On International Literacy Day, Learn About Adult Literacy Challenges and Opportunities

Posted on September 7, 2023

by Amy H

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, one in five adults lacks literacy skills sufficient to complete tasks that require comparing and contrasting information, paraphrasing, or making low-level inferences. This translates to 1 out of every 5 adults in the United States, or roughly 43 million people who possess low literacy skills. These numbers are not dominated by foreign-born, non-native speakers of English. By ethnicity and nativity status, the largest percentage of those with low literacy skills are white U.S.-born adults, who represent one-third of the low-literacy skilled population.

In Northwest Ohio, we are extremely fortunate to have an active and highly effective community literacy organization called Read for Literacy. Their offices are located at the Toledo Lucas County Public Library’s (TLCPL) Main Library, and they have programs and service tracks for adults, families, and young readers. For many years, TLCPL has had an adult literacy materials collection to support Read for Literacy’s work. The Literacy Collection has evolved and continues to support the efforts of Read for Literacy to meet the needs of both adult learners of English as a second language, and adult new readers at a variety of literacy levels. Below are some examples of what is available for students and tutors to check out. Please contact the Fact & Fiction Department at 419-259-5311 for more information.