INTERAGENCY COORDINATING GROUP
FOR ADULT LITERACY

The Interagency Coordinating Group for Adult Literacy is dedicated to improving the literacy of adults living in the United States. Literacy is defined as an individual’s ability to read, write, and speak in English, and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society.

History

In December 2005, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released the results of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL).The report, “A First Look at the Literacy of America’s Adults in the 21st Century,” represents the first national findings on adult literacy since 1992.The NAAL confirmed that there has been little change in American adults’ reading skills between 1992 and 2003. Over 93 million individuals scored at the “below basic” and “basic” levels of literacy.

To pursue a comprehensive and preventive approach to addressing the report findings, United States Secretary of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced plans to bring together the various federal agencies with resources to provide literacy services to adults. In March of 2006, 14 federal agencies came together to begin a dialogue and to address seven objectives aimed to improve the federal response to America’s literacy challenge.

Mission and Objectives

The mission of the Interagency Coordinating Group for Adult Literacy is to address the federal response to the findings of the NAAL by focusing on the following objectives:

• Improve collaboration/coordination.
• Leverage resources among federal programs to expand services to adults needing literacy services.
• Share best practices/research on effective strategies.
• Explore joint public/private partnerships.
• Explore public/private partnerships.
• Help states maximize the federal investment in adult education.
• Reduce duplication of effort among federal agencies.
• Review accountability measures in all adult education programs and provide suggestions to improve the current accountability system.

As a result of this effort:

• The federal partner agencies participating in the work group are contributing information and resources to this web site with the goal of supporting an interagency collection of resources devoted to improving literacy.
• The federal partners have identified funding resources that state and local providers may access to improve literacy.
• The United States Department of Education has created a database of foundations that provide support to national, state, and local literacy efforts.
• The federal partners are increasing their efforts to involve business representatives in the effort to improve literacy of adults living in America.

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