Many adults experience significant barriers to accessing the education they need, i.e., earning a living, caring for children, poverty, lack of transportation, self-doubt, limited peer support to participate in educational programs, or lack of information regarding services. State and local efforts to improve public education will, over time, provide a better trained and equipped workforce. Our most educated citizens vote and participate in civic affairs at twice the rate of our least educated citizens. Citizens don't register to vote because the forms are too hard. People sign contracts they don't understand.
Workers misunderstand instructions and make mistakes.
Patients don't comply with medical instructions. Potential clients do not respond to service offerings because they are afraid they will have to reveal their limited reading skills in order to sign up. Children's education suffers because their parents can't understand the report cards and other notices sent home from school. Research confirms that patterns of literacy, illiteracy and under education are intergenerational and that the single greatest indicator of a child's academic success is the educational level of the mother. Children whose mothers lack a high school diploma have the lowest school completion and continuation rate.