The share of adults with literacy skills at the lowest levels measured has increased significantly as the gap between the highly educated and the less educated in the United States widens, according to new data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ latest survey of adult skills.
The survey was previously administered in 2017, when 19% of American adults were at the lowest level of literacy. In 2023, that figure rose to 28%, a change that NCES Commissioner Peggy Carr called “substantial” during a news conference announcing the study Monday.
“It’s bigger than what we would normally see in an international assessment, especially literacy, which is a fairly stable construct,” she said.
And compared to the other countries measured, the U.S. has remained about the same overall, as most saw a decline in skills from 2017 to 2023. The survey, known as the Survey of Adult Skills, covers more than twenty countries, most of which are members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The survey assesses and compares the literacy, numeracy and problem-solving levels of the working-age population.
Low scores are not the same as illiteracy, Carr said. The closest the study comes to measuring those who can be called functionally illiterate, which is the inability to read or write at a level that allows you to cope with basic life and the workplace. When asked what could be causing the decline in adult literacy in the US, Carr said: “It’s hard to say.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
