I just had the time to read through the very interesting exchanges about EFF 
standards and wanted to add my own 2.5 cents.  To me, what has always been 
most important about EFF is it's answer to the question -- what knowledge and 
skills is it important for adults to know and be able to use in order to carry 
out their adult roles and responsibilities (whatever they are)?  The research 
conducted in the first years of the EFF Initiative (1994-1998) revealed that 
adults need more than the three R's to be successful in their adult roles as 
workers, parents, and community members.  They also need oral communication 
skills, interpersonal skills, problem-solving skills, and learning skills.  Our 
research over the past three years to build the National Work Readiness Credential 
confirmed this original research: employers told us that nine of the 16 EFF 
standards were critical for competent performance of entry level work.  And 
guess what? across industry sectors, the skills that were most important were Co
operate with Others, Listen Actively, Speak so Others Can Understand, and Read 
with Understanding (see http://eff.cls.utk.edu/workreadiness  or 
www.uschamber.com/cwp/strategies/workreadinesscredential. )

In order to make sure that adult programs could help adults build these 
skills as well as reading, writing and math, we conducted further research to 
define standards and performance continua for each of these skills.  And when the 
Work Readiness Credential comes out later this year we will be able to assess 
these nine standards in a standardized way, making them part of the 
accountability framework for workforce education.

The standards-based education reform movement grew out of concerns that we 
would not be preparing Americans for the 21st century -- especially to be 
competitive in the global workforce.  As educators work to raise reading and math 
skills of K-12 students and business leaders continue to complain about 
graduates not being ready for work, I continue to think that part of the problem is 
that we keep raising the bar in reading and math (and now science) without 
paying attention to all those other skills (interpersonal, problem solving, oral 
communication, learning), without asking the fundamental question what skills 
and knowledge do all of us need to be able to carry out our everyday roles and 
responsibilities -- as citizens of a democratic society, as parents trying to 
make sure our children grow up in a safe and loving family, prepared for the 
future, and as workers in an economy that requires us to reskill many times over 
our lives.

If we are -- after all this research -- still only teaching our students 
reading, writing, and math because these are the only skills valorized in the 
adult education accountability framework, we may be keeping our programs alive but 
we are not serving our students well.  

That seems to be the central dilemma the field still has to address.  How do 
we do both?  


Sondra G. Stein, Ph.D.
Project Manager
National Work Readiness Credential
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