“All the elements of academic literacy—reading, writing, listening, speaking, critical thinking, use of technology,
and habits of mind that foster academic success—are expected of entering freshmen across all college disciplines
(ICAS).”
The current focus on basic skills has sharpened our knowledge and tools to help students succeed both academically
and in the workplace. When needs in basic academic skills are tied to the ICAS1Literacy Competencies for
Entering Freshman, there is a very clear picture of expectations for students. Now consider the national research
and policy papers declaring a critical need to focus on reading, particularly in higher education. While numerous
research projects examine transfer patterns, graduation rates or mathematics and English course success rates, it
appears we are overlooking a key ingredient necessary for fundamental academic and workforce success–reading.
The Findings and Correlation between Reading and Successful Workplace and Academic Skills
•Employers rank reading and writing as major deficiencies
in their new hires and concurrently rank reading comprehension
as an important skill for workplace success.
•Reading for pleasure is strongly correlated to academic
achievement, increased employment opportunities and
civic engagement.
•“Twenty percent of U.S. college students completing
4-year degrees – and 30 percent of students earning
2-year degrees – have only basic quantitative literacy skills,
meaning they are unable to estimate if their car has enough
gasoline to get to the next gas station or calculate the total
cost of ordering office supplies.”
•“More than 75 percent of students at 2-year colleges and
more than 50 percent of students at 4-year colleges do not
score at the proficient level of literacy. This means that they
lack the skills to perform complex literacy tasks, such as
comparing credit card offers with different interest rates or
summarizing the arguments of newspaper editorials.”
The message here is clear. Inspire a love of reading
in young people as early as possible. It will reward them
throughout their entire lives.
