Exploring Solutions to Generational Illiteracy in the United States

One in five adults in the United States possess low literacy skills. 

When I first read this statistic, I was staggered. Before starting as a Novel Hand Research and Writing Intern, there was a lot that I wanted to learn about the function, importance, and issues surrounding education. Of course, education and access to it is flawed around the world, but I was unaware of the severity and multitude of problems with the education system in my own backyard. One of the biggest flaws in education in the United States is childhood literacy, and the generational effects that illiteracy has on families across the country. 

What’s the Problem?

Language is the underpinning of communication, learning, and success in the US and around the world. Despite this fact, 34.9 million adults in the United States possess low literacy skills, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Additionally, it is estimated that the children of functionally illiterate adults are 72 percent more likely to perform at the lowest literacy levels as well. 

This creates a pattern where generations of families do not have the literacy skills they need to break out of systems of poverty and oppression that comes with finding well-paying jobs and integration into society. Because foundational reading comprehension skills begin before children enter the formal education system, the children of low-income families often do not get the tools they need to get ahead and learn to read at the appropriate grade level. The coupling of literacy and poverty in America has created a vicious cycle for the children and adults stuck in it. 

Illiteracy in the United States

There are several statistics that highlight just how deeply-rooted issues of generational illiteracy are in the United States. Among low-income communities, there is on average one age-appropriate book for every 300 children. Sixty percent of low-income families cannot afford books. In the adult population, between 21 and 23 percent are at the lowest literacy level defined by the NCES. These adults, along with others who are unable to attain a Bachelor’s degree, are between two and four times more likely to be unemployed, and 43 percent of adults who live in poverty have low literacy levels. The issue of literacy in the United States is widespread. 

What Would a Solution Look Like?

Any solution to this societal problem will lower the levels of illiterate adults and children, or raise the number of individuals in these groups who read beyond low level standards set by the NCES. Additionally, solutions will create opportunities for those in a situation where illiteracy is likely to not fall behind, and gain the reading skills that will lead to fruitful, well-paying jobs. This would lower the generations of poverty in low-income communities that typically face low literacy rates. Of the solutions I’ve detailed, the best will engage both educators, parents, children, and community organizations like libraries and centers to sponsor efforts that will address this issue. 

Community Outreach Programs

Lots of people are familiar with the saying that goes: “It takes a village to raise a child.” When it comes to childhood literacy, this statement could not ring more true. Community outreach programs already play a major role in raising rates of childhood literacy. Without after school literacy programming and the fundraising that goes along with it, children would not get the enrichment that they need outside of the classroom to sustain the learning they need. 

Often, community centers that focus on childhood learning and growth will partner with schools and others to develop these programs, and the results are tangible. One organization that strives to increase childhood literacy and education rates is the YMCA. I spoke to Aubrey Vinson, the Associate Executive Director at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA in Chapel Hill, North Carolina about some of the ways that the YMCA promotes childhood literacy with their programs.

At the YMCA, outreach comes in two main forms: scholarships for affordability like fundraising initiatives and Y Learning, in the forms of after-school plans and partnering with local schools. Vinson said in early stages of education, reading and reading level are each key indicators of student success. Therefore, getting a child’s reading level as high as possible is critical. At the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA, youth programs that assist in homework completion and general enrichment provide children with the building blocks that they need outside the classroom. 

Along with providing programs like those I’ve detailed, funding is also a critical factor. Illiteracy and its generational nature disproportionately affects children growing up in poverty. At the YMCA, collaborating with schools and other organizations to make these programs affordable for the children who need them is how the issue of funding is often addressed. To Vinson, this component of relationship building and collaboration is what makes working at the YMCA so rewarding. “Everyone is bought in,” he says. 

Overall, community outreach programs are about providing the community, and the children it serves, with the resources that they need. Because so much child learning occurs outside of the classroom, and because early childhood is the timeframe when much of this learning occurs, programs that engage more than just schools helps to ensure that more children are getting what they need in order to grow and learn. 

Adult Literacy Programs

Though the benefits of education start at a young age, that is not to say that adults who fall below literacy standards in the United States cannot learn the skills they did not acquire earlier in their academic life. Throughout the country, programs known as Adult Basic Education (ABE) are settings where adults can learn basic reading and math skills that will help them with meaningful employment, and curb the generational effects of low literacy in adults. ABE programs are tailored so that adults who possess low levels of education can pass a GED test and find meaningful work that requires more than the most basic reading and math skills. 

Though ABE programs and other, similar ones are helpful in the opportunities they provide for the many adults who have low levels of literacy, there are many ways in which these programs fall short. For one, adult learners enroll in ABE programs voluntarily. Unlike a compulsory K-12 education, adults have to want to enroll. Because of the stigmas that surround issues like adult illiteracy, even adults who successfully complete these programs note how difficult it can be to get started. Robert Hartmann, a man from Bangor, Maine, said in an interview with NPR about his motivation to enroll in literacy programs that even filling out the application was a daunting experience. 

In order to combat barriers like stigma when it comes to adult literacy programs, funding for ABE programs from governmental and private sector organizations is necessary. Because these programs are voluntary, there is significant heterogeneity among how effective the programs are as a whole. With that said, the goals of those attending ABEs might be very different from the goals of teachers in these programs, as well as those funding them. In order for programs like these to be effective and impactful on the whole, funding and learning goals must be coordinated. According to research, when these goals and efforts are coordinated, and students find themselves in a safe and welcoming space to learn, ABE programs have the potential to be impactful solutions to the high levels of adults in the United States who do not meet literacy standards. 

Mitigating Absenteeism in Schools

Chronic absenteeism occurs when a student misses ten percent or more of a given school year. Upwards of 8 million students nationwide are missing enough days of instruction to be considered chronically absent. What’s more, children that are living in poverty are two to three times more likely to be chronically absent than their peers. When all of these factors come together, it creates an environment where students who miss school experience serious setbacks in their learning– including dropping out of high school entirely. In order to increase literacy in the United States, we need to not only ensure that our students are enrolled in school, but that they are attending enough to reap its benefits. 

There are a few methods that are useful in addressing and mitigating absenteeism. One example is the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) model used in Detroit. The model focuses on the relationship building that reduces absenteeism and boosts reading and writing skills. This model essentially focuses on parent involvement in their children’s education. When parents conference with teachers, volunteer, or simply send an email to their child’s teacher, students completed more days of school, and at a higher level than their peers not in the program. In Detroit, the NCFL program consisted mostly of families of color or whose first language is one other than English. 

The NCFL program is one example of how creating a positive school environment can reduce absenteeism. Through this program and others like it, students grow more confident in their ability to succeed in school, and know they are supported by the adults in their lives. Though absenteeism is certainly an issue that needs addressing in its own right, programs and systems that work to reduce can also help to increase reading abilities among children in school. With that said, reducing absenteeism is only one piece to the puzzle. 

Summer Slide Contributes to Illiteracy

Most students can’t wait until May or June when they are let out of school for the summer. For most, it is an important time to relax, go to camps, work, and generally enjoy the sunny and warm weather. However, when students return back to school a grade older, they learn along with their teachers that some review and catching up inevitably has to be done in the first weeks of school. This phenomenon of lost knowledge is known as summer slide. While summer slide affects most school-aged children to some degree, it disproportionately affects young children and low-income families. Achievement gaps between income groups can largely be attributed to differences in summer learning, where middle-income children retain more than their lower-income counterparts. Because literacy levels follow similar trends, reducing learning loss as a result of summer slide can positively affect reading and writing achievement for these groups, and contribute to a greater number of kids who surpass low literacy standards. 

A lot of the solutions that aim to reduce summer slide fall to parents and community members. For example, it is important to encourage reading of any kind during the summer months for reducing summer slide to be successful. Experiential learning is also a great tool to reduce this problem. However, there are lots of parents who cannot provide this enriching learning in the summer months due to work or other responsibilities. Therefore, it is important that programs that help to reduce summer slide are incorporated in community programs that engage other actors besides students and parents. Many schools use summer reading assignments, where students are able to elect which books they would like to read during the summer months to keep their minds engaged.

A Sustainable Solution

Of course, all of the solutions I’ve detailed above are most impactful when they are done in tandem with one another. Because of the collaboration that it takes for meaningful learning to occur, all of these solutions work the best when they are supplemented by the others and organized so that students, whether they are children or adults, are getting the most out of them. However, to me, the most impactful programs are those that catch students at a young age, and engage the whole community like those I’ve mentioned at the YMCA. Throughout my time as an intern at Novel Hand, something I find myself writing continuously about is the importance of early childhood education, and the importance of children feeling supported by their parents, teachers, and others while in school. By engaging all of these different groups and finding innovative solutions that target children who are most in need of learning support, I think we have the best hope of reducing the effects and cycles perpetuated by illiteracy in the United States.