Explore dozens of recent statistics about U.S. adult literacy and dive into the factors affecting adult literacy rates in America.
Adult Literacy in the United States
Using the data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), this Data Point summarizes the number of U.S. adults with low levels of English literacy and describes how they differ by nativity status1 and race/ethnicity.
Use it or lose it: How cognitive skills change with age
Cognitive skills are commonly assumed to begin deteriorating from the age of 30, which could pose a significant challenge for rapidly ageing populations. But this assumption relies largely on cross-sectional data that cannot distinguish between ageing patterns and cohort differences. Using German longitudinal data, this column finds that skills, on average, increase markedly into one’s 40s before decreasing slightly in literacy and more severely in numeracy. In addition, skills decline at older ages only for those with below-average skill usage, outlining a clear policy pathway for avoiding skill declines.
Academia: What Was "Digital Literacy"?
Short Shelf Lives Make For Bad Curricular Planning
The End of Reading Is Here
Optimists once believed that universal literacy was inevitable. Now it seems that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history.
Opinion | My Students Can’t Read
The generational collapse in literacy is measurable, persistent, and likely to get worse.
The End of Reading Never Began
What “The End of Reading Is Here” gets wrong about literacy, intellectual authority, and American “decline”
What we think is a decline in literacy is a design problem | Aeon Essays
Your inability to focus isn’t a failing. It’s a design problem, and the answer isn’t getting rid of our screen time
Childhood And Education #17: Is Our Children Reading
Reading is the most fundamental thing in education.
What’s Happening to Reading?
For many people, A.I. may be bringing the age of traditional text to an end.
“The End of Reading Is Here” - The Ringer
There’s no doubt that reading is in decline. But what is that decline doing to the way we think? Derek talks with The Atlantic’s Rose Horowitch about why Americans are reading fewer books than ever and struggling more with complex texts and what that means for education, work, politics, and culture.
Women Worry, Men Adopt: How Gendered Perceptions Shape the Use of Generative AI
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is diffusing rapidly, yet its adoption is strikingly unequal. Using nationally representative UK survey data from 2023 to 2024, we show that women adopt GenAI substantially less often than men because they perceive its societal risks differently. We construct a composite index capturing concerns about mental health, privacy, climate impact, and labor market disruption. This index explains between 9 and 18 percent of the variation in GenAI adoption and ranks among the strongest predictors for women across all age groups, surpassing digital literacy and education for young women. Intersectional analyses show that the largest disparities arise among younger, digitally fluent individuals with high societal risk concerns, where gender gaps in personal use exceed 45 percentage points. Using a synthetic twin panel design, we show that increased optimism about AI's societal impact raises GenAI use among young women from 13 percent to 33 percent, substantially narrowing the gender divide. These findings indicate that gendered perceptions of AI's social and ethical consequences, rather than access or capability, are the primary drivers of unequal GenAI adoption, with implications for productivity, skill formation, and economic inequality in an AI enabled economy.
Education - One Nation Victoria
Literacy, numeracy and knowledge first. A clear year-by-year syllabus, orderly classrooms, real trade pathways, and vouchers so funding follows the student.
Integrating Data Literacy Into K–12 Education · Issue 7.2, Spring 2025
In a world increasingly driven by data, the ability to understand, interpret, and make use of data has assumed a fundamental role. Yet despite its importance, data literacy remains conspicuously absent from the U.S. K–12 educational landscape. This article explores the obstacles in integrating data literacy into the educational system and proposes a multipronged approach to address these challenges.We contend that successful implementation of K–12 data literacy education necessitates comprehensive teacher preparation and professional development coupled with the integration of data literacy within curricula. Furthermore, the creation of suitable tools and data sets specifically tailored for K–12 learning is paramount. Finally, school and district leaders must champion the cause of data literacy, allocating resources and nurturing a culture that recognizes its value.Drawing inspiration from the success of large-scale initiatives such as the Moore-Sloan Data Science Environments and the National Writing Project, we present the components and conditions essential for successful advancement of data literacy education. The article concludes with a call to action inviting constituents from across various roles to unite in the endeavor of building a future where data literacy is recognized as a fundamental skill. We underscore that the widespread implementation of data literacy within K–12 education will demand sustained investment, customized local implementation, and the concerted efforts of multiple disciplines and stakeholder groups. By confronting these challenges head-on and harnessing the strategies outlined in this article, we can strive to ensure that all students are armed with the data literacy skills necessary to navigate an increasingly data-driven world.
Americans’ Social Activity Has Steeply Declined in the Past 30 Years
Our survey finds significant, double-digit declines in Americans’ participation in key social activities from 1995 to 2026.
AI Literacy Across the Curriculum
As you have no doubt seen, AI is becoming ubiquitous in our lives and in the technologies we use every day. Generative AI is no longer an experimental tool, but a deployed technology in many of the…
The UAE embraces AI for kindergartners
The country’s approach offers a glimpse of what education could look like if AI literacy becomes as fundamental as reading and writing.
