Dale Lipschultz, President, NCL	Lennon McLendon, Executive Director, NAEPDC	Patrick Gaston, President, Verizon Foundation
Sharon Darling, President and Founder, NCFL	John Segota, Advocacy and Communications Manager, TESOL

Washington, D.C. – The National Coalition for Literacy held a press conference at 1:30 PM EDT on Thursday December 15, 2005 discussing the findings of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) and what it means for literacy issues and policy in the 21st century. The NAAL is a nationally representative, continuing assessment of the English language literacy skills of American adults conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

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NATIONAL COALITION FOR LITERACY CALLS FOR GREATER FOCUS ON IMPORTANCE OF FUNCTIONAL LITERACY

Washington, DC – In response to the release of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) earlier today, the National Coalition for Literacy (NCL) called for a greater emphasis to be placed on functional literacy. The NAAL study found that tens of millions of adult Americans are not functionally literate, meaning they can’t read at a level that would allow them to perform such basic tasks as complete a job application, use the internet, or read a bedtime story to a child.

“As America enters the 21st century, more and more American adults are being left behind because of limited literacy skills,” said Dale Lipschultz, president of NCL. “The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) underscores the wide scope of this issue and the urgent need for increased focus to address it. America needs to invest in adults who are sacrificing, studying and working to achieve a better life for themselves and their families. When America makes this investment our country will all be civically strong, economically prosperous, and globally competitive.”

The National Coalition for Literacy believes that functional literacy should be a priority for lawmakers and other opinion leaders. The NCL stressed four fundamental reasons that more Americans need to pay attention to this issue:

• ECONOMY—A more literate America will be more competitive and more prosperous. Improved literacy skills will create a stronger economy that helps all Americans.

• BUSINESS – A more literate America means a skilled and competitive workforce. In our knowledge economy, every job requires strong communications skills, mathematic ability and computer competence.

• FAMILY—A more literate America will mean stronger families. Parents with strong literacy skills help their children succeed in school.

• CITIZENSHIP— A more literate America will mean a stronger democracy. All adults will have an equal opportunity to contribute to their neighborhood, their community, and their country.

“To ensure that more adults can read well enough to function in our society, we must combine the resources of the public and private sectors, and forge bipartisan alliances on the federal, state and local levels,” said Lipschultz. Since 2000, the Verizon Foundation has invested $80 million in literacy programs through partnerships with NCL’s member organizations. “For a company like Verizon, the stakes in the literacy fight are high. More and more, our employees need to read, analyze and act on information at a moments notice.” said Patrick Gaston, president of the Verizon Foundation. “As a good corporate citizen and as a business, we’re committed to continuing to work with the National Coalition for Literacy and its members to build a more literate America”.

In response to the NAAL study, NCL called for more resources, expanded teacher training and additional research to be devoted to the issue of adult literacy.

The National Assessment of Adult Literacy takes center stage on the front page of the December 16, 2005, issue of USA Today. NCL President Dale Lipschultz and the NCL were highlighted. Read story here>