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Literacy Green Bay’s Workforce
Development Program
works with local companies to develop
and implement customized workplace
literacy programming for non-English
speaking employees at company sites,
utilizing a curriculum that emphasizes
speaking, listening and critical
thinking skills. Beginning Spanish
classes at local worksites are also
available
Reach Higher, America: Overcoming Crisis
in the U.S. Workforce notes
that soaring dropout rates among high
school students and diminished literacy
skills among adults are contributing to
an increasingly ill-prepared labor
market. Many careers that offer
growth potential -- such as healthcare,
advanced manufacturing, and alternative
energy -- require employees to have
increased competency in reading and
writing and at least some education or
training beyond high school.
However,
studies show that one in three young
people in this country drop out of high
school before earning their diploma,
while nearly 30 million adults lack
basic literacy skills. Such imbalances
are challenging the ability of the
nation’s employers to compete in the
global marketplace.
Reach Higher, America calls for
policies and partnerships at both the
state and federal levels that
substantially increase the number of
adults who earn high school diplomas or
equivalent certifications; improve
literacy skills among workers, including
those for whom English is a second
language; grow enrollment of adults in
postsecondary education and job training
activities, with particular focus on
promising sectors of the labor market;
and help workers already in the labor
market strengthen and expand their basic
skills.
The report also notes the importance of
redefining adult education to include
such topics as interpersonal
communication, critical thinking,
problem solving and teamwork. And, it
highlights the role of the business,
philanthropic and nonprofit communities
in helping the country to rethink issues
of education and workforce development,
and invest in new approaches to worker
training and advancement.
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