Literacy from illiteracy

Back in September, I came across an interesting article that led me to the website of the Canadian Council on Learning.

The organization created a survey of 'prose literacy' in Canada, which is used to measure basic literacy -- the knowledge and skills needed to understand and use information from news stories, editorials, brochures and instruction manuals. It is, therefore, an instrumental building block for developing more sophisticated literacy skills and is critical to understanding a rapidly changing world.

Two things stuck out for me.

The Canadian Council on Learning created its survey using a geographic information system (GIS), which presents data linked to location, allowing for the information to then be analyzed, managed, compared and presented multiple ways so as to provide deep insight into what's happening, where it's happening, and with some analysis, why. Modern technology has given GIS new abilities to layer data as well as dramatically increase interactivity and linkages -- when designed with accurate information, modern GIS systems are the equivalent of striking data gold.

The interactive literacy map created by the Council looked at 52,000 cities, towns and communities across Canada, revealing that we Canadians are not as literate as we thought. Using data from Statistics Canada and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and combining these with 2006 federal census data, showed that some 48 per cent of adults in Canada have low literacy levels.

Adult literacy is often measured on a prose literacy scale of 1 to 5. Level 3 is widely considered to be the minimum threshold for coping with the demands of the global knowledge-based economy, while a Level 2 denotes someone who is able to deal with simple, straightforward material, but “their poor literacy makes it hard to conquer challenges such as learning new job skills.” With nearly half of adults in Canada having low prose literacy levels, there is major cause for concern; it explains why the current government has been able to pull the wool over the eyes of Canadians for so long.

The other important lesson that stuck out for me is the utility of GIS mapping. This should be the foundation for policy formulation in Canada -- providing insights on how best to ensure the most good for the most number of people, be it in education, health care or employment creation. With baseline data established, such as we now have with literacy, it becomes another layer in the GIS onion for when the next census takes place in 2011. It also becomes a way for Canadians to compare 2006 data with 2011 data, understand areas of progress or decline, and hold our politicians to account. In the case of literacy, knowing what we know now, there should be commensurate investment in bolstering primary and secondary education so as to improve literacy.

We have Statistics Canada. But it's clear that Canada now needs to step up its game to connect the dots between the gathering and analysis of statistics, and allowing that information to have realtime impact. Right now, we have fairly high levels of illiteracy. But, if we learn the lesson correctly from the Canadian Council on Learning, there is in fact, literacy from illiteracy -- we just have to be willing to read between the lines.