Resources for Workforce Collaboration and Best Practices

Adult Education Responds to Workforce Needs - Chronological summary describes activities in response to Rider 82’s mandate that the Texas Education Agency / Texas LEARNS develop demand-driven workplace literacy and basic skills curricula for adult learners.

WorkforceLitTex Listserv - This TEA/Texas LEARNS and TCALL-sponsored discussion list was developed in collaboration with Texas Workforce Commission and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The purposes of this list are:

* To facilitate local collaborative planning between ABE directors and the workforce development community
* To exchange best practices and to foster and encourage collaborative efforts within the Tri-Agency Collaboration.

Target audience of this email discussion list include interested parties in the adult education, workforce development, and higher education communities.

To request a subscription, email your request to Lea Ann Schroeder.

SHOP TALKS - This series of informative releases from Texas LEARNS has two purposes: to address issues, concerns, and questions raised by adult educators, employers, and local workforce development personnel; and to build awareness and expertise in meeting the educational needs of Texas’ emerging, incumbent, and displaced workers.

Charting A Course: Responding to the Industry-Related Instructional Needs of the Limited English Proficient (Barbara Tondre-El Zorkani, 2006)

Charting a Course: Responding to the Industry-related Adult Basic Education Needs of the Texas Workforce; Handbook One: Planning and Implementation Tips for Program Planners and Administrators (Barbara Tondre-El Zorkani, July 2007)

Handbook One PDF Version (Barbara Tondre-El Zorkani, July 2007) [Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader]

Handbook One Microsoft^® Word Version (Barbara Tondre-El Zorkani, July 2007) [Download Microsoft® Word Reader]

Charting a Course: Responding to the Industry-related Adult Basic Education Needs of the Texas Workforce; Handbook Two: Workplace Savy for Workforce-related Instruction Modules #5 & 6 (Barbara Tondre-El Zorkani, July 2007)

Handbook Two PDF Version (Barbara Tondre-El Zorkani, July 2007) [Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader]

Handbook Two Microsoft^® Word Version (Barbara Tondre-El Zorkani, July 2007) [Download Microsoft® Word Reader]

ESP Interest Section: Implementing Best Practices in Teaching English in Occupational Settings (Barbara Tondre-El Zorkani, February 2007) [PDF - Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader] | {Text Version}

Rider 82 Curriculum 2007 Pilot Report Findings. See complete report in PDF [PDF - 2272KB Adobe® Acrobat® Reader]

Rider 82 Curriculum 2007 Pilot Report Executive Summary

TCALL Resources

Acronyms

Literacy Links Articles and Issues on Workforce Topics

Big Ideas Entrepreneurial Projects (Williams & Petter, 1999)

GED Economic Impact

Planning Literacy and Language Services for Texas' Limited English Proficient Workers: The Devil is in the Details (Barbara Tondre-El Zorkani, 2000)

Texas Adult Education Content Standards and Benchmarks Resources

Texas Standardized Curriculum Framework (TSCF) Resources
NOTE: These resources are not related to the Texas Adult Education Content Standards adopted in 2007. They are based on an earlier set of curriculum frameworks widely used in Texas in the early 2000s, which were in turn adopted from a framework developed by the Florida Department of Education, Division of Workforce Development.

Workforce - Classroom Resources (On TCALL Library Search page use Broad Search Categories box to find library resources in this subject area, equivalent to the hard-copy bibliography.)

Workforce - Employer-Sponsored Education (On TCALL Library Search page use Broad Search Categories box to find library resources in this subject area, equivalent to the hard-copy bibliography.)

Workforce - Program & Staff Development (On TCALL Library Search page use Broad Search Categories box to find library resources in this subject area, equivalent to the hard-copy bibliography.)

Workforce and Workplace Literacy: Same or Different?

National Institute for Literacy's LINCS Resources

National Work Readiness Credential - The Credential is a standards-based and research-based approach to defining, measuring, and certifying entry-level work readiness, developed from NIFL's Equipped for the Future initiative. The Credential is now being administered by the National Work Readiness Council, an organization formed by the states and organizations that originally invested in the Credential's creation and development.

Workforce Competitiveness Resource Collection - NIFL Special Collection includes resources applicable to workforce basic skills education, English language acquisition, and/or technology.

Workplace Literacy National Email Discussion Group (facilitated by Institute for Study of Adult Literacy)

For more information from a searchable nationwide adult education & literacy database, go to LINCSearch

Other Web Sites of Interest

Adult Literacy Education (ALE) Wiki – Learn about adult literacy education or add knowledge from your experience teaching adult learners, from research or professional wisdom, or from your experience as an adult learner. This community of practice has links to research for practitioners, researchers, learners and other adult literacy educators, including English language learning, numeracy, and adult basic and secondary education.

America’s Perfect Storm: Three Forces Changing our Nation’s Future 2007 report from the Educational Testing Service Policy Evaluation and Research Center looks at the convergence of three powerful socioeconomic forces that are changing our nation's future: substantial disparities in skill levels (reading and math); seismic economic changes (widening wage gaps); and sweeping demographic shifts (less education, lower skills). [Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader]

CareerOneStop is a U.S. Department of Labor-sponsored Web site that offers career resources and workforce information to job seekers, students, businesses, and workforce professionals to foster talent development in a global economy. One feature of the site is a collection of one-minute video clips showing the types of work people do in nearly 550 careers and videos for the 16 clusters recognized by the Department of Education. Over 300 of the videos are also available in Spanish, and the English language videos also have subtitles. You can find them by doing a Site Search for videos.

Education Transitions to College Level Technical Programs -
El Centro College (ECC), in partnership with the Houston Community College System (HCCS), developed this website to provide an online resource manual to assist other colleges and GED sites in replicating a project that would successfully transition GED students to college level courses. The project uses a "learning community" or paired course approach, where students were enrolled in a GED course as well as an introductory college level technical course. The information and documents contained in this website are what the project used to develop and implement the project in Dallas and Houston.

Directory of Texas Workforce Centers and Offices - This page allows users to search by zip code Texas Workforce Commission's continually updated database of Workforce Centers all over the state. Each center provides either referral or direct services for job seekers with literacy education needs.

Equipped for the Future Work Readiness Credential - National and state leaders in business, government, and labor have come together to build a new tool for assuring that jobseekers have the knowledge, skills, and abilities they need to succeed in the 21st Century Workplace.

LEP Guide for Workforce Professionals - Guide was created to assist Local Workforce Development Boards and staff, Texas Workforce Center staff, and education and training professionals plan, develop, and implement strategies to effectively deliver workforce solutions for the growing limited English proficiency (LEP) workforce in Texas. The LEP Guide comprises four unique modules that present a user-friendly blueprint for enhancing services to LEP customers. [Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader ]

Literacy Toolkit - The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Workforce Preparation, in collaboration with the National Institute for Literacy and Verizon SuperPages.com, developed a toolkit for distribution to local chambers of commerce that describes the nature of the literacy problem in America, how it impacts local businesses and industries, and what communities can do to increase local efforts aimed at improving the literacy skills of adults.

ScorecardforSkills.com This Web site and tool was developed by The Conference Board with funding from OVAE (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education). This site can help adult education programs and their employer partners measure - and demonstrate - the relationship between workplace education investments and measures of organizational performance. ScorecardforSkills.com includes analytical tools that provide action-oriented information to owners and employers about workplace education programs. Included are information and advice to: Improve workplace education evaluation; Understand the Balanced Scorecard; and Create their own Balanced Scorecard.

Texas Workforce Commission Learning for Life - Workforce Adult Literacy Program at Texas Workforce Commission.

What Jobs Require: Literacy, Education, and Training, 1940-2006 (Barton, 2000) [Download Adobe® Acrobat® Reader]

What Work Requires of Schools: A SCANS Report for America 2000- In the early 1990s, the U.S. Department of Labor asked The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) to examine the demands of the workplace and whether today's young people are capable of meeting those demands. This report builds on the work of six special panels established by the Commission to examine all manner of jobs from manufacturing to government employment.

Workforce3 One - Collaborative effort represents the merging of national, state, and local leadership into one system committed to embracing and installing a demand-driven culture in the publicly funded workforce system. Workforce3 One Integrated Webspace offers the public workforce system, employers, economic development professionals, and education professionals an innovative knowledge network designed to create and support a demand-driven community, one that responds directly to business needs and prepares workers for good jobs in the fastest growing careers.

Workforce Development page on website of CPAL (Community Partnerships for Adult Learning) - Site includes How-To's, Research, and Website links pertaining to workforce development programs. Information and practical tools focus on preparing adults for the contemporary workplace.

WorkforceUSA Website Funding Section - Grant announcements, fundraising resources and articles are continually updated on this site

Workplace Basic Skills (Developed by the Conference Board with funding from the US Department of Education)