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.