Download
the Literacy
Resources for Employers Guidebook
FREE! (Adobe pdf)
Statistics
- More
than 20 percent of adults read at or below a fifth-grade level
– far below the level needed to earn a living wage.
-
The National Adult Literacy Survey found that over 40 million
Americans age 16 and older have significant literacy needs.
-
Through literacy assistance, adults significantly improve their
self-confidence, confidence in their parenting abilities, and
in their employment status (29 percent increase).
Are Literacy rates higher or are employers expecting more?
- The
dropout rate among 16- to 24-year-olds (which counts General Educational
Development (GED) recipients as completers) suggests some decreases
over the past twenty years.
-
Undergraduate enrollment rose 6 percent between 1998 and 2000
More people are completing college
-
Between 1990-91 and 2000-01, the number of associate, bachelor's,
master's, and doctor's degrees rose.
-
For more information on these statistics, please go to http://nces.ed.gov//programs/coe/
Americans
are educated at higher levels than ever – but employers
are still raising the bar on productive skill levels.
Literacy
is seen in terms of three scales:
- Prose
literacy, or the skills and knowledge necessary to understand
and
utilize information from prose materials such as newspaper articles,
magazines, and books.
-
Document literacy, or the skills and knowledge necessary to identify
and
utilize information included in tables, charts, forms, or indexes.
-
Quantitative literacy, or the skills and knowledge needed to apply
arithmetic
operations to information in printed form, for example, order
forms, menus, or
advertisements. (Kirsch et al., 1992, p. 3-4).*
What
can employers do to meet the workforce challenge?
Promote:
- Highlight
skills training through posters, paycheck inserts, awareness campaigns
or in company newsletters.
-
Encourgae workers to get involve in literacy learning with their
children by distributing free books on Dr. Seuss Day or other
days when local schools focus on literacy.
-
Encourage reading period. Provide accessible copies of news media,
journals and community information for workers to read during
down time or take home. More than anyting, literacy levels rise
as a direct result of PRACTICE.
Incentivize:
-
Don’t limit tuition benefits to executives or skilled employees;
encourage entry-level employees to use benefits to take pre-college
courses that improve their basic skills.
-
Build a reward structure through bonuses, wage increases or “promotion
points” for employees who complete adult edication benchmarks.
Deliver:
-
Help your employees improve themselves. In turn, it will make
them better employees
-
Know your employees strengths and weaknesses to better target
their needs
-
In the adult classroom, parents work on basic educational skills,
English language instruction and workplace skills. Their ultimate
goals vary from attaining their GED to being better able to enter
the workplace. No matter what their personal goals are, parents
all want a better future for their families.
-
Children's literacy levels are strongly linked to the educational
level of their parents. Click here
to see what you can do to help your employees help themselves
and their children.
Human Resources guides to training and finding a partner organization
in your area:
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