For IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 14, 2005

Contact: Larry McQuillan
(202) 403-5119

Louise Kennelly
(202) 403-5817

Findings from State Assessments of Adult Literacy to be Released in Coordination with National Assessment of Adult Literacy

WASHINGTON - The Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) will be releasing the first national report based on the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) on Thursday, December 15, 2005.  Six states took advantage of the opportunity offered by NCES to purchase detailed state samples of their respective populations so that they could obtain comprehensive and direct information about the literacy of adults in their states.  These states are: Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York and Oklahoma.  

Five state reports are being released in coordination with the release of the national report on December 15th at 9:30 AM.  The state reports for Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri and New York will be available on the AIR web site at that time, www.air.org/naal.  Oklahoma's report is being reviewed by state officials and is expected to be released shortly.  State contacts will also be identified on the AIR web site.

AIR's team was led by Vice President Mark Kutner, and Elizabeth Greenberg, Stéphane Baldi, and Justin Baer.  They were also responsible for developing the assessment instruments, and analyzing and reporting the data in the first national report, A First Look at the Literacy of America's Adults in the 21st Century," which will be available at http://nces.ed.gov/naal.

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.