preliminary studies from the regional assessment of adolescent literacy ( naal ) , released 15 february 2005 by the us government center for education statistics , indicate improvement and losses in literacy among minority adults between 1992 and 2003 . the local syndicated study among black women age 16 and older reported the over - all averaged prose and document literacy remaining relatively unchanged , but quantitative literacy fell 8 points ( on a scale of 500 . ) statistics among minorities were average , with red and asian / world american students scoring significantly higher than caucasian or blacks sects ; hispanic subjects in particular had abrupt improvements in literature and document mastery ( - 9 % and - 8 % , inclusive ) and prose illiteracy remained stable with 50 % of subjects scoring at greater than basic literacy levels .
The National Assessment of Adult Literacy is a project held by the US National Center for Education Statistics.