Networks, consortia, and coalitions among school districts are cost-effective means to provide staff development, improve instruction, and develop curriculum. This article summarizes results of two studies in Oregon that focused on cross-organizational collaboration for school improvement. Guidelines are provided for organizations and individuals…

Due to concern for the development of relevant graduate preparation of community college professional personnel, the Portland Metropolitan Area Adult Education Council coordinated the establishment of the Community College Doctoral Task Force Committee to develop a proposal for a Portland-based community college doctoral degree. The doctoral…

Oregon-Washington Carpenters/Employers Apprenticeship and Training Trust, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 247, and Associated General Contractors cooperated with Mt. Hood Community College (Oregon) in a workplace literacy program. A drop-in learning center was operated at the Carpenter Training Center to provide support in…

The documents enclosed in this report provide a comprehensive and systematic review of the progress made in developing a network organization capable of supporting nanoscience education for the public on a national scale. There is a logic to the studies that were done and to the reports that are included in this notebook. The following are the…

"Focus on Basics" is the quarterly publication of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. It presents best practices, current research on adult learning and literacy, and how research is used by adult basic education teachers, counselors, program administrators, and policymakers. "Focus on Basics" is…

The Columbia-Willamette Skill Builders Consortium was formed in early 1988 in response to a growing awareness of the need for improved workplace literacy training and coordinated service delivery in Northwest Oregon. In June 1990, the consortium received a National Workplace Literacy Program grant to develop and demonstrate such training. The…

Anodizing, Inc., Teamsters Local 162, and Mt. Hood Community College (Oregon) developed a workplace literacy program for workers at Anodizing. These workers did not have the basic skill competencies to benefit from company training efforts in statistical process control and quality assurance and were not able to advance to lead and supervisory…

Workplace literacy projects were established at Warn Industries, a winch and hubcap maker, and Oregon Cutting Systems (OCS), a producer of cutting edges supplying the timber industry by Clackamas Community College (Oregon). At Warn, project staff developed functional context materials, delivered instruction to a math class, and implemented a basic…

Leupold & Stevens, Inc. and Portland Community College (Oregon) cooperated in offering special math instruction as part of a workplace literacy project. A needs assessment indicated a problem in basic math skills such as simple calculations on a calculator and decimals, which were used on blueprints. Operators, set-up workers, and lead workers…

Interviews with managers and other staff were used to assess the communication and language development needs of limited-English-proficient (LEP) workers at Lattice Works of Oregon (LWO) Corporation. Task analysis was used by Portland Community College (Portland) to develop a curriculum for twice-weekly classes held before or after shift changes.…

A workplace basic skills program was designed to complement technical training for mixing personnel at the Portland Bakery of Nabisco, Inc. Management, the union, and Portland Community College (Oregon) collaborated in the program. The company released workers on company time to attend classes prior to, during, and after the technical training…