Summary Informed consent is supposed to be the moment a research participant fully understands what they're agreeing to. In practice, it rarely works that way. Fewer than 10% of participants report reading an entire consent form before signing it,⁵ and in controlled comprehension tests, only 28% of participants could correctly answer basic questions about what they'd just consented to.⁵ The gap is widest for the communities research is most supposed to serve: people with lowe

Summary Women are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. incarcerated population — up more than sevenfold since 1980, even as overall crime has fallen. Roughly 70% of incarcerated women meet clinical criteria for a substance use disorder, and formerly incarcerated women are more likely than formerly incarcerated men to become homeless after release. In New York, women make up a small share of the state prison population (about 4%) but face a reentry system built almost entir

Nationally, adult literacy skills are slipping. The 2023 PIAAC assessment (released Dec. 2024 by NCES) found U.S. adults' average literacy scores fell for the first time in the survey's history, continuing a decline from 2017. Fourth-grade reading proficiency has dropped to its lowest recorded level. On the 2024 Nation's Report Card (NAEP), only 31% of U.S. 4th graders scored "proficient" in reading — down from 35% in 2019 — and roughly 40% scored below the "basic" level, the