Adult and family literacy lifts people out of poverty.
Readers Are Leaders
National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week is observed from September 20 to September 26
This year, AEFL Week activities will focus on the foundational role of adult education in solutions to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting recession and unemployment. National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week raises awareness and assists adults in need of literacy services.
Here are some important facts about Adult Literacy in the United States (source: Proliteracy).
• More than 36 million American adults struggle to read, write, do math, and use technology above a third grade level.
• The recent Program for the International Assessment of Adult Literacy (PIAAC) examined the United States and 23 other industrialized countries, and found that the average U.S. literacy score was below the international average—ranking 16th out of 24 countries. Only 12% of adults in the U.S. performed at the highest proficiency level on the literacy scale.
• Children of parents with low literacy skills have a 72% chance of being at the lowest reading levels themselves.
• A mother’s level of reading skill is the greatest determinant of her child’s academic success.
• Parents with a high school diploma are 11% more likely to assist their children with homework.
• $230 billion per year in health care costs are linked to low literacy skills.
• Adults with below-basic literacy skills earn, on average, $28,000 less than salaries of adults with proficient skills.
• The percentage of black and Hispanic adults in the U.S. who performed at the highest proficiency level on the literacy scale was lower than the percentage of white adults.
Adult and family literacy lifts people out of poverty. Please keep reading to find what you can do to help!
Making the transition and we're stronger for it
“Because of the pandemic, we now have a clear window into technology disparity, the digital divide, when students, including adult learners, are supposed to be learning onlin and many cannot because they do not have access to remote education technology.” (ProLiteracy, COVID-19 Report, July 2020)
If you receive Day Sponsorships as part of your membership to Blue Ridge Public Radio, consider donating them to the Literacy Council
The day sponsorships allow us to promote volunteer tutor opportunities and more. Learn more here.
Help us spread the word!
Our tutor training is now available through distance learning. Adult Literacy and English for Speakers of Other Languages have already completed training classes and more are scheduled. Youth Literacy will be online soon. Tutor trainees also learn how to conduct tutoring sessions with their students through distance learning. And it works!Take a look at our website for the next online volunteer orientation meetings.
Please help us spread the word. Thank you for your continuos support!
