Research and Evaluation | Noteworthy Practices | Additional Links

Workplace education programs focus on the literacy and basic skills training that workers need to gain new employment, retain present jobs, advance in their careers, or increase productivity. Curricula are developed by educators working with employers and employee groups to determine what reading, computation, speaking and reasoning skills are required to perform job tasks effectively. Successful efforts to institute workplace education programs require strong partnerships among educators, employers, and employees.

Most workplace education programs throughout the United States have been established without direct Federal assistance. Large businesses and industries frequently establish their own programs. Small organizations may pool resources to establish centers where training designed for a particular type of industry can be offered.

Research and Evaluation

• The Conference Board created ScorecardforSkills.com, with financial support from OVAE, to help organizations measure and demonstrate the relationship between their workplace education investments, including workplace basic skills, and measures of organizational performance.

• Workforce Education Special Collection. The National Institute of Adult Literacy supports a variety of workforce education services via its nationwide LINCS system.

• Planning Literacy and Language Services for Texas' Limited English Proficient Workers: The Devil is in the Details. A guide for program design: planning, implementing, and sustaining workforce-related education programs.

• Turning Skills into Profit: Economic Benefits of Workplace Education Programs PDF (79.5K). Research project from The Conference Board on the economic benefits of improving literacy skills through workplace education programs.

Noteworthy Practices

• Workforce Skills Certification System. Nationally validated system that develops and trains adult education practitioners in the use of Workforce Learning System and Employability Skills assessment processes produced by Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS).

• Pennsylvania's Workforce Improvement Network. The network assists adult basic education providers in developing a system of services for employers and incumbent workers in order to integrate those services with Pennsylvania's workforce development system.

• This Workplace Readiness Guide PDF (451K) can be used as a first step for local adult education programs considering a workplace education program.

• Success Stories in Workplace Basic Education for Small Business. Information about the importance of workplace education and examples of where programs have worked (from Canada).

• Upgrading your Employees' Skills: How to Get Started. From Illinois, this guide helps employers make decisions about investing in a workplace education program.

• Virginia's Workforce Improvement Network. This site provides resources to adult educators and employers to support the development and expansion of customized foundational basic skill instruction for the state's workforce.

• Work-based Learning. OVAE-sponsored project that provides information, research, data, and tools to employers, unions, and adult educators for developing, implementing, and evaluating state-of-the-art workplace education programs.

Additional Links

• The Institute for Work and the Economy and DTI developed "Workplace Education Program Profiles in Adult Education" MS WORD (97K) to highlight six workplace education program models that are worthy of consideration or consultation for continuous improvement purposes.

• Helping Job Seekers Who Have Limited Basic Skills PDF (2.06MB) is a guide for Workforce Development Professionals for developing a comprehensive adult learning program. Designed primarily for One-Stop Career Center staff, it also can benefit adult education programs seeking ways to partner with workforce leaders.

• Consortium for Worker Education. Offers a variety of employment, education, training, and retraining programs for union members, dislocated workers, and public assistance recipients.

• Learning for Life: Workforce Literacy. Texas website with information about literacy and specific resources for implementing workforce education programs.

• Workplace Learning Conference. Website with information on the 2003 Workplace Learning Conference, where employers, unions, educators, trainers, government partners, and others met to discuss the latest techniques, trends, and technologies in workplace learning.

• Work-Related Learning Guide for Family Literacy and Adult Education Organizations. This guide provides concrete assistance for family literacy and adult education organizations that are considering ways in which work and learning can be integrated in their educational programs. Access to site requires free registration.

• Ohio's Revised Policy Memo (FY 2001-01) Workplace Education Model Adoption and Guidance (June 26, 2002)