AIR Experts Assist in National Assessment of Adult Literacy, First Assessment of English Literacy of Adults in U.S. in More than a Decade

Washington, D.C. – The Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) will be releasing data on Thursday, December 15, 2005, based on the first National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) in the United States in more than a decade. Experts for the American Institutes for Research (AIR) were responsible for developing the assessment instruments, and analyzing and reporting the data.

The first report from the 2003 assessment of the English language literacy of adults 16 years of age and older, “A First Look at the Literacy of America’s Adults in the 21st Century,” was prepared by AIR experts.

AIR also analyzed and reported on the assessments of adult literacy in six states: Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, and Oklahoma. The states took advantage of an opportunity offered by NCES to obtain detailed state samples of their respective populations.

AIR’s team was led by vice president Mark Kutner, and Elizabeth Greenberg, Stéphane Baldi, and Justin Baer. For additional information, contact Larry McQuillan, AIR’s director of communications, at (202) 403-5119.

About AIR

The American Institutes for Research (AIR) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research on important social issues and delivers technical assistance both domestically and internationally in the areas of health, education, and workforce productivity.