Fascinating Writing Statistics
Writing, Reading and Arithmetic. The three “R’s” of education. Eduify is focused on the first one: Writing. Writing is a critically important skill to succeeding in life. Yet, writing is often under-taught and forgotten in rhetoric. We, like the National Commission on Writing, think writing is truly the neglected “R.”
The state of writing in the US is worse than most realize. Here are some interesting statistics that bring it into perspective:
4 out of 5 Students are NOT Proficient Writers
Three times since 1998 the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) / National Center for Educational Progress has administered a writing assessment to students around the US. In fact, they just finished administering the 2009 report. While students have improved their writing slightly over time, the country as a whole still has a long way to go. The data in the report is phrased and graphically shown in a way that’s a little difficult to understand. The NCW interprets it clearly: “About one student in five produces completely unsatisfactory prose, about 50 percent meet “basic” requirements, and only one in five can be called “proficient.”
Here’s a graph from NCES (aka, NCEP) 2007 report, “Nations Report Card: Writing 2007“:
(Check this link for the specific 12th grade report)
Employers Look at Writing as a Key Skill When Hiring
Writing is a key skill for getting a job, and getting promoted says this report from the NCW and Business Roundtable. The majority of employers use writing as a “threshold skill” in hiring and promoting. If you can’t write well, you’re just not going to get the job, let alone get promoted. For example, 80% of employers in the Finance, Insurance or Real Estate industry frequently, or almost always, considered writing skills in hiring.
Governments and Employers Spend Billions Re-training For Writing
Another report from the NCW estimates, that “States spend nearly $221 million on writing training every year.” That’s a lot of effort to train for a skill that we should be teaching our students. It goes on to echo what private employers say too: “More than 75 percent of respondents report taking writing into account in hiring and promoting state employees. ‘I’d say there’s a premium placed on well-developed writing skills,” said one human resources director.’ ”
Employers spend significantly more. This report from the NCW estimated that “it appears that remedying deficiencies in writing may cost American firms as much as $3.1 billion annually.”
32 million high school and college students in the US
According to the US Census Bureau, there are 32 million high school and college students in the United States.
Bottom line: Bad writing is a serious problem that we need to work with students to improve before they enter the real world.
