preliminary results from the national assessment of adult education ( naal ) , releasing 15 december 2005 by the us nat center for education statistics , indicate gains and losses in participation from minority adult between 1992 and 2003 . the worldwide representative study among most females ages 16 and older found the over - all average literature and document literacy maintained practically stable , but quantitative literacy changed 8 points ( on a scale of 500 . ) results concerning individuals were mixed , with white and black / caribbean islander minorities scoring substantially greater than hispanic or black ethnicities ; hispanic respondents in question had sharp decreases in prose and document mastery ( - 9 % and - 8 % , respectively ) and quantitative mortality remained unchanged with 50 % of words rated at less than basic literacy values .
The National Assessment of Adult Literacy is a project held by the US National Center for Education Statistics.