To obtain evidence on the status of and changes in functional literacy, the National Right-to-Read Effort funded mini-assessments of the functional literacy of 17-year-olds in 1974 and 1975. The exercises were selected by a panel of reading specialists, based on the criteria that the exercises represent the types of reading materials encountered…

This handbook is designed to give background information on the Mini-Assessment of Functional Literacy, a criterion-referenced test designed to determine the extent of functional literacy among seventeen year olds in America. The five format categories identified for the test were passages; drawings, pictures, signs, etc.; charts, maps, graphs;…