Figure 5.1

Half of all respondents at Level 1 on the prose literacy scale said they did not engage in any of the twelve types of participation and volunteer activities measured by the IALSS. Conversely, 21 percent of respondents at Level 4/5 never did so.

A second way of examining the same data is to look at the percentages of those engaged and those not engaged within each prose literacy level. The pattern displayed in Figure 5.2 also suggests that there is a positive relationship between prose literacy and civic engagement; higher levels of literacy proficiency are linked to higher levels of community involvement. About half of those with Level 1 prose literacy are engaged in civic activities. This proportion rises across each literacy level, and reaches 80 percent among those with Level 4/5 proficiency. It is worth noting that, in this simplified index, a person who is “not engaged” is one who neither volunteers nor participates in any of the measured group or organizational activities. Conversely, a person who is “engaged” participates or volunteers in at least one of the measured activities.

This association between literacy and civic engagement holds in all jurisdictions (See Annex A Table 5.2). As was the case at the national level, rates of civic engagement across the four levels of proficiency vary considerably by jurisdiction.