Beginning Literacy (Grade level 0-1.9)

• Functional skills - the individual cannot read basic signs or maps, cannot complete simple forms and has few or no basic computational skills
• Reading and writing - the individual has no or minimal literacy skills and little or no formal school. There is little or recognition of the alphabet.

• Functional skills - the individual is able or could learn to read simple directions, signs and maps with some difficulty, fill out simple forms and perform simple computations.
• Reading and writing - the individual can read and print letters, one syllable words, most two syllable words and some three syllable words; can alphabetize words and write name, address and phone number; can write simple messages and letters using simple and compound sentences; can use simple punctuation (e.g., periods, commas, questions marks).

• Functional skills - the individual is able to handle basic reading, writing, and computational tasks; is also able or could learn to read simple employee handbooks, interpret a payroll stub, complete a basic job application or medical information forms, and reconcile a bank statement. May have difficulty with calculations, however, such as gas milage.
• Reading and writing - the individual can paraphase written narratives containing polysyllabic words within all types of sentence structures; can compose a paragraph using combinations of all major sentence types; can review a paragraph and identify spelling and punctuation errors; can interpret actions requird in specific written directions and write instructions to others, such as describing how to get to a specific address, or write a simple phone message.

• Functional skills - individuals are able or could learn to follow simple multi-step directions, read common legals forms and manuals, write accident or incident reports, create and use tables and graphs, use math in business transactions and communicate personal opinions in written form.
• Reading and writing - the individual can comprehend expository writing and identify spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors; can find, summarize and use information from literacy works, magazines and professional journals to compose multi-paragraph essays on historical, contemporary and political issues; can listen to oral instructions and write an accurate synthesis of them; can work productively and collaboratively in groups.