The globalization of business has influenced the development of customized, job-specific workplace literacy programs. Work-centered participatory literacy receives support from both business and labor and additional impetus from the National Literacy Act of 1991. The worker of the future will be a thinking and communicating problem solver. The…

Profound changes in the structure of the workplace and in the nature of jobs now make reading, writing, and other communications skills vital to the performance of even entry-level jobs. However, massive numbers of present and future workers have only minimal or marginal proficiency in the basic skills. The problem will get worse as the labor pool…

The research on workplace literacy programs during the past two decades has revealed a great deal about the requisites for successful workplace literacy programs. The following have been identified as characteristics of effective workplace literacy programs: active involvement by all project partners; employee involvement in the early stages of…

Functional illiteracy is an urgent problem for the U.S. business and industrial communities. Employers can uncover literacy problems among employees by conducting analyses of the literacy tasks needed on the job and assessing the basic skill levels of their work force. The design of a basic skills training program should be based on clearly…

This document profiles Ohio's seven award-winning workplace literacy programs. The workplace literacy programs described are offered by a mix of urban and rural firms which employ between 85 and 2,323 individuals in a variety of sectors. The workplace literacy programs offered by the following firms are described: Cleveland Track Material; L.J.…

The Wisconsin Workplace Partnership Training (WPT) program, which provides job-specific basic skills education to employees at their worksites, is a cooperative effort between the state's board of education, labor unions, and manufacturers association. At the time of the evaluation of the its third year, the program was operating at 23 sites…

The Northeast Texas Workplace Partnership Program developed curriculum and training materials based on the literacy requirements of the workplace for two different industries in northeast Texas--Lone Star Steel Company and Pilgrim's Pride Industries. Three advisory committees were established to involve the community, education, and business and…

This practical guide and its supplement address the adult basic education (ABE)-Business/Industry partnership in all aspects. The guide considers the concerns of how to expand programs successfully into the workplace. The format of the guide conveys the following: the project approach to a particular area, the results of that approach, and…

The Alpena Community College (ACC) Drivers Education Program was developed to deliver a basic skills program providing specific job-related basic skills instruction to approximately 300 workers throughout Michigan who desired to pass the Commercial Drivers License (CDL) examination. Other program goals were to establish greater partnerships…

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…

Canada's National Literacy Secretariat (NLS) develops innovative partnerships to involve voluntary and national organizations, governments, business, and labor in a national effort to make Canada a more literate society. The two main objectives of the NLS are to promote a variety of opportunities for people to improve their reading and writing…

In a pilot project, Vance-Granville Community College in North Carolina and a local roofing manufacturer jointly developed the SKILL (Skills and Knowledge in Lifelong Learning) training program. The 63 employees enrolled in the voluntary program thus far have received weekly instruction in functional, learning, and computer skills, as well as…

Essex Community College (ECC) implemented an onsite workplace literacy program for Martin Marietta (MM) employees with the cooperation of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 738. Assisted by the working committees with representatives from all phases of the project, ECC and MM staff cooperated to develop a recruitment video, brochures, and…

Mt. Hood Community College (Oregon), International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Union Local 162, Fred Meyer, Inc., and Oregon Trucking Association, Inc. offered training to improve study, test taking, and basic and critical reading skills and prepare drivers to pass the Commercial Driver's License test before April, 1992. Training was targeted for…

This handbook, which is intended for educators, managers, and union leaders responsible for workplace development, outlines a four-phase collaborative approach to assessing a work organization's overall education needs and specifying a range of activities to meet the identified needs. Discussed in the introduction are the purposes of the handbook,…