Making Skills Everybody’s Business: A Call to Transform Adult Learning in the United States

This 2015 report is from the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE). It takes a deeper look at data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Survey of Adult Skills. This global survey from 2013 found that one in six adults living in the United States has low literacy skills and one in three has low numeracy skills. These are higher rates of low-skilled adults than in other industrialized countries and results in negative consequences for our communities and the economy.

In active response, the report proposes seven strategies for making foundational skill development – or upskilling – more prevalent, efficient, effective, and convenient across the country.