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[Judy Hallman <hallman AT email.unc.edu>]

I asked Lucy Lewis, Executive Director, Orange County Literacy Council
about Orange County and am including her message below. Note in
particular: "33% of Orange County adults have significant literacy
needs" -- Judy
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Date: Thu, 08 May 2003 11:51:34 -0400
From: Lucy Lewis <llewis AT co.orange.nc.us>
To: hallman AT email.unc.edu
Subject: Re: Question about literacy in Orange county

Hi Judy -

That is something that we should have posted there.

Current numbers we use -

According to Census 2000, 12.4% (8,615 adults) of Orange County adults 25
years old and older do not have a high school degree.  Of these, 4.4%
(3,070) do not have a 9th grade education.

Obviously this does not include adults between 18 and 25.

We also provide tutoring to adult learners with a high school degree or
GED with low literacy skills.  According to the 1994 National Institute
for Literacy survey, 33% of Orange County adults have significant literacy
needs.  15% are at Level 1 and 18% are at Level 2 (on a scale of 1-5).

Level 1 - can local single piece of info stated in short text
             - locate or enter specific info on a form
             - perform single, simple, specified arithmetic operation from 
numbers provided

Level 2 - can make simple inferences, integrate easily identifiable info
             - cycle through or integrate info from parts of a document
             - perform single operations using easily located numbers

"Adults perforrming at the lowest levels...tend to be less likely than
more literate adults to be employed full-time, to earn high wages, or to
vote.  They were more likely to receive food stamps, to live in poverty,
and to rely on non-print sources for information."

OK?

Lucy
-------------

On Thu, 8 May 2003, Maria Winslow wrote:

> Can this really be true? Do they mean in English?
>
> >
> > Here are some facts about literary in Wake County, NC:
> > *       36% of Wake County adults do not possess the necessary skills and
> > reading levels for a high school diploma.  They have difficulty securing
> > livable wages, caring for their families, and obtaining health care.
> >
>
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