What is the percentage of Blacks (children & adults as a whole; not
just adults) in the United States who can read and write (literate)
today?

I know it has to be somewhere in the high 60's to 70's range in
percentage (possibly 80's), as my teacher told me I needed to go up
about 25% when I brought my answer in. My answer was around 48%. It
was also said that there should be a break down of different
categories among the races for the literacy - White, Blacks, Asian,
Hispanic, etc.

I was told that searching census could give answers, but they haven't
conducted it since 1969. I've read through NAAL and other documents
similar, however all these are just for adults - that I'm aware of.

Any help would be greatly apperciated. Remember that its the total
(children & adults) of Blacks in the United States that are literate.

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Request for Question Clarification by cynthia-ga on 16 Apr 2006 00:18 PDT

This is very detailed:

A First Look at the Literacy of America?s Adults in the 21st Century
http://nces.ed.gov/NAAL/PDF/2006470_1.PDF

There's a section on children.

They break literacy into three sections, click on the Literacy by
Race/Ethnicity section, and the Children section and tell me if this
is helpful.

~~Cynthia

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Clarification of Question by miryanda-ga on 16 Apr 2006 14:54 PDT

Interesting find, but he stated it would just be one total percentage
that included both adults and children that gives the literacy. I
actually tried the prose, document, etc. and he said it wasn't
correct; just wanted one percentage only.

The only clue he has given me is that its near 60-80% range. I wonder
if finding illiteracy within the United States, would show how many
are literate and come near 60-80% range?

Thanks for looking :)

48% is about correct if you define literacy as reasonable
comprehension of material written for college students. (90% is about
right if you define literacy as recognizing with difficulty a few
hundred words, but 90% is too high, if you include black children
under age 5 in the statistic.   Neil

I recall seeing a breakdown of literacy for various races in an almanac.