Writings: U.S., 1982-1994
This page shows sample documents from 1982 to 1994. Topics include planning, evaluation, and policy for worker basic education; and collaborative, participatory approaches to adult basic education.
“Functional Context" vs. "General Literacy”
- “‘Functional Context’ vs. ‘General Literacy’”: In 1994, the Adult Literacy Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association hosted a multi-part discussion in three issues of its newsletter on the topic of the definitions and pros and cons of two broad approaches to workplace basic education. Dr. Eunice Askov (Penn. State), Dr. Larry Mikulecky, and Dr. Paul Jurmo gave their perspectives on these questions.
Re-Thinking How to Plan & Evaluate Workplace Education ...
- “Re-Thinking How to Plan and Evaluate Workplace Education Programs: Innovations in New York State.” This 30-page 1993 report summarizes two events in which sixty representatives of state-funded workplace basic skills programs discussed how they might improve program evaluation and planning. Following these discussions, participants returned to their respective programs, organized site evaluation teams, evaluated their programs’ strengths and needed improvements, and prepared action plans for the coming year.
Who Wants What Information -- and How Do We Get It?
- .“Who Wants What Information -- and How Do We Get It? Issues in Workplace Education Evaluation”: This 22-page paper was the basis for a presentation at the Texas Workforce Literacy Conference in May, 1993. It discusses possible stakeholders, purposes, information to be gathered, and how that information might be collected and used.
Participatory Literacy Education: An Update (1992)
- “Participatory Literacy Education: An Update”: Presentation at Adult Education Colloquium, Ohio State University, 1992.
No Quick Fix: Lessons from U.S. Employee Basic Ed. Efforts
- “Understanding Lessons Learned in Employee Basic Skills Efforts in the U.S.: No Quick Fix.” This article in Basic Skills for the Workplace (edited by Taylor, Lewe, and Draper) describes diverse perspectives on workplace literacy; argues for clearer understanding of worker learning needs and potential solutions; and makes the case for sustained, informed worker basic skills efforts.
Workplace Education: Voices from the Field
- Workplace Education: Voices from the Field (written by Paul Jurmo and Laura Sperazi): Proceedings of the National Workplace Literacy Project Directors Conference, U.S. Department of Education, September 1991.
Participatory Evaluation & Curriculum in Workplace Education
- “Participatory Approaches to Evaluating Outcomes and Designing Curriculum in Workplace Education Programs”: The Report of the 1991 Evaluation of the Massachusetts Workplace Education Initiative (written by Laura Sperazi, Paul Jurmo, and David Rosen):
The Good News and the Bad News About Workplace Literacy
- “The Good News and the Bad News About Workplace Literacy Efforts in the United States.” This ten-page paper was presented at the Texas JTPA Workplace Literacy Forum in 1991. It outlines national developments related to awareness, curriculum design, collaborations, staff training, research and evaluation, and funding. It recommends actions that employers and other stakeholders might take at this early stage of the development of a new field of worker basic education.
Participatory Literacy Education (1989)
- Participatory Literacy Education (with Hanna Arlene Fingeret): Jossey-Bass, 1989. This volume includes the following four chapters which draw directly on Paul Jurmo’s doctoral research on how participatory practices were being used in adult literacy efforts in the U.S.:
Building Partnerships for a Stronger Workforce
- “Building Partnerships for a Stronger Workforce”: Presentation at Annual Meeting of Arkansas Governor’s Commission on Adult Literacy, 1990.
Learner Participation Practices in U.S. Adult Literacy . . .
- Learner Participation Practices in Adult Literacy Efforts in the United States. This is Paul Jurmo’s 1987 doctoral dissertation for the University of Massachusetts’ Center for International Education. It presents arguments for, examples of, and analysis of participatory instructional and other practices used by U.S. adult literacy programs. It laid a foundation for much of the other work described on this website.
Multi-Purpose Literacy: Responding to Interests & Contexts
- “Multi-Purpose Literacy: Responding to the Complex Interests Found in Program Contexts”: This 40-page Comprehensive Paper was written in 1982 by Paul Jurmo as a requirement for his doctoral degree at the University of Massachusetts. It summarizes six potential purposes for adult literacy programs in the U.S. and other countries and identifies strategies that literacy programs might take to clarify and respond to agreed-upon purposes, for the good of learners and other stakeholders.