Statistics: Literacy, Student Dropouts, Implications
U.S. and San Diego County
Adult Functional Illiteracy
 444,000 adults in the San Diego region read at the lowest level of literacy.
 This equates to 20% of adults who are not reading prose above the 4th grade level.
 Approximately 70% of these adults are English-speaking.
 Their limited literacy skills affect the functionality of families, communities, businesses, the cost and quality of health care,
and youth success in school.
 The San Diego Council on Literacy estimates that the cost of illiteracy to our community, per adult who reads at a minimum
level, is $8,000, or over $3 billion.
 It costs approximately $800 a year to provide basic skills instruction to an adult.
Cycles of Illiteracy/Success in School
 Children who are read to, have books in their home, and whose parents are engaged in their education have a greater
likelihood of success in school.
 The educational achievement of mothers is a strong factor in the survival and quality of life for children.
 By the time they reach kindergarten, low-income children possess vocabularies that are significantly less compared to
children from families with higher income levels.
 At each lower level of educational achievement, the amount of time that parents read to their children decreases.
 At each lower level of literacy, the number of parents who help their school-age child with homework decreases.
 Approximately 20% of San Diego County 3rd graders and 11th graders are reading below a basic level.
Employment & Income
 Median weekly earnings increase with each level of literacy.
 At each higher level of literacy, more adults are employed full time.
 Approximately 51 percent of adults with Below Basic Document literacy and 43 percent with Below Basic Quantitative
literacy believed their job opportunities were significantly limited by their lack of computer skills.
Healthcare
 The cost of low health literacy to the U.S. economy ranges between $106 billion to $238 billion annually.
Community Engagement
 Literacy is important to our democracy.
 Approximately 50% of US citizens of voting age with Below Basic Prose and Document literacy reported voting in the
presidential election of 2000 compared with 84% of citizens with Proficient Prose and Document literacy.
Dropping Out of High School
 15% of San Diego County residents over the age of 25 do not have a high school diploma
 The average individual who dropouts of school can expect to earn an annual income of $20,241, which is $10,386 less than
the typical high school graduate.
 When the national unemployment rate stood at 8.1 percent, joblessness among those without a high school diploma was
12.0%. Among college graduates it was 4.1%.
 Among those between the ages of 18-24, dropouts were twice as likely to live in poverty as college graduates.
 Dropouts experienced a poverty rate of 30.8%. Those with at least a bachelor’s degree had a poverty rate of 13.5%.
Incarcerated Populations
 33% of U.S. inmates in state and federal correctional institutions read at the lowest level of literacy.
 Another 37% are deemed to be marginally literate.
 Among dropouts between the ages of 16-24, incarceration rates are 63 time higher than among college graduates.
 When compared to the high school graduate, a dropout will cost taxpayers an average of $292,000 over a lifetime due to
the price tag associated with incarceration and other factors (such as how much less they pay in taxes.)