Closing the Literacy Gap in American Business

For the first time, a user-friendly handbook has been written on America's workplace literacy gap. Work Force Education has become the quintessential human resource issue of the 1990's. Its impact is now felt by more than 80 million adults, and carries an annual $300 billion price tag in lost employee productivity. This unique book offers readers a complete review of past, present, and future adult literacy programs. It provides essential context on how this training/educational issue suddenly appeared. Also considered are how current programs consistently fail to close an ever-widening workplace education gap. The book does not talk around potential solutions. Instead, it gives practical, real-life case study examples, from successful on-site company programs conducted by the authors. A blueprint is outlined on how to offer Work Force Education for any business large or small. This book will provide insights to senior executives, human resource/training and development managers, or adult educators. They will obtain a clear understanding of how to organize a multi-level, cost-justified Work Force Education program that meets America's 21st century international productivity requirements.

EDWARD E. GORDON is President of Imperial Corporate Training and Development and has taught at De Paul and Roosevelt Universities. He has written articles in Training and Development Journal and Training Today, and is the author of several books dealing with educational history, school reform and contemporary training and development issues.

JUDITH A. PONTICELL is Director of the Chicago Area School Effectiveness Council, a school improvement consortium supported by the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Ponticell's research focuses on adult cognition and educational partnerships.

RONALD R. MORGAN is an Associate Professor and Director of the School Psychology Program, Loyola University of Chicago. Dr. Morgan is an expert in the psychology of learning and instruction. He is the author of twenty journal articles and the co-author of two textbooks on cognition and learning.