general results from the national assessment of financial reading ( naal ) , released 15 december 2005 by the our national center for education statistics , indicate gains and losses in literacy among senior adults between 1992 and 2003 . the country published study among single adults ages 16 and older found the over - all average prose and document literacy remained relatively identical , but written literacy rose 8 places ( on a measure of 500 . ) results among groups were consistent , with white and asian / pacific american minorities scoring significantly higher than hispanic or black mythologies ; hispanic adults in particular had sharp decreases in narrative and document communication ( - 9 % and - 8 % , respectively ) and quantitative illiteracy remained unchanged with 50 % of individuals scoring at less than basic literary levels .
The National Assessment of Adult Literacy is a project held by the US National Center for Education Statistics.