[Lmresearch] New NCES report--Literacy Behind Bars: Results From the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy Prison Survey

[Russell W. Rumberger]

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           Literacy Behind Bars: Results From the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy Prison Survey

            The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) included the first assessment of the English literacy of incarcerated adults since 1992. The assessment was administered to approximately 1,200 adults (age 16 and older) incarcerated in state and federal prisons, as well as approximately 18,000 adults living in households. Three types of literacy were measured: Prose, Document, and Quantitative. Results were reported in terms of scale scores (on a 500-point scale) and four literacy levels-Below Basic, Basic, Intermediate, and Proficient. The findings in this report-Literacy Behind Bars-indicate the changes in literacy among incarcerated adults between 1992 and 2003. The report also compares the literacy of adults in the prison and household populations and across groups of prison inmates with different characteristics, including race/ethnicity, gender, educational attainment, age, language spoken before starting school, and parents' educational attainment.

            Major findings include the following:

            * The average Prose, Document, and Quantitative literacy scores of the prison population were higher in 2003 than in 1992.  

            * Prison inmates had lower average prose, document, and quantitative literacy than adults living in households. On average, inmates also had lower levels of educational attainment than adults living in households. 

            * In general, either prison inmates had lower average Prose, Document, and Quantitative literacy than adults living in households with the same level of educational attainment or there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups.  The exception was that among adults without any high school education, prison inmates had higher average literacy on all three scales than adults living in households. 

            * In 2003, 37 percent of the prison population did not have a high school diploma or a GED, compared with 49 percent in 1992. 

            * Incarcerated White adults had lower average prose literacy than White adults living in households.  Incarcerated Black and Hispanic adults had higher average prose literacy than Black and Hispanic adults living in households.

            * Between 1992 and 2003, average prose and quantitative literacy levels increased for prison inmates who were Black, male, or in the 25- to 39-year-old age group.


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