Sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), NAAL is the nation's most comprehensive measure of adult literacy since the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS).

What is the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL)? NAAL is a nationally representative assessment of the English literacy skills of Americans age 16 and older. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has conducted assessments of U.S. adult literacy since 1985.

NAAL Fact Sheets. The following sections provide fact sheets on key topics of NAAL. For your convenience, the information on each topic is available as a separate, downloadable document.

NAAL is designed to measure functional English literacy. The assessment measures how adults use printed and written information to adequately function at home, in the workplace, and in the community.

National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) A nationally representative and continuing assessment of English language literary skills of American Adults Publications & Products | State & County Estimates | Staff | Search | Site Index

The 2003 NAAL Framework is the foundation upon which the NAAL study is designed. It specifies and explains the three types of literacy that NAAL measures—prose, document, and quantitative.

NAAL defines literacy as both task-based and skills-based. The task-based definition of literacy, used in both the 1992 and 2003 assessments, focuses on the everyday literacy tasks an adult can and cannot perform.

National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) A nationally representative and continuing assessment of English language literary skills of American Adults Publications & Products | State & County Estimates | Staff | Search | Site Index

In order to make NAAL scores meaningful, the scores were grouped into performance levels to provide information that could more easily be understood and used by the public and policy makers.

NAAL uses 12 health-related stimulus materials that are authentic and reflect the type of materials adults encounter in real life. They include medical instructions, medication information, health insurance and other forms, and prevention and wellness information.