Handout #10: Six Steps to Integrating Adult Education
and
Community-Level Workforce Development Programs

Allene Guss Grognet, with the Center for Applied Linguistics (June 1996), reminds us that any successful employment-related English as a Second Language program, whether conducted on the job or as pre-employment training, is a result of five interrelated steps. Missing from her analysis but very evident to practitioners is a sixth step, added here in response to the concerns raised repeatedly across the state by numerous stakeholders: adequate infrastructure/capacity and support to sustain successful workforce-related education and training initiatives. This sixth step is described up front because it has much to do with the challenge of establishing successful coalitions of stakeholders, and must be given attention in tandem with each of the other steps, lest communities plan model programs they cannot implement. A model, after all, is only a model if it can be replicated. This six-step process is the critical foundation of any successful workforce-related education initiative.

1. Start with a needs analysis of the language and culture required for workers to perform successfully in a specific workplace or occupation. It is important to note the emphasis on language and culture. This analysis is much more than a general survey of desirable skills sought by employers. This needs analysis, if comprehensive, should guide the development of a work-related English language and training program's goals and objectives. The nature of a program is determined to a great extent by the needs assessment. It impacts course goals, materials, and methodology; location, frequency, and duration of classes; even voluntary or mandatory participation. It includes the assessment of both the employer's labor force needs as well as the workers' or potential workers' skills and education / training needs. It is perhaps the most crucial of the steps because all subsequent steps are based on its results. It is critical that those who will be involved in delivering education and training services participate in the needs analysis. While a third party or another stakeholder may be employed to take primary responsibility for the analyses, educators with firsthand knowledge of adult learning theory and second language learning should be included on the team conducting the analyses.
   
   When literacy and job audits or analyses are conducted by parties not involved in program delivery, instruction can be unwittingly reduced to a list of discrete skills. If the content of teaching is defined by a list of discrete skills, instructors are limited in what and how they teach, and learners are limited in what they are given the opportunity to learn. At one end of the spectrum we find prepackaged "teacher-proof" materials, usually written without significant input from teachers and learners. At the other end, we find a participatory program in which learners play a major role in determining what they learn. Somewhere in between is the functional context we want, with the contents collaboratively determined by program developers, instructors, learners, and curriculum experts.
2. Curriculum development must be based on program objectives that identify and prioritize tasks and skills needed for verbal interaction on the job as well as those needed for reading and writing on the job. An emergent curriculum development process that occurs as instruction progresses not only ensures that instruction is responsive to specific needs but also provides timely information to service providers and is less costly and time consuming than reliance on traditional approaches to customization. General workplace curriculum topics include communication expectations, following directions and instructions, job specific terminology, cross-cultural factors, company organization and culture, and upgrading/training opportunities. Not all tasks and functions are taught at every worksite to every participant. But these general categories, along with information from the needs analysis and learner input, form the backbone of the curriculum. For the language minority worker, it is generally recommended that the curriculum start with workplace communication and progress on a continuum to company organization, the work culture, and skills upgrading.
   
   Extensive preparation and development prior to the delivery of instructional services is not always feasible. Even with considerable lead time to develop or customize curricula, not all workplace language needs can be predicted. Stakeholders must build into any implementation plan opportunities for on-going planning and preparation, flexibility, and adjustments as the curriculum emerges.
3. Instructional planning, including the gathering of environmental print (such as safety regulations) and appropriate text material as well as tools and equipment, determines classroom activities that address the four language skill areas, and identifies opportunities for learners to perform newly acquired skills outside the classroom. The revision of written materials used in the workplace may also be a means of resolving worker performance problems on the job. Service providers must participate in planning instruction by gathering text material and environmental print, determining classroom activities, and identifying opportunities for learners to put their skills in practice in work-related learning situations outside the classroom. Instructors in particular must be involved in this process, and their participation in job shadowing, plant tours, employee orientation, or shift work should be prerequisites to teaching.
   
   While employers may expect or even demand that English be the language of instruction, this may not always be the most effective use of instructional time. Program developers must determine whether English, the native language(s) of learners, or some combination is the most effective vehicle for instruction.
4. Identify and utilize effective and appropriate instructional strategies that include a variety of activities that focus on the objectives, keep instruction learner-centered, and include as much pair and group work as possible. It is important to remember that language is essentially a social function acquired through interaction with others. Learners' needs, rather than the grammar or functions of language, must form the core of the curriculum and instruction. The traditional roles of the teacher as planner of content, sole deliverer of instruction, controller of the classroom, and evaluator of achievement change dramatically in a learner-centered, work-related setting. The instructor does not give up control of the classroom, but rather structures and orders the learning process, guiding and giving feedback to learners so that their needs as well as the needs of the workplace are addressed. In learner-centered instruction, learners can participate in choosing what and how to learn, and problem-solving activities become prominent in the workforce-related classroom. Special attention must be given to preparing instructors to address native language literacy needs, English literacy and communication needs, and the integration of language and work-related instruction.
5. Evaluate the program on both a formative and summative basis. On-going discussion and evaluation allows for curricula to be dynamic and evolving as learners progress in their studies and specific needs become more evident. Commercially available tests such as the Basic English Skills Test (BEST) and the Comprehensive Adult Student Achievement System (CASAS), when used in combination with program-developed, performance-based measures, can help provide a clear picture of what is being learned. Performance-based assessments measure the learner's ability to apply what has been learned to specific, real-life (in this case, real work) tasks. Development of such assessments is guided by the objectives of the program.
   
   Program evaluation includes a review of the needs analysis process, program objectives, and curricular responses, as well as a review of instructional materials and periodic classroom observations to evaluate instruction and learner/teacher interaction. The summative evaluation analyzes all forms of learner data and information from stakeholders as to what worked and did not work in the program and why. Relationships among stakeholders are also examined. This analysis is both qualitative and quantitative.
   
   The short lifespan of many workplace language programs, combined with the fragile nature of support coalitions, and the specific nature of worksite curricula can hinder efforts to gather information on curriculum appropriateness and/or program results. Evaluation issues must therefore be considered in the earliest stages of program planning.
6. Identify partners' infrastructure needs and capacity limitations, and develop an action plan to expand, provide, and sustain quality work-related education and training initiatives, following the six steps to integrating adult education and workforce development programs. Repeat steps as needed for continuous improvement.

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