Background. The National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) is a statistical program of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) that was designed to measure the nature and extent of literacy skills among the U.S. adult population (16 years old and older). NALS was designed to offer policymakers, researchers, and educators a variety of statistics on the condition of adult literacy in the U.S.

The 1992 survey assessed the literacy skills using simulations of three kinds of literacy tasks that adults would ordinarily encounter in daily life. NALS estimates were used to profile literacy abilities of the nation's adults on three scales: prose, document and quantitative literacy. Proficiencies were reported on a scale of 0 to 500. Five performance levels were designated on each scale: Level 1 (225 and under), Level 2 (226-275), Level 3 (276-325), Level 4 (326-375) and Level 5 (above 375).

The National Adult Literacy Survey was conducted once in 1992. NCES currently is planning for a subsequent literacy assessment of adults in 2002. Since the 1992 NALS program was completed, the overall program has been renamed National Assessments of Adult Literacy (NAAL).

Information is available on the NALS publications by connecting to the Department of Education (National Center for Education Statistics) website.

While national scope results offer insights into the general nature and character of literacy, programs designed to address improvement in literacy require data for states and smaller geographic areas. State level data were prepared for some states through the related State Adult Literacy Surveys (in 12 states: CA, FL, IL, IN, IA, LA, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TX, WA).

State level data are helpful in determining the scope and status of literacy proficiency statewide and thus determining resources required to improve literacy. In order to provide data more at the local, county and community levels of geography, where literacy improvement plans must be deployed, requires literacy estimates that correspond to these geographic levels. For this reason, a national program to develop "synthetic estimates" of adult literacy proficiency for smaller geographic levels was undertaken through the sponsorship of the U.S. Office of Vocational and Adult Education.

Data and analyses presented here make use of "synthetic estimates" of adult literacy proficiency , which extend on the SALS/NALS estimates, prepared by Portland State University developed under sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Adult and Vocational Education.

More information is available on these estimates via the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) Internet site which connects you to the synthetic estimates database. You may also view "frequently asked questions" about the synthetic estimates on this reference. Additional information and data access are also available for both survey-based and synthetic estimates via the National Institute for Literacy Internet site.

Under the purview of the Adult Education Act, the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) operates programs designed to help enable every adult with literacy needs to receive services of the highest quality. NIFL gives emphasis given to building public consensus and policy, monitoring programs, sponsoring promising initiatives, disseminating valid information on programs and research pertinent to literacy, and building interagency collaboration at the Federal and State levels.

Focusing on School Districts and Community Colleges. Data and information prepared and presented via the links listed below are designed to provide more information for school district [aggregate] areas and community college districts. These are among the entities most in need of information as to the character of adult literacy proficiencies in the geographic areas they serve and provide educational programs.

Present focus of this information is to support collaborative development of informational materials being developed for the State of Iowa.

Use the Profiles and Tables link provided below to (1) perform analytical queries, that you structure, comparing/contrasting the State of Iowa, any of the Iowa congressional districts, any of the Iowa counties and any of the 30 Iowa cities for which the synthetic estimates have been prepared and (2) view a tabular listing of Level 1 and Level 2 synthetic estimates, and measures of reliability, for all geographic areas where synthetic estimates were prepared. Synthetic estimates for Iowa's 15 community college districts have been prepared and may be accessed from the clickable maps in the maps and chart section or the tables and profiles section.

Use the Thematic and Orienteering Maps link provided below to visually analyze the distributions of the Level 1 and Level 2 estimates for Iowa counties, cities, school districts within community college districts and community college district aggregates.

Iowa Profiles and Tables
Iowa Maps and Charts