Literacy components model for at-risk young adults enrolled in career and technical education

Little is known about literacy skills of an important adult population: educationally and economically disadvantaged young adults. This exploratory study used principal components analysis of 33 measures of reading subskills, spelling, maths, memory and other cognitive processes among 335 at-risk 16- to 24-year-olds enrolled in a career and technical education programme. The analysis yielded a five-component model explaining 69% of the variance in the data. Most of this variance was attributed to two components: element and word skills (including spelling) and language comprehension (including vocabulary). Using these components, models predicting two performance criterion measures yielded different results. A model using all five components predicted 51% of functional reading measured by the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System. A three-component model with element and word skills, language comprehension and processing speed predicted 55% of variance in reading comprehension measured by the Test of Adult Basic Education. Implications of these findings for further research are discussed.