In 2014, the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) thrust adult educators into a dramatically new landscape of service expectations and partnership requirements to increase the ability of providers to meet the employment needs of students and employers. The coronavirus pandemic created an accelerating demand for adult education…

This article analyzes literature on university-workplace partnerships and professional writing pedagogy to suggest best practices for workplace mentors to mentor new employees and their writing. The article suggests that new employees often experience cultural confusion due to (a) the transfer of education-based writing strategies and (b) the…

Research (Martin, 2008) has shown that speaking and listening are the literacy skills most used in the world of work. Yet, employers frequently bemoan the lack of young people's communication skills, with many believing that it impacts their chances of making it through an interview and their future employability (Simon, 2009). Effective speaking…

This guide, which is intended for project directors, coordinators, and other professional staff interested in marketing adult basic skills and workplace education programs to business, presents a six-step process for developing a marketing plan. Discussed first are the purposes of marketing and considerations in marketing workplace education to…

The National Workplace Literacy Program provides grants to partnerships of business, labor, and educational organizations to develop model programs for teaching job-related basic skills. These projects are yielding information about promising practices, effective program elements, and barriers to implementation. (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)

This reading curriculum for the Education for Employment Project (a project based on business and education partnerships, with the goal of producing the finest, best educated, and most skilled work force in the United States has as its purpose the development of strategic readers critical thinkers who view reading as a lifelong interactive process…

Argues that the professional educator can make a major contribution to the workplace literacy effort by working closely with a content expert for the particular business. Describes a five-step procedure to conduct a "literacy audit": observe employees; collect materials; conduct interviews; assess skills; and develop assessment measures. (RS)

Case studies of workplace literacy programs provided by a technical college to a hospital consortium, by a technical college to a high-tech firm, and by an Opportunities Industrialization Center illustrate how vocational institutions can offer customized curricula based on actual workplace situations to diverse business clients. (SK)

Vocational educators can play a significant role in workplace literacy programs by collaborating with business and industry in program development and advocating policy changes that integrate basic skills into vocational education curricula. (SK)

Early in 1991, a partnership project was initiated between the Business/Industry Training Institute of Northwest Iowa Community College and Coilcraft, Inc. The Iowa Coilcraft plant had undergone rapid changes in recent years from a labor-intensive, custom-built, manual, task-oriented process to a highly automated, training-intensive,…

In this document, representatives from the four partners involved in a self-directed distance learning program for developmental aides responsible for caring for persons with developmental disabilities and/or mental retardation (the City University of New York, a labor union, an executive employee relations office, and a state agency involved in…

This guide, which is intended for project directors, coordinators, and other professional staff involved in developing and delivering workplace education programs, explains the role of the advisory council in the development and implementation of workplace education programs structured as partnerships between businesses and educational providers…

Describes a study of five workplace literacy programs operated by Wake Technical Community College in North Carolina. Presents criteria for evaluating workplace literacy programs in the areas of organizations involved, curriculum, structure and class, and recruitment/retention. Offers case studies of the most effective and least effective of the…

University-industry research and development links are commonplace. They offer many mutual benefits and have led to the development of significant outcomes. In the main, such linkages are in fields such as science and technology, not in research and development in workplace literacy. This article reports on a collaboration between university…