Workplace Educators,
There were more resources this week than usual, and I am saving some for
next week. As in the past, be alerted that you may need to cut and paste
URLs that have been split on two lines back together in your browser
address box to access the resources.  
Donna

Donna Brian, Moderator
Workplace Literacy Discussion List
djgbrian at utk.edu

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>From Jobs For the Future (JFF) http://www.jff.org/

JFF NEWSWIRE No. 43, January 2007 is now available on the JFF Web site.
http://www.jff.org/JFF_Pages.php?WhichLevel=2&lv1_id=2&lv2_id=23&lv3_id=
0
 
NEWSWIRE begins with ADDRESSING AMERICA'S DROPOUT CHALLENGE, a report
from JFF and the Center for American Progress. This report delineates
the vital role that Congress can play in closing the high school
graduation gap by enacting the GRADUATION PROMISE ACT OF 2007.
 
BUILDING NEW LABOR MARKET INSTITUTIONS examines state policies to
support workforce intermediaries, which several states invest in as key
to workforce and economic development.
 
Also, click on NEWSWIRE's links to new Web sites and newsletters about: 
 
* JOBS TO CAREERS and promoting work-based learning for quality care;
 
* ACHIEVING THE DREAM and state policies to help more community college
students succeed; and
 
* BREAKING THROUGH and helping low-skilled adults enter and succeed in
college and careers
 
And click on NEWSWIRE's link to the transcript of JFF's OPPORTUNITY FOR
ALL FORUM, which brought together over 200 Boston-area leaders to
explore solutions to the education and workforce challenges facing men
of color.
 
Plus more from JFF on . . .
. . . Work Readiness Certificates
. . . A DVD for reaching out to employers and others . . . Links to
resources from our friends.
http://www.jff.org/JFF_Pages.php?WhichLevel=2&lv1_id=2&lv2_id=23&lv3_id=
0

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Featured by New Zealand Literacy Portal
http://www.nzliteracyportal.org.nz/

Numeracy
NALD - Changing the way we teach math - 2006 (Can)
This Canadian resource (117 pages) is invaluable for those teaching and
learning about numeracy and maths.  Kate Nonesuch has a wonderful way of
simplifying what is often perceived as complicated by both literacy
tutors and learners.
<http://www.nzliteracyportal.org.nz/imsdirector.php?resid=2871&ruid=2182

>

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NALD - More complicated than it seems - 2006 (Can)
This Canadian review (22 pages) outlines an extensive literature review
and discussions with maths teachers.  It describes best practices, while
also recognising that implementing them, getting teachers to be
enthusiastic about teaching maths and getting learners involved in their
learning, are difficulties that have to be overcome.
<http://www.nzliteracyportal.org.nz/imsdirector.php?resid=2870&ruid=2182

>

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NCSALL -The components of numeracy - 2006 (US)
This NCSALL occasional paper (79 pages) attempts to describe the complex
nature of numeracy as it exists today. It identifies and clarifies the
nature of numeracy components with the hope that such identification and
clarification will guide instruction, contribute to the design of
assessments, frame research, and inform policy. 
<http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/research/op_numeracy.pdf>
_________________________________________________________

Pre-employment
What does "Success Skills" mean across the country? Defining success
skills for the 21st century - 2005 (US)
This report attempts to answer some of the question about success skills
and how demographics will influence the opportunity for successful
workplace assimilation and productivity in the future. 
<http://wplrc.losrios.edu/Final_Skills_Research.doc>
_________________________________________________________

Workplace
Workplace literacy in UK, NZ and Australia - 2006 (Ca)
This is a presentation paper by Dr Chris Holland, a New Zealand
researcher who is working with the Ministry of Education on the Learning
for Living projects.  The paper, which supported a presentation is the
author's analysis of the various forms of stakeholder involvement in
workplace literacy in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, exploring their
strengths and challenges.
<http://www.nzliteracyportal.org.nz/imsdirector.php?resid=2839&ruid=2182

>

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_________________________________________________________

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A new issue of Connections
http://www.CareerOneStop.org/Newsroom/ViewCOSUpdates.asp, the quarterly
electronic update from the CareerOneStop suite of Web sites including
America's Career InfoNet, America's Job Bank, America's Service Locator,
and other related electronic resources was sent out this week.
This issue highlights:
Key to Career Success - Military Transition portal from the U.S.
Department of Labor http://www.careeronestop.org/militarytransition/
O*NET's Toolkit for Business http://www.onetcenter.org/toolkit.html
Education and Training Finder
http://www.careerinfonet.org/edutraining/default.aspx?searchMode=occupat
ion
Career Voyages - Homeland Security Industry
http://www.careervoyages.gov/homelandsecurity-main.cfm
Financial Aid Advisor and Scholarship Search
http://www.careerinfonet.org/careertools_intro.asp?id=14&nodeid=14

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>From TrainingZONE [http://trainingzone.co.uk] 


The Future for E-Learning
David Wilson is founder and Managing Director of Elearnity and one of
the leading authorities on learning innovation and e-learning in Europe.
He speaks to TrainingZONE about the present and the possibilities for
e-learning.
http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=163920

Informal Learning -- Beyond the Hype
President of the ASTD Global Network UK, Neil Lasher recently called on
training professionals to devote more of their budgets to informal
learning. Here he explains to TrainingZONE the power and potential of
this form of learning. 
http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=164136

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>From Public Education Network Weekly NewsBlast 

[To read the complete online version of the NewsBlast with a larger
typeface, visit
http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_current.asp]
RADICAL IDEAS, MISGUIDED ASSUMPTIONS
There is a line between visionary thinking and pie-in-the-sky
theorizing. The recent report of the New Commission on the Skills of the
American Workforce, "Tough Choices or Tough Times," is most assuredly on
the wrong side of that line, according to Diane Ravitch, an education
historian, in this Education Week commentary. Not only is this widely
publicized and much-praised report an exercise in pie-in-the-sky
theorizing, it would -- if enacted -- dismantle American public
education. The report says that the present system of education is no
good, and we must start over.  Like many previous reports, this one lays
out a string of criticisms of our education system, most of which are
unassailable, and then proceeds to propose a variety of changes. In this
case, however, most of the report's prescriptions are not only radical
but dubious. Some of them are risky gambles with one of our most vital
social institutions. Frankly, it is difficult to understand how a
commission composed of so many distinguished men and women produced such
an ill-conceived document. One imagines the horse-trading that enabled
each commissioner to get his or her favorite proposal added to the mix.
Ravitch examines eight recommendations and concludes that the
commission's report contains not a shred of evidence that its
prescriptions will work.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/01/17/19ravitch.h26.html

VOCATIONAL ED REBOUNDING AS AN ANSWER TO DROPOUT CRISIS 
For years, California's six million public school students have been
given a clear message: If you want to succeed in life, go to college. In
reality, almost one-third of the state's high school students will drop
out. Nearly another third will graduate without the credits needed to
attend a four-year university. And many will go on to college but fail
once they get there, unsure of what to study or how to make classes
translate into a good job. Now, after years of playing second fiddle to
college-track course work, vocational education in high schools is
emerging as one solution to many of these problems. It's a comeback of
sorts for the classes that train students in a specific skill or trade,
like welding or carpentry. Today, reports Dana Hull in Mercury News,
they include everything from computer animation to video production, and
they are often referred to by a new name, Career and Technical
Education. Some education experts argue that expanding vocational
programs is th  e best way to solve the dropout crisis. Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, who was in a vocational high school program in his
native Austria, pitches it whenever he can. Vocational ed has long
suffered from a reputation as a dumping ground for misfits -- struggling
students who take classes such as Auto Shop I and then enter the
blue-collar workforce. For these students who never dreamed of going to
college, vocational ed was widely seen as the last stop before they quit
high school. Even today, some critics worry that vocational ed is simply
another way to direct students, many of them poor and minority, along a
path that will never result in a degree from a four-year school.
Proponents agree that vocational education needs to be overhauled,
primarily by becoming more academically rigorous. They want classes that
include high-level reading and math, provide real-world career training
in California's growing industries, and count for credit at community
and four-year colleges.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/education/16463595.htm