Dottie and all,
This is exactly the kind of information I went looking for to write a
research methodology paper a few months ago (and I couldn't find much) so
I'm looking forward to seeing other responses on this. 

For what it's worth, I'll provide some portions of the paper I wrote (see
references below). 

1st study: Wisconsin Workplace Partnership Training Program
All respondents <including employers> agreed that the WPT had improved the
workers' basic academic skills.  The workers agreed strongly that the WPT
had also improved their job skills, self-image, and work quality.

2nd study: Conference Board
The top five benefits to organizations that the 55 employers reported, and
the percentages reporting those benefits, were:
1.	Morale/self-esteem - 87%
2.	Quality of work - 82%
3.	Improved problem-solving capacity - 82%
4.	Team performance - 82%
5.	Capacity to cope with change - 75%
The top five skills that the 55 employers thought employees had gained, and
the percentages reporting those gains, were:
1.	Willingness and ability to learn for life - 85%
2.	Improved ability to learn and apply information - 84%
3.	Improved ability to use documents - 84%
4.	Positive attitude toward change - 84%
5.	Ability to build and work in teams - 80%

3rd study: ED>Net
The calculated growth rates for the 224 companies who did and did not
receive ED>Net services were:
*	Total employment (number of jobs):  7.4% vs. 3.2%
*	Wages per worker:  7.3% vs. 4.6%
*	Gross profits:  no significant difference
The economic performance of state funds invested in ED>Net programs was
found to be as follows:
*	Benefit/cost ratio:  9.6%
*	Fiscal return on investment (ROI): minimum of 19%, maximum of 35%
The report points out that the ED>Net services, while not necessarily the
cause of the higher growth rates, can definitely be said to be statistically
associated with them. It may be, for example, that the companies who sought
out ED>Net services were growing already and needed help with training, or
that the companies who sought out ED>Net services were pursuing other
strategies that made them more successful. 

References
Conference Board. (1999). Turning skills into profit: Economic benefits of
workplace education programs (Research Report No. 1247-99-RR).  New York,
NY: Bloom, M. R. & Lafleur, B
Paris, K. A. (1992). Evaluation of the third year of implementation of the
Wisconsin Workplace Partnership Training Program (Report No. CE064497).
Madison, WI: Center on Education and Work. (ERIC Document Reproduction
Service No. ED 361535)
Thomas/Lane & Associates in association with James Bowman Association (2000,
March 1). An evaluation of California's community college based economic
development programs ( ED>Net). Retrieved November 22, 2005, from
http://www.cccewd.net/resource.cfm?c=11

Barbara Forsberg
510-845-8240 (home)
510-282-3153 (cell)



-----Original Message-----
From: workplace-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:workplace-bounces at nifl.gov] On
Behalf Of Donna Brian
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 7:24 AM
To: NIFL-WORKPLACE
Subject: [Workplace] Looking for Workplace ESL ROI research

Readers,
This message was originally posted on the ESL list, but is as appropriate 
for this list.  If you have this information, please reply to this list as 
well as the link given.  Others on this list would probably interested in 
such resources.
Donna Brian, moderator
Workplace Literacy Discussion List
djgbrian at utk.edu


>-----Original Message-----

>From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov

>[mailto:englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Dottie

>Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 11:10 PM

>To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List

>Subject: [EnglishLanguage] Workplace ESL research

>

>

>Colleagues -- can anyone direct me to current research on the benefits

(esp.

>financial) to an employer/business of offering/profiding ESL classes to

>employees?

>

>My daughter is an IT consultant; her newest client is a shipping company

>that hires independent truckers.  The potential employees base has changed

>to include mostly eastern European & Latino immigrants.  Unfortunately,

>their English skills are lower than the company wants/requires.

>

>My daughter wants to convince the employer that it'll be cost-effective for

>them to have on-site ESL classes.  [That's my kid!]  However, she needs

>"evidence" to backup her argument.  I just searched the CAL site  &

couldn't

>find anything --did I miss something?

>

>Thanks,

>

>Dottie Shattuck

>HIAS-NC

>Charlotte, NC


----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Workplace Literacy mailing list
Workplace at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/workplace
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/workplace/attachments/20060308/3ef04e6f/attachment.html