“As Gaston County strives to keep its citizens employed…education and trainability are two of the foremost issues…,” Duane K. McCallister, Former Publisher of The Gaston Gazette 

Quick Facts

• The 1990 Census revealed that of the seven most populous counties in North Carolina, Gaston County had the largest percentage of adults 25 and older without a high school diploma (functionally illiterate).  In 2000, Gaston’s percentage dropped 10% from 39% to 29%.  Furthermore, we made the most significant gains when comparing 2000 illiteracy rates with those same seven counties. (1)  
• Literacy levels are a barrier to economic development (2)   
• 43% of kindergartners enter kindergarten unprepared to learn (3) 
• 57% of Gaston Literacy Council’s students function below 5th grade level (4) 
• Illiteracy impacts employability thereby increasing crime, substance abuse and the stress related to household violence (3)

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⁽¹⁾ U.S. Census Bureau, 2000
⁽²⁾ Centralina CEDS, 2004
⁽³⁾ United Way of Gaston County Community Needs Assessment 1998
⁽⁴⁾ GLC Survey, 1999-2004
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Functional Illiteracy in Gaston County

From 1999 through 2004, Gaston Literacy collected data on new English-speaking clients as they entered the program in order to develop a profile of Gaston County residents seeking literacy services.  We anticipated identifying a “hot spot” in the community where we could address the root cause.  We verified that illiterate individuals are transitional.  Every municipality was represented—not one “hot spot” but many!

More than 525 clients participated in the survey and were tested using the federally recognized CASAS test (Comprehensive Adult Skills Assessment System).  We learned that regardless of last grade completed, the majority of our basic education students function at or below 4th grade level.  More than 60% are unemployed and do not meet the minimum standards to qualify for job training programs.

29% dropped out of school before completing 8th grade; 54% dropped out in grades 9 through 11; 14% received a high school diploma or GED; and 3% had completed some college. 

In general, last grade completed was no predictor of literacy levels.  36%, including some who held GED certificates or high school diplomas, tested at the two lowest literacy levels (grades 0-3).  The majority (50%) scored at the intermediate level (grades 4-6); and 11% tested at the secondary level (grades 9-12).  Of the 14 clients with some college education, only one scored at the highest level (grade 11-12).

A comparison of last grade completed with current functioning level shows that Gaston County’s education system has performed similarly to other school systems throughout the nation.  With a few exceptions, foreign-educated students tested at approximately the same level as the last grade completed.  Only one foreign-educated individual scored at the lowest literacy level.  

Quick Facts

• American businesses lose more than $60 billion in productivity each year (1) 
• Drop outs earn 48% less than those with a high school education (2)    
• 47% of prison inmates are high school drop outs (3) 
• Up to $73 billion is wasted annually in unnecessary healthcare expenditures due to low health literacy (4)
• Almost half of all mothers on welfare lack a high school diploma, leaving their children trapped in a cycle of poverty (5)
• When adults improve their literacy skills, their children have fewer health problems, drop out of school less, and have fewer teen pregnancies, less joblessness, and less social alienation (6)
• Nationally, limited literacy skills cost business and taxpayers $20 billion annually in lost wages, profits, and productivity (7)
• With the retirement of the baby boomers, projections are that the US will have a shortage of perhaps 12 million qualified workers in the next decade (8) 
•  34% of job applicants lack the literacy skills needed to do the job they seek (8)
  
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  ⁽¹⁾ National Center for Education Statistics, 1998
  ⁽²⁾ National Institute for Literacy, 2000
  ⁽³⁾ National Center for Family Literacy, 2002
  ⁽⁴⁾ National Academy of an Aging Society
  ⁽⁵⁾ U.S. Census Bureau, 1995
  ⁽⁶⁾ Ohio Literacy Resource Center, 1997
  ⁽⁷⁾ ProLiteracy America, 2003
  ⁽⁸⁾ The American Management Association, 2003
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The High Cost of Illiteracy on the Healthcare Industry

$73 billion is wasted annually in unnecessary healthcare expenditures due to low health literacy.   Medicare and Medicaid programs finance more than 50% of these costs.  (National Academy on an Aging Society, 1999)

“The nation’s estimated 90 million adults with lower-than-average reading skills are less likely than other Americans to get potentially lifesaving screening tests such as mammograms and Pap smears, to get flu and pneumonia vaccines, and to take their children for well child care visits, according to a new evidence report by Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.  AHRQ commissioned the evidence review at the request of the American Medical Association.

People with a low level of literacy have difficulty reading newspapers and other simple information such as directions for taking medications or hospital discharge instructions.  They are also more likely to be hospitalized, which may be because physicians are concerned about the patients’ abilities to follow basic instructions and care for themselves at home when they are sick.”  (Press release dated April 8, 2004.  The full text of the report can be found online at:  http://www.arq.gov/clinic/evrptpdfs.htm//literacy.)