Intended for administrators, curriculum directors, teachers, school board members, and representatives of local industry in Michigan, this module was designed to create awareness of the disparity between the demands of the workplace and literacy instruction in the schools, and to encourage school districts to develop new indices for assessing the…

A pilot project will be established in the city of Amman, Jordan, and its outskirts. Guidelines include: (1) Project activities should be centered around functional literacy; (2) Efforts should be directed to persons engaged in productive activity; (3) The curriculum should be oriented towards the specific work in which the worker is engaged; (4)…

The widespread problem of functional illiteracy within Canadian labor has been addressed recently by a number of agencies and the press. In times of economic difficulty the outlook is bleak but not hopeless, and the issue must now be kept before the public to encourage effective action. (MSE)

Argues for new opportunities for persons previously excluded from rewarding employment experiences, through partnerships between business and adult literacy programs. Joint ventures to benefit viable, functionally literate workers must create a new market through such initiatives as national, state, and business cooperation, language minority…

Focusing on the past decade's research, this literature review concentrates on what is known about literacy demands in the workplace and the abilities of various segments of the adult and adolescent population to meet them. The review argues that since a majority of adult reading is performed upon workplace related material, understanding the…

Designed to illustrate the extent of disadvantage found in the state of Alabama between 1950 and the early 1970's, this statistical source book presents data (of use to policymakers, researchers, and the general public) on the following demographic indicators: (1) Families Below Poverty Level; (2) Per Capita Income; (3) Youth Dependency Ratio; (4)…

Illiteracy is a serious problem in the United States, and Hispanics have substantially higher rates of illiteracy than any other major population group: by the traditional measure of literacy, the completion of five years of schooling, 11.9 percent of Hispanics 25 years and older could be considered illiterate, compared to 1.8 percent of the…

Recent, current, and projected programs in British Columbia to improve vocational English skills in the labor force are described. The programs include preemployment, training, and on-the-job components. Some are for specific industries or union groups. Common elements, successes, and problems are summarized. (MSE)

This document discusses reasons for the current interest in workplace literacy and describes existing training for the workplace. Among the reasons for the interest in workplace literacy are changing demographics, which are altering the composition of the labor force, and changes such as the demise of the factory model in the workplace itself and…

This monograph describes the job-related basic skills requirements of the work force and explores ways of developing and improving the reading, writing, and computational abilities of workers. The paper first examines trends that are influencing the demand for basic skills, such as the decline in youth population and the increase in service and…

Despite developmental efforts and a relatively larger population growth rate in nonmetro areas since 1970, rural/nonmetro people are still behind their metro counterparts in terms of wage levels, family income, adequacy of housing, and access to essential public services like education and health care. Rural public school education lags behind…