Adult Education English As a First Language: Five of Six Applicants Rejected for Basic Skills Deficiencies

Author: O'Roark, Hank
Source: Technical Training

Editor's Note: The following synopsis is based on materials extracted directly from the document. The average manufacturer rejects five out of every six applicants for basic skills deficiencies, according to the National Association of Manufacturers. The Upjohn Institute estimates that 25 to 40 percent of U.S. workers lack the reading skills to understand the bulk of written material related to their jobs. In a recent survey of 4,000 companies, global management consulting firm Towers Perrin found 30 percent of the respondents unable to reorganize work activities because employees couldn't learn new jobs; and 25 percent were unable to improve quality because workers couldn't learn the necessary skills. Such workers cause their companies to lose profits through low productivity, workplace accidents, poor product quality, and lost supervisory time. And to compound this problem, dramatic changes in the way factory work is organized have made literacy demands more complex. The fact is that many talented machine operators and knowledgeable front-line workers are not fully participating in their companies' quality improvement projects for a reason that is often overlooked: Many fear that their poor literacy skills will be exposed in a team-working environment.

Basic Skills Initiative

In 1996, a major reorganization on the manufacturing floor of Springfield, Massachusetts-based firearms maker Smith & Wesson pushed management's concern about workers' level of basic skills to the forefront of the company's agenda. The reading and math skills of every non-college-educated employee working on the factory floor were assessed. Small, on-site English as a Second Language (ESL) classes had been offered at the company for years, but manufacturing supervisors were frustrated by workers who needed the class but didn't attend. Working in an older-style manufacturing environment allowed some long-time, English-speaking employees to slip by with poor literacy skills. To address this problem, Smith & Wesson Training Director Robert Pion put together a steering committee, including himself, the vice presidents of manufacturing and human resources, three business managers responsible for production, and an employee representative.

Needs Assessment

The first step in assessing the need for remedial skills training at the plant was to identify the tasks that employees would have to be able to do now as well as in the near future. The company hired The Workplace Education Group, a provider of basic skills education to business and industry, to identify specific needs related to basic academic skills. Three work-related needs were cited for improved basic skills on the production floor:

* Higher-level math skills were needed for understanding and using computer numerical control equipment.
* Better reading and writing skills were needed to foster teamwork and ensure quick cross-training as work assignments were reorganized.
* Better oral communication skills were needed for discussions with customers visiting the manufacturing floor.

The committee agreed that their workforce needed to be better able to adapt to the changes happening in production, such as having fewer supervisors on the floor. "I need everyone's help," says one Smith & Wesson business manager. "I want the [workers] on the floor to be able to think about and express ways to improve processes and quality." Once the committee came to agreement that a gap in many workers' general academic skills existed, the exact nature of the skills gap then needed to be determined.

Raising the Bar

The growing consensus among education and labor experts is that most high-performance manufacturers today need workers to read and use math at at least an eighth-grade level. To determine whether this standard applied to Smith & Wesson, Pion requested a "literacy audit" of the most typical reading and math tasks required from workers. The results of that analysis of typical documents and tasks demonstrated that, indeed, the eighth-grade level would serve as an accurate, minimal level of basic skills needed by factory workers at the company. Before a systematic and comprehensive plan could be designed to reach the training goal of raising workers' basic skills, the reading and math abilities of all 676 non-college-educated front- line workers at Smith & Wesson needed to be tested. The company wide assessment would identify whose math and reading skills were below the designated, minimal "threshold level" and how far below.

Pre-Test Preparations

Because the testing procedure undoubtedly would be an unpleasant and stressful experience for some employees, the company took great care to clearly and honestly communicate the business rationale for requiring these tests. Meetings of approximately 100 people at a time were scheduled. The Workplace Education Group consultant spoke to each group of workers about why many other manufacturers had made similar investments in basic skills assessment and training. The vice president of manufacturing spoke about why the company needed to retool its workforce to continue competing successfully. Employees were reassured that people would not loose their jobs because of their test results. It was explained that those who scored below the minimal acceptable level would be expected to take the classes to bring their skills up to speed. The classes were to be held on company time, so workers would be paid to learn. Disciplinary action would only be taken if an employee refused to attend class - just as it would if they refused to do any other part of their job. During the meetings, sample test questions were shown on overheads and discussed. The Educational Testing Service's Tests of Applied Literacy Skills (TALS) were chosen because they test not rote knowledge but real-life skills, such as locating and using critical information in a graph, chart, or table - tasks that closely resemble those often performed in a factory. A well-liked ESL instructor who had been teaching regularly at the company also was present at these meetings to boost employee's confidence. Smith & Wesson management felt it was important to contract out the actual testing, scoring, and reporting of the tests, rather than doing any of this in-house. Basic skills test administration and scoring on such a large scale requires professional experience. In addition, company employees were reassured by the fact that their test results would be handled in a strictly confidential manner by an outside service provider and that their employer would have restricted access to their scores.

Test Results

Employee testing was conducted in two-hour time blocks over eight days. Two separate tests, one for reading and one for math, were administered back-to-back to groups of 35 people at a time. The tests were proctored by two people, one from the Workplace Education Group and another from the training department of Smith & Wesson. Two different versions of both the math and reading tests were used to discourage cheating - in fact, there were very few problems at this stage. The Workplace Education Group scored more than 1,300 tests by hand, and then recorded one reading score and one math score for each person in a database created by Pion. The overall results were reported to Smith & Wesson management; Pion received a copy of all scores. Each employee received a brief letter at home reporting his or her test scores. The results of the company wide assessment showed that Smith & Wesson fit the typical profile for a manufacturing workforce - about 30 percent of its non-college-educated production workers scored below the eighth-grade level in either reading or math. Those people who didn't pass the tests did demonstrate some skill on the tests, but still fell below the designated threshold. Very few of these employees could be described as "illiterate"; most of the workers whose skills fell below the eighth-grade level did have some limited reading ability and could solve simple math problems. But they didn't demonstrate the minimal, basic skills needed to fully and confidently participate in the important quality initiatives going on at Smith & Wesson.

Jump-Starting the Program

Once the testing data had been collected and compiled by work area, Pion, the consultant, and the steering committee designed a training plan. They took advantage of the strong momentum created by the assessment and immediately scheduled three instructors to teach six classes: two in ESL, two in English skills development for mostly native English speakers, and two in math. A total of 100 employees were to attend, divided into groups of 15 students of similar ability per class. Each class met four times a week for an hour each day. The classes were scheduled to straddle the change in shifts: First shift students were released from their normal work duty for one hour at the end of their shift from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. An equal number of second shift students were released to attend class at the beginning of their work day from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. The committee decided it would be important to see immediate positive results to jump-start what would be a long-term educational program. Therefore, workers with deficiencies in both English and math were scheduled to take English or ESL classes first - some people do poorly on math tests simply because they can't read the questions well enough. The committee also scheduled the learners whose test scores were closest to the target objective of eighth-grade level to take the first round of classes. Students were retested after 15 weeks, or about 60 hours of instruction, to measure learning gains.

Attitude Adjustments

The first week of classes started with much grumbling from the employees about why, after years of working at Smith & Wesson, they now had to go "back to school." And, of course, it didn't help that some of those taking classes were teased by their coworkers. The instructors took these concerns seriously. Adults learn best when they see the need, and at the heart of educating under skilled adults is the consideration of each person's motivation and self-esteem. It's no small job to help adult remedial learners succeed in a classroom - a place where too often they experienced failure and ridicule as children. Instructors addressed learners' skepticism by asking them to list the ways in which work has changed at Smith & Wesson. These changes were discussed in light of how higher levels of reading, writing and math skills were now needed. A number of vocal and articulate students who understood and defended why the company was requiring them to take classes helped to win other learners over. For several skeptical learners, hearing their peers speak to the issues meant more than anything management could ever say. But to be truly motivated for the duration of the 15-week courses, workers needed to experience quick learning success in a class they enjoyed. Learners at Smith & Wesson found pleasure in studying hard and successfully meeting challenges that pushed them beyond what they thought they could do.

Workplace Education Success Factors

There are several important features that successful workplace education programs share. The Workplace Education Group lists the following instructional practices for helping adult learners achieve success:

* Schedule small classes of no more than 15 students of similar ability.
* Follow the practice of experienced instructors, who regularly adjust the level of difficulty, so that a class is never too easy or too difficult.
* Give regular feedback to learners on their progress.
* Allow adequate class time for self-paced, independent study.
* Offer a mix of work-related and real-life basic skills tasks, which can be applied to general principles and rules that have been learned in class.

Patience Pays

Smith & Wesson started their intensive workplace education program knowing that it could take months, even years to bring all their underskilled employees up to speed. But in order to sustain this long-term commitment, some success would have to be demonstrated regularly. This is an area where too many basic skills programs run out of gas. Testing should never be overdone and should not be the sole measure of a learner's success, but trainers shouldn't be afraid of regular, short-term accountability for a group of learners' progress. Comparing students' pre-course test scores with their post-course scores - both from a nationally recognized, standardized test - is the best way, in most cases, to show management the value of their investment. By seeing numbers that show each class is working hard and making progress toward a designated goal, Smith & Wesson has continued to budget for year- round basic skills classes for the past three years. In the first round of classes, 70 percent of learners were able to bring their math or reading skills up to or above the targeted level. Since that first round of classes, the percentage of students who have graduated from each session has dropped somewhat, but this was expected since less skilled students were enrolled in the program later. So, it can be proved that there has been significant learning progress in Smith & Wesson's classrooms - but has there been a transfer of these new skills to the manufacturing floor? Students say yes, there have been real, work-related benefits to studying hard. They say that they are more productive, more communicative, and more involved at work because of the classes they have attended.

Transfer of Training: Anecdotes

In support of the claim that basic skills classes have helped them to do their jobs better, students wrote the following comments in response to the question, "What is the most important thing you do better at work because of this class?"

* I can read charts on the board that I couldn't understand before.
* I read the ISO book better.
* The most important thing I do better is read the bulletin board more often.
* I feel more confident about writing notes for second shift.
* I can write work orders and better communicate with people.
* I can use fractions and decimals better.
* Helps me feel more comfortable speaking at the meeting I have every morning.
* It's easier to talk to my team.
* Better communication with my team members.
* I communicate with my supervisor.
* I use the computer a little better.
* I've learned how to write about machine problems.
* I'm not afraid to write a note because my spelling got better.
* I can chart statistical process control better.
* Better problem solving with math.

Smith & Wesson continues to move ahead in ensuring that its workers are capable and ready to use state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques, and that they have the basic academic skills needed to do jobs that are getting more demanding each year. There's no question Smith & Wesson's bold approach to basic skills training has been a win-win proposition for the company and its workers.

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