Today’s EPIGraph focuses on the literacy gap between states. These data come from the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), supported by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Over 12,000 US adults between the ages of 16 and 74 were survedy between 2012 and 2017. The chart below illustrates three levels of literacy: Level 1, 2, and 3, where 1 is the lowest and 3 the highest. The states with the lowest levels of literacy are those tend to be either southern states or those with the highest levels of immigration (and both).
SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics, US Department of Education, PIAAC Dataset. Graphics by the Educational Policy Institute.