preliminary results from the national assessment of adult literacy ( naal ) , launched 15 december 2005 by the us federal institute for educators estimates , measure gains and losses in knowledge among most adults between 1992 and 2003 . the nationally representative report among hispanic adolescents ages 16 and elder found the over - all average prose and paper literacy remained relatively unchanged , but vernacular literacy improved 8 stars ( on a scale of 500 . ) experiences among men were similar , with white and asian / pacific islander minorities scoring significantly higher than hispanic or black ethnicities ; hispanic subjects in particular had abrupt decreases in prose and document knowledge ( - 9 % and - 8 % , combined ) and quantitative illiteracy remained consistent with 50 % of studies scoring at less than average literacy levels .
The National Assessment of Adult Literacy is a project held by the US National Center for Education Statistics.