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Can technology solve America's literacy problem?
Roughly 36 million adults in the United States read English at or below a third-grade level. For a predominantly English-speaking country, that's a massive problem. Without an elementary knowledge of the language, this huge portion of the adult population faces a struggle to get by. Finding a job and generally progressing in a career is an obvious issue, but everyday tasks are also difficult. Understanding taxes, helping a child with homework, filling out health care forms or following instructions on medication; these are skills that anyone reading this article takes for granted, but many others toil over daily. We know the situation, but what's the solution? XPRIZE, an organization best known for its efforts to send private rovers to the moon and create a real-life Tricorder, has created a competition to prove that technology is the answer.
XPRIZE and Barbara Bush Foundation aim to improve adult literacy
The latest XPRIZE competition isn't as high-tech as getting a rover to the moon, but it's no less important. The organization has teamed up with the Barbara Bush Foundation for a $7 million adult literacy prize, which challenges participants to build mobile applications to promote reading and writing skills. With around 36 million adults in the U.S. without solid literacy skills, there's certainly plenty of room for better learning solutions out there. And since the competition is focused on mobile apps, the winner should be far more convenient for late-learners than typical language programs, which are often difficult to attend when balancing work and family life. The 18-month-long competition will eventually be narrowed down to five teams, whose apps will be tested with at least 1,000 low-literate adult students over the course of a year.
