Writings: U.S., 2002-2010

• “How to Help Adult Learners Develop Basic Skills and Other Career Tools” is a PowerPoint presentation at Literacy Volunteers of New Jersey's annual conference in April 2010.  Summarizes basic skills and other “career tools” (e.g., occupational knowledge, career plan, etc.) that adults need, along with examples of contextualized basic skills activities that can be integrated into basic skills and work-readiness programs.  

• “Appropriate Technologies for Workforce Learning: A New Approach to Using Educational Technologies for Adult Learning and Workforce Development" (with Sandra Panesso): Presented at “Future of Adult Education in the Digital World” Conference, Virginia Commonwealth University, November 2009:

• "Eldercare Careers Project at Union County College”: Final report about year-long project which piloted a curriculum to help mid-to-advanced-level English language learners prepare for eldercare training and careers.  Curriculum integrated EFF skills, occupational knowledge and computer skills.  December 2009.

• "Career Pathway Curricula for the Transportation/Logistics/Distribution Industry":  With funding from the U.S. Department of Labor’s North Jersey WIRED’s economic development initiative, Union County (NJ) College’s Industry-Business Institute developed a career pathway model to help job seekers learn about and move into careers in the transportation/logistics/distribution industry.  The following sample curricula (written with Farrukh Syed) integrate TLD occupational knowledge with Equipped for the Future Skills and basic computer skills.  (See “Appropriate Technologies” article above for more about this model.)

• This August 2009 PowerPoint (prepared by Paul Jurmo with Cathy Waters and Gisela Cruz) summarizes the goals, activities, and results of a county-level prisoner re-entry initiative in New Jersey: 

• Review of Building Better ABE, a 2007 collection of research papers (edited by Alisa Belzer) from a national conference at Rutgers University.  Review published in the Summer 2008 edition of the Adult Basic Education and Literacy Journal.

•  A White Paper for the Union County (NJ) Workforce Investment Board: 2008.

• “Building a Professional Development System for Adult Educators in New Jersey”: Prepared for the NJ State Employment and Training Commission’s adult education committee, February 2007.  

 Prepared for Grassroots Literacy Coalition Leadership Institute, New York City, April 9, 2005.  

• “Workplace Literacy Education: Definitions, Purposes, and Approaches” : Article in Focus on Basics, National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, November 2004

• "Helping Job-Seekers Who Have Limited Basic Skills: A Guide for Workforce Development Professionals": Written with Jennifer Cleary for the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. Provides strategies that workforce center staff can use to better serve individuals .who have various kinds of basic skills-related challenges and/or who lack a high school equivalency credential.   

• “Don’t Forget the Ones Left Behind: How Career Centers Can Better Serve Job-Seekers Lacking in Basic Skills and High School Credentials”: Prepared for the U.S. Department of Education for Presentation at the Workplace Learning Conference, Chicago, December 2003.

• “Out of the Ivory Tower: College Students Get Involved in Adult Literacy” in Literacy Update, New York City Literacy Assistance Center, September 2003:

• “Work-Related Basic Education in the United States:  A Mixed Bag”: An article in the Ontario Literacy Coalition Bulletin on Workplace Literacy: National and International Perspectives on Research and Practice, September 2003, pages 22-26

• English at Work: Basic Work-Related Communications Skills for English Language Learners (with Marsha Love): A 37-page ESOL-for-basic-workplace-communications curriculum for NY City Consortium for Worker Education instructors to use with English language learners who lost their jobs after the 9/11 attacks, March 2003

• Job Seeker’s Handbook:  Prepared for English language learners at the NY City Consortium for Worker Education who lost jobs after the 9/11 attacks, December 2002: 

• Learn & Work: Basic Skills for Job Seekers: A 92-page curriculum for NY City Consortium for Worker Education instructors to use with English language learners who lost their jobs after the 9/11 attacks, November 2002.  

• “The New (and Ongoing) Job Crisis for Adult Learners:  How Adult Educators Can Respond” appeared in Literacy Harvest, New York City Literacy Assistance Center, Fall 2002. It discusses how adult education programs in the city were trying to help adult learners respond to the massive job losses caused by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

•  An article in Making the Case: Adult Education and Literacy: Key to America’s Future: Council for the Advancement of Adult Literacy, April 2002. See the article and the full publication below.