This edition features current research, practice, and policy related to the Joyce Foundation's Shifting Gears initiative beginning with an interview with Whitney Smith, Manager of the Employment Program at the Joyce Foundation. Julie Strawn, Center for Law and Social Policy, presents a national perspective of basic skills reform efforts similar to Shifting Gears and offers strategies for states to improve the delivery of basic skills services. Finally, OCCRL staff contribute articles based on evaluation results from Shifting Gears Phase One, priorities for Shifting Gears Phase Two, and the role of the Workforce Investment Act in the implementation of bridge programs. This issue of "Update on Research and Leadership" contains the following articles: (1) Year Three of the Shifting Gears Initiative: An Interview with Whitney Smith from the Joyce Foundation (Jason L. Taylor); (2) Basic Skills for College and Careers (Julie Strawn); (3) Lessons from Illinois' Evaluation of Shifting Gears 1.0 (Debra D. Bragg, Timothy Harmon, Catherine Kirby, and Su Jung Kim); (4) Inside the Black Box: Three Bridge Programs Involved in Illinois Shifting Gears (Su Jung Kim and Jason L. Taylor); (5) Shifting Gears Phase Two: Advancing Policy (Catherine L. Kirby); and (6) Supporting Bridge Instruction through Title I of the Workforce Investment Act (Timothy Harmon). (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)