Many Young Adults Do Poorly on Literacy Tests

A new study indicates that the United States has the world’s highest rate of basic literacy, but many young adults stumble when asked to glean information from a bus schedule or decipher a road map, testing experts said Wednesday.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress said tests it gave Americans in their early 20s last year found that 6% could not read as well as the average fourth-grader, 20% could not read as well as an eighth-grader and 38.5% were unable to read at an 11th-grade level.

In addition, 2% of the 3,600 adults approached by the testing agency were deemed incapable of taking the literacy test because it would “unduly frustrate or embarrass them,” the report said. Half of that group could not speak English.

The report, “Literacy: Profiles of America’s Young Adults,” said more than 99% of those tested could sign their names to a Social Security form or write a few simple sentences describing a job they would like.

Trouble With Map

However, 43% had trouble following directions on a map, and 20% were stumped by a question that required them to read the fine print on a bus schedule.

Thomas G. Sticht, a literacy expert, wrote in a foreword to the report that, by the standards of a century ago, “the ability to sign one’s name, virtually all young adults are ‘literate.’ ” He said the U.S. literacy levels exceed those of all other countries, including the Soviet Union, Cuba and the Scandinavian nations.

Education Secretary William J. Bennett, whose department commissioned the study, said: “The United States is not awash in illiteracy, but most of our young people are not very literate.”

“For the $263 billion America spent on education last year, we should do better than this,” Bennett said.

Estimates of Abilities

The extent of illiteracy in the United States has been a subject of debate for years. A 1979 Census Bureau study estimated that less than half of 1% of adults were unable to read. The Education Department, using figures drawn from a 1973 University of Texas study, once estimated that 23 million adults were illiterate.

The National Assessment refrained from offering a new estimate, but Gregory Anrig, president of Educational Testing Service, said at a news conference: “The figures are better than expected. What you have is a country that has reached a 95% level of literacy. There is no other country in the world that has achieved that.”

The testing service, based in Lawrence Township, N. J., runs the National Assessment under a federal contract.

The 3,600 young adults tested at home last year were said to be representative of all 21 million Americans ages 21 to 25. If the results held true for adults of all ages, Sticht said, then at least 10 million Americans “lack the language and literacy skills of competent fourth-grade students.”