The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was a 22-country initiative conducted between 1994 and 1998. In every country nationally representative samples of adults aged 16-65 were interviewed and assessed at home, using an equivalent test translated into 15 languages. The goals of the survey were to create comparable literacy profiles across national, linguistic and cultural boundaries, to study the factors that influence literacy proficiency, and to investigate how literacy is related to various social and economic outcomes. The monograph series includes studies by literacy scholars and experts drawing on the IALS database. This particular monograph was funded by the United States Department of Education, Statistics Canada and Applied Research Branch, Human Resources Development Canada. Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy. Other studies in the series were funded primarily by Human Resources Development Canada and Statistics Canada. This monograph presents 10 international indicators that allow readers to compare the literacy proficiency of North Americans with that of other populations. The findings confirm that low literacy is an important issue in all regions and countries surveyed. But there are both countries that do better and countries that do worse than the United States and Canada. Understanding why these differences have occurred, and particularly, what policies may have contributed to success and failure, is an important consideration. The author suggests ten tools and targets that may be employed in a strategy for improving literacy in North America.
