Facts are Our Friends
The National Statistics are Staggering:
- 75% of prisoners scored in the two lowest literacy levels of the National Adult Literacy Survey. This means that while they have some reading and writing skills, they are not adequately equipped to perform tasks like writing a letter, explaining an error on a credit card bill, or understanding a bus schedule.
- Among adults with low literacy skills, 43% live in poverty and 17% receive food stamps.
- If literacy levels in the United States were the same as those in Sweden, the US GDP would rise by approximately $463 billion and tax revenues would increase by approximately $162 billion.
- (Sources Include: Alliance for Excellent Education, 2003e, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, Digest of Education Statistics, and National Alliance of Literacy Coalitions)
Here’s a Look at Texas:
- Texas has the second largest number of undereducated adults in the United States.
- Fifty (50%) percent of those living in poverty do not have a high school diploma.
- Texas has the 7th highest drop out rate in the United States.
- Texas has the second largest number of under-educated adults in the United States.
- Nearly 90,000 of Texas’ most serious offenders do not have high school diplomas.
- (Sources Include: Foundation for Community Empowerment/Dallas Indicators)
Here’s What’s Happening in Our Own Backyard:
- Dallas ISD’s dropout rate is the 7th worst in the nation.
- As of 2005-06, Dallas ISD’s graduation rate was 68.8%.
- Five districts had a lower rate of students taking the SAT/ACT than the state average in 2005 (Dallas, Garland, Mesquite, Irving, and Grand Prairie), with Grand Prairie ISD's rate ranking last at 44.8%
- In two and/or four year colleges, Dallas ISD had the lowest percentage of graduates enrolled, at 36.7%, followed by Irving ISD (40.2%), Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD (48.5%), and McKinney ISD (48.7%). (2005 data)
- (Sources Include: Texas Education Agency, Dallas Indicators, Texas Higher Education Data Website)
|
