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   Stephanie Moore (stephaniemoore@mastodon.online)'s status on Sunday, 10-Nov-2024 01:26:05 JST Stephanie Moore

   Yes, it’s true that 54% of US adults struggle with reading, although the grade level equivalence is a dubious inference. I study this, so I want to share a few insights: namely that this trend isn’t unique to the US and better understanding the data has more implications than you may realize. /1

   https://mastodon.world/@afouxenidis/113453002410321310

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     Stephanie Moore (stephaniemoore@mastodon.online)'s status on Sunday, 10-Nov-2024 01:26:03 JST Stephanie Moore

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     19% are at Level 1, meaning text-based information presents difficulties. This is a continuum of meaning, but people at Level 1 struggle with more technical content or jargon (like political / expert / technical lingo or jargon). Some tools, like Newsela (which we should invest in!) have humans who rewrite news for different reading levels, but those aren’t widely used though adult learners do really like them when introduced to them. So the average blog, posts like this thread, and newspapers

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     Stephanie Moore (stephaniemoore@mastodon.online)'s status on Sunday, 10-Nov-2024 01:26:03 JST Stephanie Moore

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     are too difficult to access. The remainder of that 54% score below Level 1 or cannot be tested for some reason (eg a cognitive impairment, etc).

     So, many adults take in their information aurally - enter television, YouTube, TikTok, etc.

     … Why don’t we invest in adult education and literacy? Well, we do, but it is substantially under-funded compared to K-12. And the logic goes (you might be going down this road yourself) … if we start young then we address the root cause. Yes, BUT …

     Bill repeated this.
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     Stephanie Moore (stephaniemoore@mastodon.online)'s status on Sunday, 10-Nov-2024 01:26:03 JST Stephanie Moore

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     In the meantime, *that still leaves 54% of adults in the here and now.* We don’t have stats on the comparisons of funding for k-12 literacy to adult. We do have adult ed programs in every state, but some states have more funding, and ProLiteracy regularly estimates that only 10% of adults who would benefit access those services - for a host of systemic, intertwining reasons like transportation, work schedules, child care, and other access barriers.

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     Stephanie Moore (stephaniemoore@mastodon.online)'s status on Sunday, 10-Nov-2024 01:26:04 JST Stephanie Moore

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     Technically, 54% of US adults read at Level 2 or lower as measured by PIAAC. (While grade equivalence claims are common, it’s not backed by any data, so many of us are abandoning that phrasing … plus what “6th grade” means is vague and cultural).

     A better way to understand this is that a reader at Level 2 has trouble making meaning across multiple texts, especially if those texts contradict each other. Level 1 means they have difficulty accessing information via text.

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     Stephanie Moore (stephaniemoore@mastodon.online)'s status on Sunday, 10-Nov-2024 01:26:04 JST Stephanie Moore

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     The US is very middling in this data. PIAAC is a global measure (conducted every 10 years, so we are coming up on another data dump), and they compare data across countries.

     So as you read a stat like this, I want you to understand: this isn’t unique to the US and thus isn’t indicative of a challenge unique to the US. There is a reason educational access is one of UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goal. Additionally, women and POC are over-represented in the data, unsurprisingly.

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     Stephanie Moore (stephaniemoore@mastodon.online)'s status on Sunday, 10-Nov-2024 01:26:04 JST Stephanie Moore

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     Implications for misinformation and disinformation are poorly studied (any mis/disinformation researcher out there wanting to partner on this, reach out). But we can certainly infer or hypothesize some things: 33% of US adults are at Level 2, meaning they will struggle with information across multiple sources. They can read WaPo, Guardian, local paper, etc. But sorting out nuance, differences, and meaning is difficult. That zone seems easy to flood with bad information.

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     Stephanie Moore (stephaniemoore@mastodon.online)'s status on Sunday, 10-Nov-2024 01:26:23 JST Stephanie Moore

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     If you’re looking for a systemic root cause to actually do something about besides just tweet a stat, you could hardly do better than adult literacy. Putting our shoulders to this plow - in the US and globally - could make a real difference! If you want to do something, you can volunteer at an adult ed center and learn research-anchored practices for teaching literacy (OR numeracy!). You can also support companies doing good work in this space like Learning Upgrade, Cell-Ed and Newsela.

     Bill repeated this.
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     Stephanie Moore (stephaniemoore@mastodon.online)'s status on Sunday, 10-Nov-2024 01:26:24 JST Stephanie Moore

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     In the state of New Mexico, for example, when I moved here a few years ago, the state budget for 21 adult education and literacy programs around state was just $900,000 total. That has gone up recently a little (I don’t know the new figure), but not nearly enough. And there are limitations with many of the programs’ models that require in-person (common across the US, not just NM programs).

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     Stephanie Moore (stephaniemoore@mastodon.online)'s status on Sunday, 10-Nov-2024 01:26:24 JST Stephanie Moore

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     Additionally, federal regulations have created some contradictory disincentives for programs working with adults with the highest literacy needs. Federal funding requires progress towards goals in a timely fashion, but the most struggling readers simply don’t progress that quickly. So adult basic literacy education may not be as fully supported by many programs.

     Bill repeated this.
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     Stephanie Moore (stephaniemoore@mastodon.online)'s status on Sunday, 10-Nov-2024 01:26:52 JST Stephanie Moore

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     If anyone wants references, let me know. World Education and ProLiteracy have a LOT of resources and smart people working in this space, so they are great places to start.