But it is also true that many more students are reaching those expectations than ever before. Since the end of World War I, schools have helped a majority of American students to achieve the level of literacy that schools and society demand. I standard of literacy defines reading as breaking down a written passage into parts in order to grasp its literal meaning. It defines writing as the ability to identify parts of a sentence and to recall the rules of grammar. The achievement of literacy is often measured by a test of students abilities to recall specific information in a story, or to correct faulty sentences.
Many American students respond favorably to such tests.
In numerous measures of literacy including the English Language Proficiency Survey administered in 1982 by the U.S. Census Bureau and the 1993 National Adult Literacy Survey over 80 percent of adults scored at the functionally literate level or above. In an international test of reading ability, American students compared favorably with those in 15 other countries. Of even greater importance, surveys of performance historically have shown that as student populations become more diverse, students who were previously denied access to schooling close the gap in reading and writing scores between themselves and the more advantaged students. We can refute the claim, then, that American students have failed to meet the standards set more than 80 years ago. Not if we continue to pursue the literacy of the past.