Literacy is both a life skill and an academic milestone for students. In the basic sense, literacy is the ability to read and write. Helping students develop this fundamental skill is the primary focus of specialized graduate degree programs like the online Master of Education (M.Ed.) – Literacy program offered 100% online by Eastern Washington University (EWU).
People often view literacy as something you acquire in school to prepare for adult life, but its reach extends well beyond the classroom. Beyond basic reading and writing skills, modern literacy includes financial literacy, health literacy and digital literacy, which all shape how you navigate everyday decisions.
Literacy builds life skills that help people thrive throughout their lives. The specific literacy skills you need depend on your circumstances, career, beliefs, location and many other factors. Here are several types of literacy and their importance as life skills.
Financial Literacy: What It is and Why It Matters
Financial literacy gives you the ability to manage money with intention, equipping you with the skills to budget, invest, save and make sound decisions that support long-term well-being. Without developing financial literacy, people lack the knowledge to grow or protect what they earn.
The Council for Economic Education’s 2024 Survey of the States found that 35 states now require personal finance courses for high school graduation, up from 23 in 2022. This 12-state increase in personal finance education requirements equates to an additional 21% of U.S. high school students receiving the financial literacy development needed to succeed in modern life.
Health Literacy: Making Sense of Health Information and Services
Health literacy determines how effectively you find, interpret and act on health information. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s health literacy guidance reports that limited health literacy is a national public health issue that affects almost 9 out of 10 adults, meaning most people struggle at some point to navigate health information and services. With the release of the U.S. government’s Healthy People 2030 initiative, the CDC updated its definition of health literacy to address two distinct components: Personal health literacy and organizational health literacy.
The CDC defines personal health literacy as your ability to find, understand and use information and services to make well-informed health-related decisions for yourself and those in your care. Organizational health literacy, by contrast, refers to how equitably institutions enable people to access and act on that same information. Together, these definitions reflect a shared responsibility: Individuals must build health literacy skills, and the systems around them must make that work possible.
Achieving basic literacy does not necessarily mean you know how to manage your own health. Reading and writing provide a steppingstone toward understanding health information and navigating health services. Parents use those skills to schedule doctor visits, complete medical forms and provide insurance information on behalf of their children.
Many students graduate and enter the workforce without ever learning how health insurance works or how to track and advocate for their own health history. Information from one provider can contain details that are critical for another doctor. Patients with health literacy skills know how to share that information with other medical personnel because it can directly affect their treatment.
Digital Literacy Skills: Navigating, Evaluating and Protecting Yourself Online
In today’s classrooms, digital tools are inseparable from learning experience. Educational technology integration has evolved for decades, with teachers incorporating laptops, tablets and other digital devices into learning. Students use digital devices to take tests, do assignments and access new information every day.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated that integration, driving widespread adoption of virtual classroom platforms and learning management systems (LMS) to support online learning for students of all ages. A 2023 survey of 5,101 U.S. adults from the Pew Research Center found that Americans answer a median of just five out of nine digital knowledge questions correctly, with only 4% able to answer all nine. That gap reveals how much educators can accomplish by weaving digital literacy skills into everyday instruction.
Of course, the importance of digital literacy reaches well beyond the classroom. Many basic tasks require digital competence. For instance, finding a job involves creating a resume. In most cases, you create one using a word processor or completing an online application. Banking, paying bills, signing up for services and buying products all involve digital platforms that you need the skills to navigate safely.
Digital literacy also means protecting yourself and your personal data. Knowing how to recognize phishing attempts, secure your accounts and manage your digital footprint keeps you from falling victim to scams, identity theft or cyberbullying. According to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024, the agency received 6.5 million consumer reports in 2024 covering fraud, identity theft and other online threats — underscoring how essential these protective skills have become.
Effective digital literacy education helps you sift through online content, find reputable sources and engage with information in discerning, informed ways. This skill is especially critical for students in the era of social media and AI-driven content, and developing these skills depends heavily on how well teachers are prepared to teach literacy across every subject area.
Help Students Succeed with Holistic Literacy Education
Literacy is more than a factor in a student’s academic success. It is a fundamental component of understanding and being a part of society and the discourse that shapes one’s immediate social community as well as the broader regional, national and global environment.
As an educator, teaching students these skills necessitates more than familiarity with technology. It requires that you deeply understand how literacy, digital competence, finance, health and other aspects of modern life intersect. Eastern Washington University’s online M.Ed. – Literacy program equips you with the evidence-based strategies and critical frameworks needed to help every student thrive in an increasingly complex world.
Learn more about EWU’s online Master of Education – Literacy program.
