DID
YOU KNOW
- Still 1,030,000
Tennesseans age 25 and over do not have a high school diploma.
Of this number, 500,000 Tennesseans cannot read or write well
enough to function in daily life.
- The Tennessee
Department of Corrections estimates that 85% of the juveniles
who appear before court and 66% of the prison inmates in Tennessee
lack their high school credentials. Additionally, 85% of all
prison inmates read below the 10th grade level.
- According
to the Tennessee Department of Human Services approximately
75% of all welfare recipients lack basic education skills.
- Reports
from the Tennessee Department of Labor estimate that 75% of
the unemployed need help with elementary reading, math, and
English
THE
FACTS
More
than 20% of adults read at or below a fifth-grade level - far
below the level needed to earn a living wage.
- The National
Adult Literacy Survey found that over 40 million Americans age
16 and older have significant literacy needs.
- Welfare
recipients ages 17-21 read, on average, at the sixth grade level.
When teens drop out of school, they are likely to drop in the
system.
- Nearly
32 million people in the United States speak languages other
than English - a 38% increase over 1980.
- American
businesses are estimated to loose over $60 billion in productivity
due to employees lack of basic skills.
- About 20
percent of America's workers have low basic skills, and 75 percent
of unemployed adults have reading or writing difficulties.
- Workplace
literacy programs provide workers with the skills needed to
get or retain a job, advance in their careers, or increase productivity.
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