Poor Literacy Skills Threaten Our Future

Chances are that many of today's kids won't have decent jobs or earn livable wages unless we improve reading and math skills and close the achievement gap, warns a new report by the Educational Testing Service, which develops and administers the SAT and the Advanced Placement Program.

The disparate levels of student literacy rates, a widening wage gap, and a wave of immigrants moving into the workforce threaten to leave this country economically and socially divided, says “America's Perfect Storm: Three Forces Dividing Our Nation's Future.”

“If we don't find a way to improve skills—not just of the kids but of the adults in this country—I don't see how we're going to address the problem in any significant way,” says the report's lead author, Irwin Kirsch, adding that by 2030, the overall literacy rates in this country will have declined, so that those with the lowest literacy scores will increase to 27 percent from 17 percent. At the same time, the U.S. should expect a major demographic shift, with its population mushrooming to about 360 million, mainly due to immigration, the report adds.

In short, over the next two to three decades, better-educated individuals will leave the workforce and be replaced by those who, on average, have lower levels of education and skills. During this same period, about half of the projected job growth will be concentrated in occupations associated with higher education and skill levels.

“This means that tens of millions more of our students and adults will be less able to qualify for higher paying jobs,” the report says. “Instead, they will be competing not only with each other and millions of newly arrived immigrants but also with equally (or better) skilled workers in lower-wage economies around the world.”

Given the convergence of these forces, the looming question is whether our nation will continue to grow apart or invest in policies that will help us to grow together. “We strongly believe the latter is the better course of action over the long term,” the report says.

The bottom line? There's an urgent need to increase literacy skills or “there is little chance that economic opportunities will improve among key segments of our population,” the report adds. For a full copy of the report, visit www.ets.org.