Do 54% of Americans read below 6th grade level?

New Study: 54% of American Adults Read Below 6th Grade-Levels. Low literacy levels among adults in the United States are a major concern, with 54% of adults aged 16–74 years old, or about 130 million people, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level[1][2][3][6].

Do 54% of adults have a literacy below 6th grade level?

130 million Americans—54% of adults between the ages of 16 and 74 years old—lack proficiency in literacy, essentially reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level. Often, counties with the lowest literacy rates are the same areas that experience poor health, poverty, and low economic mobility.

What reading level is 54% Americans?

54% of adults have a literacy below sixth-grade level. 21% of Americans 18 and older are illiterate in 2022. Low literacy rates end up costing Americans up to $2.2 trillion every year.

What percentage of US students read below grade level?

Only 35 percent of fourth graders are reading at or above grade level. In addition, 64 percent of eighth graders are reading below grade level, whereas 36 percent are reading at or above grade level.

What is the average reading level for a 6th grader?

In the 6^th grade, higher performers should be looking to achieve Lexile scores of around 1000L by the end of the year, with the average scores being over 665L. Yearly growth in the 6^th grade falls under 100L typically, with expected growth at 1.7L per week.

54% of Americans between the ages of 16 and 74 read below a 6th grade reading level Why do you thin

What grade level does the average American read at?

The average American reads at the 7th- to 8th-grade level, according to The Literacy Project. Medical information for the public should be written at no higher than an eighth-grade reading level, according to the American Medical Association, National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What is the average 7th grade reading level?

In the 7th grade, studies using a national sample of students have shown that typically readers will score at a Lexile level between 735L and 1065L over the course of the year.

How many Americans read below a 6th grade level?

130 million Americans read below sixth-grade level

At the same time, one in five adults (22%) in the U.S. has difficulty completing these same tasks.

How many Americans read below 6th grade?

by EMILY SCHMIDT | March 16, 2022

About 130 million adults in the U.S. have low literacy skills according to a Gallup analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Education. This means more than half of Americans between the ages of 16 and 74 (54%) read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level.

Are US literacy rates declining?

According to McKinsey & Company, U.S. students lost the equivalent of nearly half a school year in reading instruction due to the pandemic. In 2022, reading scores dropped to levels that we haven't seen since 2005.

Why is American literacy rate so low?

The burden of poverty places significant constraints on individuals' educational opportunities. Limited access to books, educational resources, and enrichment activities can hinder literacy development, perpetuating the cycle of low literacy rates within families and communities.

What reading level is Harry Potter?

Like most milestones, there is no “right age.” It all depends on the kid—and the parents. But there are a few age-related guidelines to take into consideration: From a technical standpoint, Harry Potter is categorized as a middle-grade read, which typically encompasses 9–to–12-year-olds.

What state has the lowest reading level?

The states with the lowest literacy rates are New Mexico, California, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Nevada, New York, Alabama, Florida and Georgia.

What is the most literate country in the world?

Literacy Rates by Country

Literacy rates in this graphic are defined as the percentage of people over the age of 15 that can read and write. There are nine countries in the world that have a 100% literacy rate: Andorra, Finland, Greenland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and North Korea.

Which country has lowest literacy rate?

What is the average American reads at a 7th to 8th grade level?

Readability formulas are important: the average American reads at a 7th to 8th-grade level, as reported by the Literacy Project, yet most content is written at an 10th-grade level or higher. These tools can determine how quickly a person can comprehend material.

What reading level are Americans 7th grade?

The average American is considered to have a readability level equivalent to a 7th/8th grader (12 to 14 years old). This level is actively used as a benchmark for written guidelines in the medical industry. In the UK, the central government encourages content writers to aim for a readability level of age nine.

How much should 6th graders read a day?

Sixth graders read every day.

The goal for 6th grade students is to secure a habit of monitoring their understanding as they read, as well as breaking up more complex texts as they are reading into smaller segments. Their stamina for independent reading increases to 40 minutes or longer.

How many books does the average 6th grader read?

A Frequent reader, age 6-11, reads about 44 books per year, while an Infrequent reader reads only around 22. And that difference increases substantially as kids get older. Infrequent readers, age 12-17, only read 4.7 books a year.

What state has the highest illiteracy rate?

1. California

California's 23.1% of adults lacking basic prose literacy skills make California have the lowest literacy rate of 76.9%.

How many Americans could read in 1800?

Sheldon Richman quotes data showing that from 1650 to 1795, American male literacy climbed from 60 to 90 percent. Between 1800 and 1840 literacy in the North rose from 75 percent to between 91 and 97 percent. In the South the rate grew from about 55 percent to 81 percent.

What is the literacy rate of Japan?

Qualities of the Japanese educational system

Japan's adult literacy rate is at around 99 percent. According to the results of OECD's PISA Programme, Japanese fifteen-year-olds showcased high levels of education in the international comparison, scoring higher than the OECD standard in all rounds of assessment.

What percentage of Americans Cannot read?

On average, 79% of U.S. adults nationwide are literate in 2024. 21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2024. 54% of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level (20% are below 5th-grade level).

How fast does the average American read?

Based on the analysis of 190 studies (18,573 participants), we estimate that the average silent reading rate for adults in English is 238 words per minute (wpm) for non-fiction and 260 wpm for fiction.

What is the average 9th grade reading level?

According to national studies, the typical 9^th grader should score on Lexile between 855L and 1165L over the course of the year. Of course, around 25 percent of students will perform below the expected average, while 25 percent will generally perform at a higher level.