From helping to achieve economic well-being to constructing a sense of self, literacy plays a central role in how people interact with each other and with the world around them (Phelps, 2005). The importance of being literate has only increased over the decades and stands to become even more important in the future. Fifty years ago, an abundance…

In recent years, American community colleges have evolved as the missions facing them expanded and their constituencies changed. No longer is their role solely to prepare students to transfer to four-year institutions and to provide occupational training. Now, they must also provide basic adult education, including ESL, and serve an economic…

Preparing every student to make knowledgeable career choices through academic rigor and work-based learning experiences requires a systematic, comprehensive and community-wide effort. Schools cannot truly prepare their students for productive and rewarding careers in an academic vacuum. Engaging business and community leaders, who may someday hire…

People learn in many different ways and in many different places. What is learned informally or experientially is often the same or similar to what may be learned in traditional formal learning environments. There are many reasons why recognizing experiential learning is viable educational option, more so in today's economy than ever before. Prior…

The critical importance of understanding, selecting, and developing global management talent--management operating within internationally diverse interpersonal and situational contexts--has emerged from the increasing globalization of business and the concomitant high rates of immigration, emigration, and expatriation. With an awareness of this…

This congressional report addresses the Workforce Development Act of 1995 that would consolidate federal employment training programs and create a new process and structure for funding the programs. Contents include the following: a summary of the bill; background and need for the legislation; history of the legislation and votes in committee;…

A study surveyed owners of 20 small businesses in North County, San Diego, to determine evidence of teaching and learning. A 13-question survey instrument gathered information regarding whether training and/or education for employees was available, what education was offered, how it fit into the evaluation process, and how business owners saw…

These four papers are from a symposium that was facilitated by Richard J. Torraco at the 1995 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development (HRD). "Performance Technology--Isn't It Time We Found Some New Models?" (William J. Rothwell) reviews briefly two classic models, describes criteria for the high performance workplace…

Two research projects examined the extent to which corporate commitment to human resource development is reflected in mission statements. In the first study, a questionnaire designed to elicit training data was sent to 333 Fortune 500 manufacturing and service firms; 81 completed questionnaires were returned. Sixty-nine percent of the respondents…

National concerns linking education and economic development have been stated in "America 2000: An Education Strategy." The America 2000 strategy represents the direction to educational and economic reform in a metaphor of four trains leaving a station on four parallel tracks. However, this misses the point that the tracks are actually…

This guide provides information on the following topics: services available to help businesses recruit, train, and hire qualified workers; publicly funded programs that provide these services; and where businesses can get more information and help to take advantage of these services. The guide describes many training and employment programs funded…

This workshop identified and defined environmental technology occupations, particularly at the technician level. The resulting report aims to enhance counselor, teacher, and student awareness of environmental careers at the technician level, and ultimately to address the environmental workforce needs of business, industry, and government by…

This document contains four papers from a symposium on professionalizing the field of human resource development (HRD). "Issues in the Professionalization of HRD: Building a Knowledge Base and Credentialing Practitioners" (Robert W. Rowden) discusses indicators of an emerging field as workplace education becomes a major strategic thrust.…

This document contains three papers from a symposium on advancing the profession of human resource development (HRD). "The Role of the 'Human Resource Development Quarterly' in Shaping the HRD Profession: An Eight and One-Half Year Perspective" (Ronald L. Jacobs) discusses the progress of the quarterly and makes suggestions to authors to enhance…

The United Kingdom needs a coherent strategy to develop the competence of its people, to enable individuals to cope with the complex world, and to help them make a personal contribution to society. Collaborators in the strategy are representatives from government, trade unions, the labor force, education, personnel and training, and local…