This paper attempts to identify some tools to help practioners think about, debate and plan Workplace Literacy and Essential Skills (WLES) programs. Such tools are necessary so that discussions between practitioners aiming to clarify good practice and successful approaches can get beyond mere descriptions of what happened. In order to compare and evaluate approaches, practitioners need ways of thinking about WLES in general, at a higher level, and these models in principle provide one way of doing this. It offers a few examples of projects and programs from a range of contexts and countries, along with a summary of the findings of research so far on features of successful WLES provision. Appended is: Questions Developed for the 2011 Summer Institute in Montreal. A bibliography is also included.