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

Module Three: Facilitating a Team of Stakeholders to Provide a Continuum of Services

Fact Sheet

• The U.S. Department of Labor indicates that the three factors having the greatest impact on the labor market status of immigrant workers are education, length of time in the U.S., and English proficiency.
• Among non-immigrant language minority populations in the U.S., educational attainment and English language proficiency are considered significant factors affecting their labor market status.
• 27 million adults in the U.S. do not have a high school diploma.
• 2.7 million Texas residents are limited English proficient.
• More than half of U.S. adults with high school diplomas read at such low levels that they are unable to find information in a text needed to perform a task.
• Workforce/workplace English language training can lead to optimal outcomes for all stakeholders ~
  • For employees: improved language skills, increased job satisfaction, enhanced self esteem, greater job mobility, access to occupational training, and higher earning potential;
  • For employers: a better prepared pool of potential employees and return on investment measured in terms of increases in productivity, work quality, positive worker attitudes, and decreases in employee turnover, errors, misunderstandings, accidents, and absenteeism;
  • For displaced and emerging workers: improved language and employability skills that enable them to become re-employed and/or help them qualify for jobs that pay a living wage, plus access to a continuum of education and training services with career ladder opportunities;
  • For adult education providers: enhanced capability in serving adult learner populations, broader professional recognition, increased profitability; and
  • For workforce development networks: a viable route to engaging and successfully serving those considered hardest to serve.
• The integration of work-related English language instruction and occupational skills training (also referred to as Vocational English as a Second Language Instruction, or VESL) requires extensive planning and the leveraging of resources.
• Bridge programs that assist learners in making successful transitions from adult education to post secondary education and training programs can provide Texas’ workforce greater access to higher education, occupational training, and gainful employment.

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