Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

When the test [ The National Assessment of Adult Literacy] was last administered, in 1992, 40 percent of the nation's college graduates scored at the proficient level, meaning that they were able to read lengthy, complex English texts and draw complicated inferences. But on the 2003 test, only 31 percent of the graduates demonstrated those high-level skills. There were 26.4 million college graduates.

azindy at dKos has been pointing out the academic shortcomings of teaching candidates for some time, but it now appears that college graduates are generally less capable across the board.  Could it be that the graduates performing badly on this test are the same graduates majoring in education?

But there is some good news:

Among blacks and Asians, English literacy increased from 1992 to 2003.

About 29 percent of blacks scored at either the intermediate or proficient levels in 1992, but in 2003, those rose to 33 percent. The percentage of blacks demonstrating "below basic" literacy declined to 24 percent from 30 percent.

Asians scoring at either the intermediate or proficient levels rose to 54 percent from 45 percent in 1992.