Charting A Course:
Responding to the Industry-Related
Instructional Needs of the Limited
English Proficient

Executive Summary

Out of federal funds appropriated in Strategy A.2.5, Adult Education and Family Literacy, the Commissioner [TEA] shall allocate an amount not to exceed $850,000 in fiscal year 2006 for the development of a demand-driven workplace literacy and basic skills curriculum. The Texas Workforce Commission shall provide resources, industry-specific information, and expertise identified as necessary by the Texas Education Agency to support the development and implementation of the curriculum.

Education Rider 82, 79th State Legislative Session, 2005

Conventional English language instruction and job training approaches – running parallel to one another but never meeting – have in the past been only marginally effective in serving the limited English proficient who want to improve their long term job prospects. Education Rider 82 provides an opportunity for Adult Education in Texas to respond to the industry-driven educational needs of this adult learner population.

Historically, English language services and job training have not been closely linked. For Texas’ 2.7 million limited English proficient residents, this has meant limited employment opportunities (U.S. Census, 2000). Minus a silver bullet, this means that workforce development communities – boards, education and training providers, employers, and other stakeholders – will have to stretch far beyond their present levels of partnership and collaboration to bridge the gaps in services to limited English proficient adults. In fact, without partners’ full participation, the recommendations included in this report cannot be effectively implemented.

Determining the education and occupational training needs of English language learners requires that we pay attention to the sectoral changes in the labor market. Information gathered in the preparation of this report suggests that Texas LEARNS, under the direction of the Texas Education Agency (TEA), focus on industry sectors in which many adults seek entry-level employment. Texans with a stake in the states’ economic success are called upon to support TEA’s efforts to provide adult education programs with the support needed to assist adult learners in accessing employment in the following sectors:

• Healthcare
• Sales and Service
• Construction / Manufacturing Trades

Each of these sectors includes occupations for which English language learners may qualify, provided the opportunities to acquire employment-related language/literacy skills, work readiness skills, and introductions to critical vocational components are made accessible. Qualifying for jobs that pay a living wage in these sectors means that adult learners must have access to a continuum of education and training services.

Texas institutions with experience in developing and/or adapting curricula to meet the work-related needs of adult English language learners are identified in this report, as are examples of existing instructional products that lend themselves to adaptation or further development.

Finally, the report concludes with a number of recommendations intended to assist Adult Education and its partners in exercising their pivotal roles in the implementation of the Texas’ Workforce Development System Strategic Action Plan. Several critical things must occur in a continuum:

1. Adult education must view itself not as a separate program but one that links adult learners to education, training, and career opportunities beyond the GED. This requires change.
2. Post secondary institutions that provide vocational training must view adult education as a viable resource and partner in workforce development. They must include adult education as a critical first step and partner when applying for funds to train adults for employment. This requires thinking outside the box.
3. The Texas Workforce Commission and local workforce development boards’ business services units must facilitate collaboration between education providers and employers, and identify funding sources for innovative responses to Rider 82.
4. Employers must, at a minimum, commit to internship and job shadowing opportunities for participants to gain the experience of hands-on application of new skills.

In addition to this critical collaboration are the following recommendations:

1. Curricular responses to Rider 82 should initially focus on entry level employment opportunities and the necessary language and basic skills in three sectors: healthcare, sales and service, and manufacturing.
2. Curricular responses should address the language and basic skills needs cited in this report and identified as critical to workforce success by employers and other stakeholders in the workforce development system.
3. Minimally, curricular responses should include the following:
   • Student orientation to the world of work and program expectations
   • Work-related English language instruction as well as reading, writing, and math skills development
   • A balanced integration of English literacy and language development and work-related content
   • Integration with vocational skills training when collaboration make this feasible
   • Employment readiness skills (including critical and life skills)
   • The use of industry-related environmental print, terminology, and realia
   • Technical skills instruction, including basic computer literacy and familiarity with job-related technical terminology, equipment, and applications
   • Links to postsecondary technical education and training leading to career opportunities, licensure, and certification in healthcare, manufacturing, and sales and service industry clusters
4. Curricular responses should include references to commercially prepared and web-based materials, software and other multi-media products that can be used to enhance or extend learning beyond formal instruction.

Bridging the gap between potential and reality becomes a matter of priorities. Resisting the traditional tendency to focus on adult education, post secondary education and training, and workforce development systems as separate service systems, partners and policymakers must focus on their interdependence. Texas’ workforce, economic success, and ability to remain globally competitive depend on it.

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