ................| 270 | 22 | 28 | 31 | 16 | 3 | 264 | 24 | 29 | 30 | 14 | 2 | 267 | 24 | 25 | 31 | 16 | 4 Midwest ..................| 279 | 16 | 28 | 35 | 18 | 3 | 274 | 19 | 30 | 33 | 16 | 2 | 280 | 17 | 26 | 34 | 19 | 4 South ....................| 267 | 23 | 28 | 30 | 15 | 3 | 262 | 26 | 29 | 29 | 14 | 2 | 265 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 15 | 4 West .....................| 276 | 20 | 23 | 33 | 21 | 4 | 271 | 22 | 24 | 32 | 18 | 3 | 276 | 20 | 22 | 32 | 20 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Prison population ..........| 246 | 31 | 37 | 26 | 6 | 0 | 240 | 33 | 38 | 25 | 4 | 0 | 236 | 40 | 32 | 22 | 6 | 1 ____________________________|_____|____|____|____|____|____|_____|____|____|____|____|____|_____|____|____|____|____|____ |
\1\Prose literacy is the ability to understand and use information contained in various kinds of textual material. A
level 1 score of 0 to 225 requires the reader to locate a single piece of information in a short text. A level 2 score
of 226 to 275 requires the reader to locate a single piece of information in the text with several distractors or to
make low-level inferences. A level 3 score of 276 to 325 requires the reader to make literal or synonymous matches
between the text and information given in the task, or to make low-level inferences. A level 4 score of 326 to 375
requires the reader to perform multiple-feature matches and to integrate or synthesize information from complex
passages. A level 5 score of 376 to 500 requires the reader to search for information in dense text which contains a
number of distractors. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Adult Literacy Survey, Adult Literacy in America, 1992, prepared by Educational Testing Service. (This table was prepared February 1994.) |