DEFINITION OF LITERACY

The 1991 National Literacy Act defines literacy as "an individual's ability to read, write, and speak in English, compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one's goals, and develop one's knowledge and potential."

The Economic Impact of Illiteracy
The Laubach Literacy Association estimates $5 billion per year in Federal taxes goes to support workers on welfare who are unemployable due to illiteracy.

A functionally illiterate adult earns on average 42% less that a high school graduate according to the U.S. Department of Education

46% of American adults cannot understand the label on prescription bottles due to low literacy levels and an estimated $73 billion is spent in the U.S. annually on longer hospital stays, emergency room visits and improper use of medications due to low literacy skills. Journal of American Medicine and the National Academy on an Aging Society

64% of adult prisoners are functionally illiterate. Correctional Education Association

In a 1993-94 study conducted at two public hospitals, 23.6% of patients with inadequate functional health literacy did not know how to take medication four times a day.

Regional Literacy Rates

At the start of the 2000 school year, 28% of Kindergarten students in South Hampton Roads fell below the benchmark for Phonological Awareness Literacy.

98% of unprepared Kindergartners had not attended a public Pre-Kindergarten program in Norfolk according to a Norfolk Public Schools survey conducted in 1998.

Average adult illiteracy for the 7-city Hampton Roads region and Isle Of Wight County is 22.6% or 229,159 citizens.

28% of adults over the age of 18 in the City of Norfolk are illiterate and 38% are functionally illiterate. National Institute for Literacy

22.6% of the region’s children live in poverty, 15.4% of the population lives below the federal poverty rate.

Literacy and the Well-being of Families

Family literacy services are generally provided in the child’s school setting. While their children learn in nearby classrooms, parents pursue their own educational goals – Adult Basic Education, GED preparation, or parenting skills courses. During the day, parents and children work and play together, giving parents the chance to increase their skills as their children's first teachers-their most important teachers.

• More than 20% 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.
  
• 43% of people with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty; 17 percent receive food stamps, and 70 percent have no job or only a part-time job.
  
• Family income greatly affects a youth's chances of dropping out. Youths at high-income levels are much more likely to remain in school than those at the lower income levels.
  
• Children's literacy levels are strongly linked to the educational level of their parents, especially their mothers. Parental income and marital status are both important predictors of success in school, but neither is as significant as having a mother (or primary caregiver) who completed high school.
  
• Children of parents who are unemployed and have not completed high school are five times more likely to drop out than are children of employed parents.
  

Learning Disabilities and Employment Status and Earnings

An analysis of data from the National Adult Literacy Survey, 1992, found the following for adults with self-reported learning disabilities, age 16 and over:
The employment status of adults with self-reported learning disabilities:

• 39% were employed full-time, compared to 51% of adults without self-reported learning disabilities;
  
• 13% were employed part-time, compared to 13% of adults with self-reported learning disabilities;
  
• 16% were unemployed, compared to 6% of adults without self-reported learning disabilities; and
  
• 32% were out of the labor force, compared to 29% without self-reported learning disabilities
  

Other Definitions

Functionally Illiterate: unable to read, write, and communicate in English; and compute numbers at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society.

Hampton Roads Region: The Cities of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Newport News and Hampton plus Isle of Wight County.

Poverty Rate: A family of our earning less than $18,100 per year in gross income.