Over 60% of 533 local government units responding (of 1,215) employ workers lacking basic skills, which impedes mobility and affects customer service. About 26% cope by providing basic skill training or making accommodations for lack of language or computational skills. (SK)

A manufacturing company's employees were given basic-skills classes. Company records and Tests of Adult Basic Education results before and after instruction demonstrated that the classes increased productivity and improved job performance of participants compared to a control group. (SK)

A collaborative, holistic, and integrated approach to workplace education is needed to deal with a complex workplace and world. Critical elements include financial and organizational commitment to education and training, comprehensive program evaluation, balanced emphasis on worker skills, a challenge to the deficit model, and alternatives to the…

The Army's Job Skills Education Program is a computer-based instructional program that teaches basic academic skills in a job-related context. Its transferability to the civilian workplace provides another tool for enhancing workplace literacy. (SK)

Business, labor, and education representatives from Canada and the United States exchanged positions on workplace literacy. Discussed were the need for a consumers' guide to workplace literacy, labor's stake in literacy, educators' negotiations with businesses in providing services, and program evaluation. (JOW)

Training employees in basic skills necessitates sensitivity to their self-esteem. This can be achieved if the organizational culture supports training, the program is voluntary, it uses the group's strengths, it challenges them on an adult level, it does not resemble traditional schooling, and it builds in quick success. (SK)

Georgia's Certified Literate Community Program is a state-supported, community-based effort that provides all levels of instruction--from basic skills to technical writing--to adults at all educational levels. The goal is to enable every capable adult to attain reading, speaking, writing, problem solving, and comprehension skills. (SK)

This guide raises and discusses questions to guide workplace literacy. The historic context for this handbook is the progress of Project REACH from its inception in 1986 to the present. An introduction considers how an workplace literacy. An introduction considers how an organization's history affects program decisions. Chapter 1 looks at…

Investment in literacy upgrading can pay rich dividends in both quality of life for individuals and benefits to society. Literacy can become the gateway to a fuller understanding of ideas and responsible participation as citizens. Unfortunately, academic abilities of schooled youth are not keeping pace with the skills/knowledge requirements of…

This paper is a summary of existing literature on the literacy requirements of various businesses and industries, including the Federal Government. The findings came from a spring 1979 search for literature on the literacy requirements of various businesses and industries during 1969-1979. The report contains information on the following topics:…

Examines ways in which the evaluative criteria of literacy education are being displaced by those with a work force development focus. Illustrates the consequences of criterion bleed: the concept of basic skills is being shifted from a means of democratic participation to a tool for employment. Urges adult literacy educators to adopt a critical…

Three experts in the field of basic skills training (David Harman, Diane Kangisser, and Karl Haigler) share their thoughts on giving employees and/or job applicants proficiency tests and, when necessary, remedial training in reading, writing, and mathematics. (Editor)

This document, which is intended for adult educators and others interested in developing and delivering a workplace education program, provides an overview of workplace education. First, workplace education programs are defined as programs in which adult learners are taught basic skills by using the functional context of their jobs and a…

The fifth National Education Goal--every adult will be literate and possess the necessary skills for competing in a global economy and to exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship--is being implemented in part through workplace literacy programs. To reach the goal of universal literacy in the United States, five objectives were…

Discusses the gap between the basic skills of many workers and the more complex skills required by many jobs. Points out that many employers offer basic skills training because they cannot find qualified entry-level workers and find glaring deficiencies in their existing workers. (JOW)