Workers with a high school/college diploma earn $10,000/$24,000 more, respectively. Literacy programs like ours build the foundation for future success. According to the Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning, adults who participate in basic literacy programs for 100 hours or more:

• Showed mean income gains of 53%
• Earned an average of $10,000 more in annual income
• Were 35% more likely to complete their high school equivalency
• Were more likely to enroll in postsecondary education
• Were more likely to vote

The Case for Investment in Adult Basic Education.

Early childhood literacy, especially reading on grade level by the third grade, is a primary goal for Metro Nashville and the State of TN. However:

• In the full report from the Blueprint for Early Childhood Success (Blueprint), the words “parent,” “family(ies),” and “generation” are mentioned more than 300 times. Its research and recommendations indicate that parental engagement is critical for childhood success. However, such participation is prevented if parents are unable to read or model reading in the home. One in five Nashville adults is functionally illiterate.

• Nashville has a growing population of adults learning English. Roughly 30% of students in Metro schools live in homes where English is not the primary language, and MNPS says more than 100 different languages are spoken by their students. The language difference makes it difficult for these parents to support their children in school.

• There is no magic “reset” button for the next generation. Children from low-income homes hear as many as 30 million fewer words than their more affluent peers. And as early as age three, a child’s vocabulary can predict third-grade reading achievement. Children born to illiterate parents have a 72% chance they will also be at the lowest reading levels. By improving parents’ literacy skills, we will break the cycle of illiteracy and transform the lives of generations of Nashvillians.

• The Blueprint says, “Children who see adults modeling the importance of reading tend to have more positive associations with reading and are more interested in reading themselves.” As adults learn, they model for their children, and literacy is passed across generations.

• Particularly, a mother’s literacy level has a direct impact on her child’s education. The research is clear: parents who are poor readers don’t read as often to their children as do parents who are strong readers; children who are not read to enter school less prepared for learning to read than other children. Our students have learned to read books to their children and get more involved with their children’s schools. Improving adult literacy will directly support the education of Tennessee’s children.

• The Blueprint describes in outstanding detail the necessary pre-K intervention and elementary school support to get children reading at grade level by third grade. At the same time, it acknowledges:

- Local research has shown that not all of our pre-K classrooms provide an education that leads to long-term benefits for children. While the results of Vanderbilt University’s Peabody Research Institute’s 2015 report found significant positive impacts on students who had participated in state-funded pre-K, by the end of kindergarten, the children who had not participated in the program had caught up. By second grade, the students who had not participated in pre-K were outperforming those students who had. The problem pointed to the fact that there had not been enough done to articulate what quality learning environments look like for young children. Nor had there been enough done to support educators and families to implement and reinforce quality.

• Developmental Psychology did additional research in 2016 on the “Fadeout in an Early Mathematics Intervention” where the authors examined whether student performance was leveling out because school teachers were unable to provide advanced content, or if there were preexisting differences. When controlled for school content, they found about 72% of the fadeout effect was attributable to environmental factors after the pre-K intervention ended, and these factors likely included a combination of cognitive abilities, academic skills, motivation, home condition and other environmental conditions, like family income.

Interventions from birth through third grade are absolutely necessary. At the same time, the investment will be lost if we are not also supporting the students’ environmental conditions.

Adult literacy is a key component to the success of any childhood literacy initiative, and it helps break the cycle of poverty. With increased literacy and English skills, adults can communicate in daily life, improve at work, take charge of their health and financial needs, and perhaps most importantly, participate in their children’s academic success.

• 77 million Americans have only a 2-in-3 chance of correctly reading an over-the-counter drug label or understanding their child's medical needs. (ProLiteracy)

• Low health literacy costs between $106 billion and $236 billion each year in the U.S. (ProLiteracy)

• It may be tempting to consider educational needs as secondary to health concerns in the midst of a pandemic, but research from the 1918 Flu Pandemic directly correlates illiteracy rates with disease mortality. "The Poisson model showed that influenza and pneumonia mortality increased, on average, by 32.2% for every 10% increase in illiteracy rate adjusted for population density, home ownership, unemployment, and age." Early data indicates we may see similar trends in the COVID-19 pandemic. Literacy is a critical component for health and safety.

• The global pandemic has put an exclamation point on the needs of our learners in many areas, but it has especially exposed the many health issues affected by illiteracy. Not only have our learners struggled to attend doctor’s appointments alone and understand complicated medical information, they’ve also encountered remote communications contributing to further isolation and mental health issues. After engaging in our services, learners have reported that they gain the confidence to communicate with neighbors and peers, improving their feelings of belonging. They can write letters and emails. Our services are now offered virtually which has had the secondary effect of teaching many learners and volunteers how to use telecommunication services like Zoom, which they can then use to communicate with loved ones. Improving literacy skills allows our learners to be more ingrained in their communities, have better social connections and relationships, and take charge of their overall health and wellbeing.

ProLiteracy Facts Sheet

• More than 75 percent of state incarcerated individuals did not complete high school or can be classified as low literate. (ProLiteracy)

• Incarcerated individuals who participate in correctional educational programs are 43% less likely to recidivate than inmates who do not. (ProLiteracy)

ProLiteracy Facts Sheet

In addition to our measurements, there are personal accounts of success, like this one from our CEO: “As a former volunteer, I’ve seen the impact of this work firsthand. I worked for a couple of years with a learner. She and her husband have a sixth-grade education from their country, and as I worked with her every week, we became friends. I got to meet her children, and each of them has dreams to go to college. They want to be teachers and architects and archaeologists, and in those moments, I become very aware that NALC is privileged to stand at a tipping point for that family. We are witnessing the moment when everything changes for them, from this generation forward. It literally gives me goosebumps, because it so beautiful to see this transformation.”

Learners tell us about their intangible gains, too. Before the pandemic, we worked with a learner who had a manual-labor job, and he had hurt his wrist. He came to us for a lesson just before his surgery, and we asked how he was doing. He said he was nervous about the surgery, but he wasn’t nervous about losing his job, because now he knows how to read. He said, “When you can read, you can learn anything.”

This year, one of our other learners recently discovered that literacy has power beyond reading and writing skills. He shared that he has never read an entire book, but thanks to his literacy tutoring, he is currently reading the novel "Hoot" and has a new understanding of why people love to read. For the first time, he said he “feels whole and valid.” He has taken this confidence into his life by starting conversations with co-workers and engaging with others – something he avoided in the past due to insecurity. He says, "I am slowly understanding, and I had to first come to a belief that I matter, as I am, by the help of others. Which gives me the courage to accept where I'm at with my reading and communication level."

When we give someone literacy tools, we empower them to not only read and write, but thrive in all parts of their lives. Please take a moment to hear directly from some of our inspiring learners below:

• Hear from learner, Robert Gooch, about his literacy journey here.

• Meet learner, Joe Buford, here.

• English Language Learner, Victor Roncalla, shares his story here.

U.S. Adult Literacy Programs Making a Difference: a review of research

Establishing an Evidence-based Adult Education System

ACES/Transitions

Volunteers in Adult Literacy Education

Journey to Success

Learning Upgrade

Burlington English

Burlington English Catalog

ProPublica: Why America Fails Adults Who Struggle to Read

Wall Street Journal: Finding the Words

Nashville Scene: The Nashville Adult Literacy Council Helps Adults Achieve Their Educational Goals

The Tennessean: How Nashville's adult literacy gap is being tackled to aid the city's next generation