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

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Resources Available to your Program

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A primer text and desk reference, Joan Friedenberg’s Workplace ESL: A Simple Guide to Program Planning and Implementation(2002)has been made available to every Adult Education program administrator.  A limited number of additional copies are available upon request.  The information contained in Friedenberg’s guide is based on an analysis of programs serving more than 10,000 language minority workers at more than 100 workplaces throughout the U.S.  Although the guide was developed with English language learners in mind, it is an excellent tool for planning and implementing work-related instruction of all kinds.  It is recommended that you read through this guide and highlight those parts about which you need additional information.  Copies are also available from the lending library at the Texas Center for the Advancement of  Literacy and Learning

Charting a Course:  Responding to the Industry-Related Instructional Needs of the Limited English Proficient (Tondre, 2006) is a summary report of findings in response to Education Rider 82.  It provides direction to Texas LEARNS in its support of curricular responses to assist adult learners in accessing employment in three sectors:  health care, manufacturing, and sales and service.  The two page executive summary provides an overview of the study and recommendations. Access the full report on the TCALL website at Charting A Course: Responding to the Industry-Related Instructional Needs of the Limited English Proficient.

Handbooks # 1 and # 2, as well as professional development opportunities offered through the GREAT Centers (eight regional professional development centers), complement Friedenberg’s guide.  They also provide details, templates, worksheets, sample letters of agreement, and preliminary language task analysis activities to help adult education programs identify and respond to the work-related needs of emerging, incumbent, and displaced workers.  Additional information about the GREAT Centers and the professional development opportunities they offer can be found at Texas Center for the Advancement of  Literacy and Learning

Again, remember that Handbook # 1 also includes an Inventory for Program Administrators (Appendix A).  This inventory may be used to determine the workforce-related topics about which you are already sufficiently knowledgeable as well as those about which you want to learn more.  This enables you to start with whichever module can benefit you most.  A similar inventory for instructional staff is found in Handbook # 2.

The handbooks have been assembled in a format that allows for additions and revisions as new information becomes available to Texas LEARNS.  Updates and additions will be posted at Texas Center for the Advancement of  Literacy and Learning

The Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL) maintains an extensive clearinghouse that includes a lending library, free materials, the Literacy Links quarterly newsletter, listserv discussion groups, links to national databases, and a calendar of upcoming conferences and training opportunities. Please visit the website at Texas Center for the Advancement of  Literacy and Learning

The Workplace Literacy Resource Center State Leadership Project is responsible for the development of curricular responses to Education Rider 82.  The lead institution for the curriculum initiative is El Paso Community College.  Curricular modules related to healthcare, manufacturing, and sales and service are being developed for adults with limited English language skills.  A preliminary “soft launch” has been completed, and modules are undergoing revision and further development in response to feedback from learners, instructors, and employers.  Statewide pilots will occur in the spring and summer of 2007.  The curricular modules are designed to be replicated and adapted to the needs of adult education programs across the state.  These will be available to programs following the pilot initiatives and final revisions.

SHOP TALK is a series of informative releases intended to a) address issues, concerns, and questions raised by adult educators, employers, and local workforce development partners; b) build awareness and expertise in meeting the adult education needs of Texas’ emerging, incumbent, and displaced workers;  and c) highlight promising practices at the local level. The entire series can be accessed from the SHOP TALK web page.

The WorkforceLitTex Discussion List is sponsored and maintained by TEA / Texas LEARNS and the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL), in collaboration with the Texas Workforce Commission and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.  Its purpose is to encourage collaborative planning and to exchange promising practices. The discussion list is open to all interested parties, including individuals who have expressed an interest in becoming part of a workplace instructor cadre.  To subscribe, contact lschroeder@tamu.edu.

Finally, the Texas Adult Education Content Standards and Benchmarks, which were first released in June 2007. Version1.1, June 2008 is the now available http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/taesp/guide08/cover.html.  During writing team work sessions occurring over the past two and a half years, applicability of the standards and benchmarks to the workplace was taken into consideration.  Five of the Equipped for the Future Standards for Adult Learning serve as the springboard for development of the Texas content standards and benchmarks for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), Adult Basic Education (ABE), and Adult Secondary Education (ASE). Similarly, the EFF Standards - which encompass the SCANS Skills - also serve as the foundation for a number of work readiness credentials and certificates that have emerged in recent years.  With EFF as the common ground, writing teams were asked to examine the knowledge, skills, and abilities essential to success in the workplace.  The teams cross-referenced those tasks workers in entry-level jobs need to be able to do with the Texas standards and benchmarks for adult education, identifying those with strong work-related components as well as areas where further development is needed.  For more information on the Texas Adult Education Content Standards and Benchmarks, please visit the Texas Center for the Advancement of  Literacy and Learning website.

Additional references and resources are cited throughout and at the end of this handbook, many with easy access to websites and free materials related to workforce/workplace education.