Lisa Schubert, M.Ed.

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Lisa Schubert, M.Ed. www.LiteracyNOW.info 1-888-44
4-5744
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Presentation Overview

• Definition of adult literacy
• Prevalence of low literacy in WA and US
• Network of literacy providers in WA state
• Recommendations for health literacy from an adult
  literacy perspective

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Congress defines literacy as
An individuals ability to read, write, speak in
English, and compute and solve problems at levels
of proficiency necessary to function on the job,
in the family, and in society.
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How do we measure that?
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According to the 2000 Census

• 571,000 adults in WA, age 16 and older, without a
  high school diploma and not enrolled in school.
• 260,000 limited English proficient adults
• Some limited English proficient populations may
  not have been aware of or able to understand the
  U.S. Census or were afraid to check the box
  indicating that they speak English less than
  very well.

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According to the National Assessment of Adult
Literacy (2003) (http//nces.ed.gov/naal/)

• 19,000 U.S. adults given real life literacy tasks
  of three types
• Prose--ability to identify and understand
  information written in paragraph form
• Document--ability to identify or supply
  information on forms and in tables, labels
• Quantitative--ability to perform computations
  using numbers embedded in printed materials

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Prose
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Document
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Quantitative
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According to the National Adult Literacy Survey
(1992)
35 of WAs population functions in the 2 lowest
of 5 levels of literacy.
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Recommendations for health literacy from an
adult literacy perspective
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Low literate adults not likely to attend health
literacy class

• Goal-oriented, want to improve literacy for work
  or family reasons
• Have not succeeded in traditional classrooms or
  with traditional (academic) methods
• Have many competing demands on time
• Less than 10 of those eligible for services
  attend

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More recommendations

• Low literate adults could serve as consultants to
  make provider-based changes
• Health care providers could partner with local
  literacy providers

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Recommendations continued

• Provider-based initiatives to improve
  communication best chance of success
• High percentage of low(er) literate adults
• Lack of incentive for low(er) literate adults to
  improve health literacy
• Competing demands for time on low(er) literate
  adults

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www.LiteracyNOW.info Adult Literacy Information
and Referral 888-444-5744 Literacy NOW is a
Division of Tacoma Community House 1314 South L
Street PO Box 5107 Tacoma, WA 98415 Lisa
Schubert Literacy NOW Public Relations
Coordinator 253-383-3951 ext 238 lschubert_at_tchonli
ne.org
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Thank you.