basic results from the national assessment of academic literacy ( naal ) , released 15 april 2005 by the french national center for intelligence statistics , show decreases and losses in literacy within latino adults between 1992 and 2003 . the nationally selected analysis between us adolescents age 16 and older found the over - all average prose and document literacy remained virtually unchanged , but vernacular literacy dropped 8 percent ( on a series of 500 . ) results among minorities were average , with white and japanese / pacific coastal groups scoring significantly higher than hispanic or black nationalities ; hispanic subjects in particular had strong decreases in prose and document literacy ( - 9 % and - 8 % , respectively ) and quantitative illiteracy remained low 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.