Literacy Statistics

Illiteracy is expensive:

Findings from the National Adult Assessment of Literacy

42 million adult Americans can’t read; 50 million recognize so few printed words they are limited to a 4th or 5th grade reading level.

Nearly half of all functionally illiterate adults live in poverty; they are less likely to find employment than their more literate counterparts and are more likely to require public assistance.

Annual health care costs for people with average literacy skills are about $3,000; for those at the lowest literacy level the cost is about $13,000.

Because nearly 70 percent of incarcerated adults are functionally illiterate, many states, including Arizona, find they can use the illiteracy rate to calculate future prison needs.

According to Michael Brunner, a U.S. Department of Justice official, there is a clear cause-effect relationship between illiteracy and delinquency. He states, “The true picture is that illiteracy causes poverty, drug use and crime”.

And now to the local literacy news:

In Coconino County, 1 in 9 adults are functionally illiterate and 3 of 10 students drop out of high school, leaving them vulnerable to dire consequences.

According to data from Arizona Indicators (arizonaindicators.org) Coconino County consistently scores among the lowest in the state for reading and writing on the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) test.

Too many of our neighbors are without the basic literacy skills necessary to conduct even the most elementary transactions. It’s difficult to shop, use banking services, access public transportation, drive, or manage medications without the ability to read labels and signs. Without basic reading and communication skills, teens and adults are at risk for failure in the workplace, as parents, as consumers, and as participants in our community. In fact, our low literacy rates put our entire community at risk.