Work Keys (occupational tests developed by American College Testing) could support an employer's human resource function in a number of ways: (1) communicating to educators the skill requirements for an employer's particular jobs on a national basis; (2) providing students with a realistic preview of skills needed for jobs and an assessment of…

North Carolina employers were asked to evaluate the skills possessed by graduates of the state's educational institutions. The study also profiled any problems employers had in finding qualified applicants for positions. Baseline data were collected to profile education and training programs provided by employers. A random sample of 2,334…

Representatives of the School-to-Work Roundtable studied education systems and work force training programs in Denmark and Germany. The group visited vocational schools, technical colleges, and firms sponsoring apprentices in Copenhagen and Munich and spoke with students, teachers, and mentors in apprenticeships in metalworking, textiles,…

A frontier-free European Community (EC) has been created in which goods, capital, services, and people move freely across national frontiers. The issue of mobility is especially important for young people eager to exploit the opportunities opened up and for teachers and trainers in the educational field. A European dimension is now a necessary…

The convergence of three trends makes service to minority students an imperative for continuing education: (1) increasing proportions of diverse groups in the U.S. population and work force; (2) continuing education and retraining as keys to survival in a workplace of change; and (3) declining college enrollments of diverse populations and…

The six articles in this issue attempt to answer questions that have arisen due to the increase in programs that cross existing or traditional age barriers in literacy education. They draw upon recent and current research and practice both in the United Kingdom and the United States. "Family Literacy: An Intergenerational Approach to…

In view of the complex changes going on in work and schooling in the United States, organizational innovations are necessary if both institutions are to regain their competitive edge. The nation is pulled by two value traditions: a bureaucratic, centralized control tradition versus the tradition of democratic ideals. The centralized control…

In the second half of the 1980s, Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC) in Michigan played a leadership role in three multi-partner coalitions: Education for Employment (EFE); the Southwest Michigan Coalition for Tech Prep (SMCTP); and the Kalamazoo Valley Partners for Quality (KVPQ). In the EFE partnership, KVCC works with the Kalamazoo Valley…

In spring 1992, the Southport Institute for Policy Analysis conducted a study of the role that community colleges play as providers of workplace education (WPE) programs, i.e., programs established for, or in cooperation with, a private sector company to help employees obtain a General Equivalency Degree (GED) or upgrade their basic skills. A…

Today contract education is generally thought of as a program or course for which an employer is paying the full cost of instruction for customized training. Contract education can help faculty remain current, encourage industry to make equipment available to the college that might otherwise be too expensive, and provide employment opportunities…

The Southeastern Wisconsin Workplace Communication Project is a workplace English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) resource and outreach program involving a partnership of businesses and adult educators in a rural area that has experienced an increase in new speakers of English in the manufacturing workforce. The guide provides workplace educators and…

This document relays the stories of nearly 100 Tennessee adults whose lives were changed through participation in some form of adult basic education (ABE). The document begins with a brief explanation of how Tennessee's 102 ABE programs are administered and definitions of the following forms of ABE: Families First (a 20-hour weekly course of basic…

This document contains three papers from a symposium on adult learning in the workplace. "Coaching: Facilitating the Training of Subject-Matter Specialists. Development and Evaluation of an Andragogical Model of Continuing Vocational Education" (Jost Reischmann) describes the new insights into the problems of continuing vocational…

Predictions of occupational growth to the year 2000 show how important the "new crafts" are becoming. Workers who possess the new crafts perform jobs that often involve sophisticated technical knowledge but are not done by people with bachelor's degrees. The growth of technical jobs in the middle of organizations threatens the familiar division…

Three important human capital questions must be addressed by U.S. policy makers: What are the effects of employer-sponsored training? Do employers invest enough in employee training? and How will accelerating technological change affect the need for employer-sponsored training and for complementary investments in education? Four policy…