Basic Reading Skills and the Literacy of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy Supplemental Studies

Book excerpt: The 2003 Nat. Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) assessed the English literacy of adults in the U.S. The assessment was administered to more than 19,000 adults (ages 16 and older). The tasks included on the assessment were designed to measure functional literacy. Unlike indirect measures of literacy, the assessment measured literacy directly through tasks completed by adults. These tasks represent a range of literacy activities that adults are likely to face in their daily lives. The main literacy assessment and the core literacy tasks are two of the four components of the NAAL project. This report focuses on the results of the remaining two components: the Fluency Addition to NAAL and the Adult Literacy Supplemental Assessment. Tables.