Greetings and Happy New Year to you all!  The last Thursday Resources
post I made had a multitude of resources, and it came out over the
holidays when some of you may have been taking a break from your email.
If you missed it, you can go to the archives of the 2006 posts on the
Workplace Literacy Discussion List at
http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/workplace/2006/date.html.  It is post #
517.

There are quite a few resources listed this week too, but they are from
only 3 sources.  Some from EPI are more literacy in general than
workplace specific.  You can recognize them from the abstracts.  

As usual, you may have to cut and paste URLs that split on two lines
together to access the resources.

Enjoy!

Donna Brian, Moderator
Workplace Literacy Discussion List
Center for Literacy Studies at The University of Tennessee
djgbrian at utk.edu




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>From Verizon Literacy Network  http://literacynetwork.verizon.org


We are pleased to announce a new course on Verizon Literacy Network at
http://literacynetwork.verizon.org. 
"Teach Me Technology" is VLN's  first course for literacy students and
is a basic introduction to computers for adult learners. It provides
lessons for a beginning adult learner who has never used a computer and
includes suggestions for instructors, tutors, mentors, or volunteers to
facilitate computer skill building.
This course was developed by the National Center for Family Literacy. 
At the end of the course you, the instructor, will be able to: 
*	Guide adult learners in engaging activities on the computer 
*	Identify adult learners' fears and phobias about computers 
*	Gather new activities that will further engage the adult learner
to
explore computers
At the end of the course you, the learner, will be able to: 
*	Evaluate your computer skills 
*	Identify basic parts of a computer 
*	Practice basic computer keyboarding and mouse skills 
*	Use Knowledge gained to perform various activities-using
computer
hardware and basic computer software specifically word processing and
Internet About the author: Gaye M. Horne is a coordinator for the
English Language Acquisition for Lifeskills Center in Denver, CO. Prior
to this; she served as educational director for Refugee Resettlement in
Louisville, KY. She has worked in the English as a Second Language field
for 20 years, with the majority of that time in adult education. She
spent eight years in the development of computer and language
laboratories that integrate technology and language, workforce and
literacy into curricular activities. She has developed online lessons
using NovaNet for Ysleta Adult Learning Center, El Paso, Texas and also
has worked on a variety of literacy programs using computers for El Paso
Community College, El Paso, Texas. She holds degrees from the University
of Texas at El Paso.
To learn more about Verizon Literacy Network, go to
http://literacynetwork.verizon.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Economic Policy Institute http://epi.org/ publications Talking Past Each
Other In a series of focus groups in 2005 and 2006, EPI asked
middle-class Americans to discuss their economic insecurities. The
discussions revealed not only a profound ambivalence about the economy,
but also a widening gap between the ways that everyday Americans and
influential elites talk about the economy. Co-authored by David Kusnet,
Lawrence Mishel, and Ruy Teixeira, Talking Past Each Other: What
Everyday Americans Really Think (and Elites Don't Get) About the Economy
discusses that gap and how to bridge it, allowing for changing economic,
social, and political conditions. The study includes a special section
that offers 12 suggestions for how to 'speak American' when talking
about economics.
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/book_talking_past_each_other

Working families falling behind on consumption Little-known data on
consumer spending show that only high-income households have been able
to raise their living standards in recent years. A joint report
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/ib230 from EPI and the Center on Budget
and Policy Priorities analyzes U.S. Labor Department data and finds
that, between 2000 and 2005, consumption grew among high-income
households, remained stagnant among middle-income households, and
declined among low-income households. 

Tort costs and the economy: Myths, exaggerations, and propaganda Critics
of the U.S tort system claim there is a tort crisis in the United States
and that the economy would benefit if the rights of tort plaintiffs were
limited. Yet evidence shows otherwise. In Tort Costs and the Economy
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/bp174, EPI Vice President and Policy
Director Ross Eisenbrey reviews the tort system's most commonly alleged
economic costs and impacts and shows that most have little or no basis
in reality. 

The goals of education
In the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) era, accountability has focused
almost exclusively on basic academic skills. In their cover story in the
December issue of Phi Delta Kappan
http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k_v88/k0612rot.htm, Richard Rothstein and
Rebecca Jacobsen (respectively, research associate at the Economic
Policy Institute and Ph.D. candidate at Teachers College, Columbia
University) suggest that this accountability system does not produce the
kind of graduates we want. From a review of the historic goals of
American education, as well as new survey data from the American public
and policy makers, Rothstein and Jacobsen show that public schools are
expected to produce not only basic academic skills, but critical
thinking, social skills and a good work ethic, civic responsibility,
physical and emotional health, appreciation for the arts and literature,
and preparation for skilled work. Holding schools accountable only for
the first of these goals, they demonstrate, makes it less likely that
schools will produce students with adequate achievement in the others.
Read their findings in Viewpoints.
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_viewpoints_education_goals

 The State of Working America 2006/2007 On Labor Day, the Economic
Policy Institute released its advance edition of The State of Working
America 2006/2007 http://www.stateofworkingamerica.org/. Prepared
biennially since 1988, EPI's flagship publication sums up the problems
and challenges facing American workers, presenting analyses of the
latest data on family incomes, wages, income mobility, international
comparisons, wealth, and poverty. Now in its 10th edition, the book's
authors continue the tradition of closely examining the economy's effect
on the living standards of the American people. With over 300 tables and
charts http://www.stateofworkingamerica.org/tabfig.html, The State of
Working America 2006/2007 is the comprehensive reference work consulted
by those wanting a portrait of the economic well-being of the nation's
workforce. Visit the http://www.stateofworkingamerica.org/ web site for
a host of online resources, including the book's executive summary,
introduction, and excerpted chapters as well as fact sheets, Economic
Snapshots, press releases, and a full archive of every table and figure
that appears in the printed book.

EPI ON THE MINIMUM WAGE 

Hundreds of economists Say: Raise the minimum wage Five Nobel Prize
winners and hundreds of other leading economists urge a raise in the
minimum wage. Read their statement.
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/minwagestmt2006

State minimum wages: A policy that works Although the federal minimum
wage last rose in September 1997, minimum wages in the United States
have not been static since then. Through the end of 2005, 17 states and
the District of Columbia raised their minimum wages a total of 47 times.
What is the effect of these state policies? The new Briefing Paper,
State Minimum Wages: A Policy That Works
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/bp176, is an in-depth analysis that shows
that wages are higher and employment is no lower in these states than
they would have been without the changes. 

Securing the wage floor
The federal minimum wage has not seen an increase since 1997 and its
value has dropped by 20% since then. In inflation-adjusted dollars, it
is at its lowest value in 50 years. Automatic annual adjustments to the
wage, or indexing, has gained increasing support and is becoming more
common among the U.S. states that have their own minimum wage laws. This
new Briefing Paper, Securing the Wage Floor
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/bp177, reviews how indexing would
maintain the value of the federal minimum wage. 

Minimum wage trends: Understanding past and contemporary research Recent
research has shown that the job loss reported in earlier analyses does
not, in fact, occur when the minimum wage is increased. Get the facts in
the EPI Briefing Paper, Minimum Wage Trends: Understanding Past and
Contemporary Research. http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/bp178

Raising the minimum wage to $7.25 is an important first step The new
Congress is poised to raise the minimum wage for the first time in nine
years. But the increase is modest and there is more work to be done to
help our lowest-paid workers benefit from the growing U.S. economy.
EPI's latest Policy Memo http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/pm118 discusses
the need to reset the wage floor to a meaningful level. 

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>From TrainingZONE (UK)

Measuring the Impact of Informal Learning. By Dawn Smith While the
importance of informal training is widely recognised, methods for
measuring its impact are far from established. Dawn Smith looks at the
challenges involved in evaluating informal learning in the workplace.
http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=163069

e2train is offering a whitepaper which explains how a learning
management system will help you plan resources, manage regulatory
requirements, connect competencies to business objectives and make
employees accountable for their training and leverage ROI. For your
complimentary download, click here.
http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/library.cgi?action=detail&id=5562&
dir_publisher_varid=129