Adults left behind

America, October, 2004 by William J. Byron

Ever since President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law in January 2002, I have been wondering about the ones who were left behind by the nation's schools 20, 30 or 40 years ago. Many of them show up now in the lowest ranks of adult literacy. An estimated 40 million to 44 million Americans, age 16 and older, have minimal ability to read prose, interpret information on tables and graphs and manage everyday arithmetic. To the extent that the schools failed them decades ago, society owes them something now.

As we argue about policies and practices that might improve education for youngsters who are still in school, we should be doing something for out-of-school adults who are falling further and further behind in terms of prose literacy, document...