ADULTHOOD CONSEQUENCES FROM OUR FAILING SCHOOLS

by Merry Sillitoe

Results from The Survey of Adult Skills from 31 countries and economies reveal how the American adult participants are continuously earning lower scores in key skills.

• Since 2017, American scores in Literacy show those performing at the lowest level increased from 19 to 28 percent. 

• Numeracy scores are worse, with those performing at the lowest level increasing from 28 to 34 percent.

• In adaptive problem solving, 32 percent of American adults scored at the bottom. 

Our scores are also dropping at the higher achieving end of the spectrum.

• In the past ten years, the number of Americans performing at the highest level in literacy has dropped from 50 to 44 percent. 

• In numeracy, the number of Americans performing at the highest level fell from 39 to 38 percent over the same time frame.

These results provide a comprehensive overview of adults’ skills that are fundamental for personal, economic, and societal development. These are the key skills that provide access to employment, higher wages and continuous learning, while enabling individuals to navigate the complexities of their personal and civic lives.

The adult lives of our children are negatively affected by our failed 100 plus year old system. We must finally admit that pushing our students through our schools without ensuring that they have learned what they need to learn at each level is nearing criminal levels.

The change we need is to allow students to level up as fast as they can with as much help as they need to master each and every concept at each level.  We need competency based promotion according to merit.  We need Level Up Schools.

The Survey of Adult Skills is a product of the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC).  

See the full report at https://doi.org/10.1787/b263dc5d-en.

OECD (2024), Do Adults Have the Skills They Need to Thrive in a Changing World?: Survey of Adult Skills 2023, OECD Skills Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris.