Quoted literacy rate seems dubious
Re “Effective literacy help is available” letter.
In this letter to the editor, the Horry County Literacy Council stated, “Did you know that nearly 20 percent of Horry County's children and adults have learning difficulties.”
I wonder where they found this statistic because literacy statistics are broken into school-age children and adults.
A symposium was held at Coastal Carolina University in 2013 titled, “Life, Literacy, and the Pursuit of Justice: Poverty and Illiteracy.”
Jeanne Cobb, professor of literacy at CCU, said the illiteracy rate in Horry County was 12.2 percent.
The Barton Reading and Spelling Program used by the Literacy Council was published in 2000 and is 16 years old. I have used the Barton Reading program to teach adults for the last 5 years and it takes 2 to 3 years to complete. This program does not have a standardized measure to show improvement. I'm wondering how they arrive at their 95 percent success rate.
Sharyn Bauer, Myrtle Beach
This story was originally published September 7, 2016 at 1:15 PM with the headline "Quoted literacy rate seems dubious."