Test scores of 106 employees on the Test of Adult Basic Education showed combined reading level in comprehension and vocabulary to be above 12th grade. Educational background was correlated with reading ability. Management perceptions of employee reading deficiencies were contradicted by these results. (SK)

Provides suggestions for designing customized basic skills instruction using work-related reading needs. Highlights opportunities for adult educators in workplace literacy. (SK)

Melville's "Bartleby" and "The Paradise of Bachelors and The Tartarus of Maidens" provide insights into workplace literacy on the following issues: existential nature of literacy, empowerment versus compliance, class and gender exploitation, and the use of literacy as a tool to label, control, and delimit people and their…

In workplace reading classes, employees practiced self-monitoring, use of background knowledge, identification of the purpose of reading, work-related vocabulary, and concept mapping. A survey one year later showed most were still using self-monitoring, prior knowledge, purpose of reading, and critical vocabulary on the job. (SK)

Profiles of six workplace literacy programs in Canada identified a number of factors contributing to program success: funding resources, marketing/recruitment strategies, innovative organizational structures, support services, organizational philosophy, and commitment to the new training culture. (SK)

The functional approach to workplace literacy does not address a number of critical issues: aims and purposes, nature of stakeholders, worker participation in program planning, basis for distributing limited funds, consistency of state and federal guidelines, and congruence between program emphases and industry/worker needs. A more worker-centered…

A workplace literacy program provided instruction in prose, document, and quantitative (PDQ) dimensions of literacy to 50 female high school dropouts. Only 20% completed the program; they made meaningful gains in the quantitative and document dimensions, but not prose. (SK)

Compares four small-group literacy-learning approaches (cooperative, collaborative, participatory, and workplace team) in terms of assumptions, relationship to literacy, learning activities, and teacher role. Concludes that they are validated more in theory than in practice; more attention to gender, class, and culture is also needed. (SK)

A group of 58 Pennsylvania workers completed the R.O.A.D. course, which involved functional context and interactive software to improve drivers' reading skills to pass the Commercial Driver's License exam. Comparison with pre- and posttest scores of 10 in a control group showed that R.O.A.D. completers had significantly higher scores. (SK)

A study involved analysis of reading levels of occupational materials in a paper mill, a survey of employees' basic skill needs, and Test of Adult Basic Education scores for 196 workers. Materials were too difficult for one-third to read; however, many workers did not acknowledge they lacked reading skills necessary for their job tasks. (SK)

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 National Workplace Literacy Program-funded projects were evaluated. Two statewide projects were institutionalized with supporting state structures. The community college program was not considered mission central and was discontinued after funding ended. Union involvement, learner participation, curriculum development, and staff training…

Health care workers in New York City hospitals shaped their workplace basic education program in a number of ways: the union helped design the program; participants served on advisory committees and as student delegates; they evaluated the program; and students developed individualized education plans that were used to set the learning agenda.…

Interview data from over 90 workplace literacy instructors, trainees, and work supervisors were classified using a role and time model of learning transfer. The model clarified dimensions of transfer partnerships; roles of instructors, trainees, and supervisors; and barriers influencing transfer. (SK)

Craig raises concerns about the Movement for Canadian Literacy's proposal in terms of jurisdictional and organization issues regarding literacy and government role. Quigley examines the notion that workplace literacy is a panacea for economic development and warns of dangers in a major shift of funding to this form of literacy. (SK)