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Adult illiteracy rates in Houston are not improving because of the increasing proportion of immigrants in the population, according to the Houston READ Commission.
"We have a immigrant population here, both legal and illegal. We have to help that population acclimate to society in America. The best way to increase [their] earnings potential is to learn English," said Annie Criner, director of development at the commission.
Agencies are expanding remedial programs as numerous studies seem to lead to similar conclusions..
The National Assessment of Adult Literacy found that one in three adults 16 or older is functionally illiterate, meaning they cannot read a simple English sentence.
The National Center for Education Statistics released federal data indicating that adults lacking in basic prose and literacy skills in Harris County increased to 21 percent in 2003 from 14 percent in 1992 � an increase of 7 percent over 12 years.
Literacy Texas, a statewide coalition, attributed the high percentage of illiterates to an increase in the number of recent immigrants who speak English as a second language.
To cope with the large and increasing number of immigrant workers, the Board of Education of the Houston Independent School District began offering free literacy classes in July 2009 to educationally disadvantaged adults. HISD partnered with the Houston Community College in response to the mandates of the Federal Adult Education and Family Literacy Act.
Criner said the commission promotes economic self-sufficiency by offering classes in English as a Second Language, family literacy and test preparation for the GED.
"We host demonstration learning centers," Criner said, "which are direct services, but they also incorporate best practices in adult literacy education."
"What we found is that they come to better themselves, to help their family's [and to] gain employment."
She said 77 percent of those enrolled in all adult education programs in the Houston area and 88 percent of those in the HCC program are Hispanic.
Indeed, Dale Pillow, executive director of the Adult Reading Center, a non-profit in Pearland, noted, "When you have an economic downtown, you have individuals who have no high school [degree], competing with people who have college degrees."
"They don�t have the skills to do very simple things such as read a job application or read a medicine bottle," she said.
Illiterate parents often push their children to become educated, Pillow said. "They instill the importance of an education, the importance of staying in school. If those parents don�t have that opportunity, there is no break in that cycle."
Carol Keeney, assistant executive director of the commission, said, "In order to learn, children need roofs over their heads, food to eat, a safe place to study and the parents who can teach them and help them."
Keeney emphasized that literacy affects the entire family.
A poster at the Adult Reading Center reads, "Break the cycle. Teach the parent. Reach the child."
Pillow said the literacy levels all across Texas are not improving. "We just haven�t had the commitment from our state legislature as far as funding it, " she said. "[In Texas,] we fund currently at the lowest level that's required by the federal government to match federal funding with providing adult literacy services.
"Until we make literacy a priority, we're really kind of swimming upstream."
The commission set aside $10 million in 2009 for Houston. But she recommended that HISD and the HCC work more closely with the state legislature and the mayor's office to fund remedial programs.
A 2009 study by U.S. Department of Justice study claimed that delinquency, violence and crime were linked to academic failure.
Pillow said, "If [young adults] don't have the skills to get a job, it's very easy to turn to a life of crime because sometimes that's an easier way than to get out and learn."
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