Building Our Competencies:
The Northwest Territories Results of the International Adult
Literacy Skills Survey 2003
Table of Contents
Highlights
……………………………………………………………………………3
Introduction
…………………………………………………………………… ………4
Chapter 1
Adult competencies in Northwest Territories
………………… ……..13
Chapter 2
Proficiencies of the Aboriginal population
……………… ………...35
Conclusion
…………………………………………………………………………...41
Annex A
A construct-centred approach to understanding what was measured in the
International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey
(IALSS)………………………………………………………………….43
Annex B
Survey methodology
……………………………………………...…77
Appendix C
List of partners
…………………………………………………86
Highlights
Introduction
What is the IALSS?
Table I.0 Geographical distribution of IALSS respondents, Canada and jurisdictions, aged 16 and
over, 2003
How to interpret the IALSS
Measuring Proficiency
Table I.1 Five levels of difficulty for the prose, document and numeracy domains
Table I.2 Four levels of difficulty for the problem solving domain
Organization of the report
Chapter 1: Adult competencies in the Northwest Territories
Average proficiency scores in the Northwest Territories
Incidence of low proficiency in the Northwest Territories
Table 1.1 Percent of population aged 16 and older at each proficiency level, 2003
Age and Proficiencies
Table 1.2A Average proficiency scores, by age group, Canada and the Northwest Territories,
population aged 16 and over, 2003
Table 1.2B Distribution of proficiency levels, by age group, the Northwest Territories,
population aged 16 and over, 2003
Gender and Proficiencies
Table 1.3A Average scores of males and females, the Northwest Territories, population aged 16
and over, 2003
Table 1.3B Distribution of proficiency levels, by gender, the Northwest Territories, population
aged 16 and over, 2003
Educational Attainment and Proficiencies
Table 1.4A Average proficiency scores, by education level, Canada and the Northwest
Territories, population aged 16 and over, 2003
Table 2.4B Distribution of proficiency levels, by educational attainment, the Northwest
Territories, population aged 16 and over, 2003
Proficiency and Labour Force Status
Table 2.5A Average literacy scores of Canadians 16 to 65 of age by labour force status, Canada
and the Northwest Territories, 2003
Table 1.5B Percent of labour force by document, prose, numeracy and problem solving levels,
population 16 to 65,
the Northwest Territories , 2003
Proficiency and Occupation
Table 1.6A Average scores and standard errors by literacy levels, prose document, numeracy and
problem solving by occupation
Table 1.6B Distribution of proficiency levels, by occupation, gender, population aged 16 to 65,
2003
Literacy at work
Table 1.7 Average scores and standard errors by literacy levels, prose, document and quantitative
scales on a scale of reading, writing and numeracy intensity (based on the frequency with which
individuals carry out the tasks and the variety of tasks they carry)
Literacy at home
Table 1.8A Average scores and standard errors for three scales of the information and
communication technologies use and familiarity index, the Northwest Territories, population
aged 16 and over, 2003
Table 1.8B Average scores and standard errors on scales of frequency & variety of reading,
attitude towards reading and comfort with & perceived ability in math
Proficiencies and Adult Education and Training
Table 1.9A Average proficiency scores of population receiving adult education and training in
the year preceding the interview, , Canada and the Northwest Territories, population aged 16 to
65, 2003
Table 1.9B Percent of population receiving adult education and training during the year
preceding the interview, by domains and levels, population 16 to 65, Canada and the Northwest
Territories, 2003
ICT and proficiency
Connectedness
ICT and Age
Table 1.10A Average scores for three scales of the information and communication technologies
use and familiarity index, by age groups, gender and educational attainment, population aged 16
to 65, 2003
ICT and gender
ICT and income
ICT and education
ICT and literacy
Table 1.10B Average index scores measuring the intensity of use of computers for task-oriented
purposes, by prose proficiency levels, population aged 16 to 65, 2003
Chapter 2: Proficiencies of the Aboriginal population
Proficiency of Aboriginal populations
Table 2.1 Distributions of prose proficiency level, by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, by
Northwest Territories, population aged 16 and over, 2003
Proficiencies and age
Table 2.2 Average proficiency scores with .95 confidence interval by age groups, Aboriginal
and non-Aboriginal, Canada and Northern Territories, population aged 16 and over, 2003
Proficiencies and gender
Proficiencies and education
Conclusion
Annex A
A Construct-Centered approach to Understanding What was Measured in the
International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS)
Annex B – Survey Methodology
Introduction