Chapter 8
Functional Context Education Case Study #2:
A Pre-employment, Job-Related Basic Skills Program

Scenario A: Carmen Lopez' experience in the decontextualized Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOINS) training program of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Carmen Lopez is a 28 year old, single mother with three children to support. For the last three years she has been living in Manhattan supported by welfare, including Aid For Dependent Children (AFDC). Under the JOBS program, M. Lopez sought training, but when her reading and mathematics skills were assessed using standardized tests, it was found that she was reading at the 6th grade level and her mathematics skills were lower, at the 5th grade level.

To get info the training program for Office Technology that she wanted, M. Lopez was advised that she needed both reading and mathematics skills at the 9th grade level. She was informed about adult basic education (ABE) programs in the area where she lived. These programs could help her reach the 9th grade level of skill in reading and math and then she could enroll in the job training that she wanted

When M. Lopez went to one of the ABE programs offered by a local community-based organization, she found that she was reading and doing math out of texts like those she had studied in grade school. She read general literature, did math computations and word problems in workbooks, and wrote some personal stories about her life. When she asked how long it would lake to reach the 9th grade level of basic skills so she could get into the job training that she desperately needed, no one could tell her. It would just depend on her dedication and willingness to work hard at her studies.

When she read the literature and "real life" materials, and performed the numerous math exercises, M. Lopez could not see any connection between the work she was doing in the ABE class, and the job-training and work that she wanted and needed to support her and her Emily. So pretty soon she quit going to the program..

Like Carmen Lopez, many adults apply for job training that is offered by organizations that are using funds from the U.S. Department of Labor's Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) or the Job Oriented Basic Skills (JOBS) program of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. When they apply for this training, the adults may have their reading and/or mathematics skills tested. If their skills are lower than the levels needed for job training, they may be advised to go to a basic skills program to raise their skills to the needed level.

At the basic skills program, the person may be assigned general literature materials or "life skills" materials to study, or they may work on computer-based programs that teach the basic skills. Generally, the materials they will have to read or use to study math will not be related to the kind of job that they wanted to be trained for when they first applied for job training. Too often, the adult learners cannot understand what the basic skills training has to do with the job training that was sought. So they may drop out of the program, if they ever attend in the first place.