Guest Blog by Sarah Cacicio, Director, The Adult Literacy and Learning Impact Network (ALL IN)

Nearly one in five adults in the United States (about 43 million people ages 16-74) struggle with foundational literacy skills. They can read simple, short texts to locate a single piece of information, but have difficulty with reading tasks beyond that level (What PIAAC Measures). This skill level limits their options for employment and career growth, as well as for access to social services and participation in the life of the community.

How, and how well, do employers and policy influencers recognize and respond to this situation? To quantify the scale of the challenge and identify possible solutions, The Adult Literacy and Learning Impact Network (ALL IN), in partnership with FTI Consulting’s Strategic Communications, conducted research surveys with employers across the United States and policy influencers in Washington, DC.

The surveys used the PIAAC Literacy Framework definition of adult literacy: “the ability to understand, evaluate, use, and engage with written texts to participate in society, achieve goals, and develop one’s knowledge and potential” (Data Point: Adult Literacy in the United States). The survey outcomes revealed a deep disconnect between the reality of adult literacy in the U.S. and the conceptions of both employers and policy influencers.

Employers

FTI conducted an online survey of 500 employers across the United States during the week of October 18-24, 2023. The survey sought to understand employers’ perceptions of adult literacy as a national issue and included a focus on industries that tend to employ significant numbers of persons with low foundational literacy skills, such as logistics and transportation, retail and consumer goods, wholesale and distribution, and food and beverage/restaurants.

Survey responses showed that employers recognize how vital literacy is in the workplace. They are ready to invest in literacy in order to improve working conditions, productivity, and morale in the workplace. But they can’t do it alone. Key findings include:

• 1 in 3 employers say that their average employee does not have the literacy skills needed to do their job well, and 2 in 5 say that low literacy is widespread in their company.
• Nearly all employers (99%) believe that they are supporting employees with low literacy, but less than half (42%) are actually offering literacy skills instruction or training.

Policy Influencers

FTI conducted an online survey of 200 DC-area policy influencers specializing in education, labor and employment, financial services, military/defense, and other policy areas during the week of November 2-9, 2023. Responses demonstrated policy Influencers’ belief that current efforts to improve adult literacy rates are working and that the United States is performing better than other countries. The latter belief is contradicted by the PIAAC data: “U.S. adults scored higher in literacy than the PIAAC international average across participating countries; however, they scored lower in both numeracy and digital problem solving. …compared to higher-performing countries like Japan and Finland, the United States lags behind in all three domains” (U.S. PIAAC Results in International Context). However, all but a small minority of policy influencers (94%) did recognize that the impact of adult literacy on the economy is at least moderate.

Importantly, of the 200 policy influencers surveyed, 67 percent of Democrats and 80 percent of Republicans agreed that there is a critical need to prioritize adult literacy. This high level of bipartisan agreement gives adult literacy advocates a platform for elevating adult literacy with legislators and policymakers at federal, state, and local levels.

Next Steps

To complement these quantitative findings, and to establish a base for the project’s next phase, in early 2024 FTI conducted a focus group with adult learners and in-depth interviews with experts in adult education. For the next phase of the work, ALL IN plans to conduct a market study among adults who are eligible for, but not enrolled in, adult education. This learner-centered phase of the research is intended to increase understanding of the current demand for literacy skill development and educational services, in order to provide data on ways to design and market services that speak to potential learners’ needs and experiences.

This phase of the project will build on key findings from the Critiquing Adult Participation in Education (CAPE) project, using focus groups and phone and digital survey methods to understand the experiences, needs, and aspirations of prospective learners. It will also draw on findings from the Florida Literacy Coalition’s 2019 market research project on student recruitment in adult literacy, If You Build It, They Will Come. Think Again. This project explored the efficacy of key messages, terminology, and communication methods for recruiting learners for adult education programs. The study team used a customer-service-based approach to inquire about the motivations, concerns, and assumptions that affect adult learner decision making, and sought study participants’ advice on how to effectively reach others in need of adult education services.

In the coming months, ALL IN will be sharing key findings from the research through a comprehensive social media marketing campaign, creating space for meaningful and much-needed dialogue, growth, and action to solve this issue.

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Funding for the study Advancing Adult Literacy: Mobilizing Business and the Beltway comes from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. Learn more about the overall study and access full reports here: https://allinliteracy.org/advancing-adult-literacy-mobilizing-business-the-beltway/

The National Coalition for Literacy is a founding member of ALL IN, a collective impact network composed of national thought leaders from the adult literacy field and beyond. ALL IN’s mission is to carry out the National Action Plan for Adult Literacy.

Learn more about NCL’s role in ALL IN here.

Sign up to stay in touch and receive the latest updates on ALL IN’s work to solve America’s literacy challenge here: https://allinliteracy.org/contact-us/