In the hospital program, the average pre-test score was 69% and the post-test score was 74%, and the difference of 5 percentage points was statistically reliable. In this program, participants clearly did not reach 100 percent mastery. However, in assessments using cloze tests, people hardly ever reach 100 percent mastery. The question is, is the 5 percentage points (about 1.03 raw score points) increase indicative of important and sustained improvements in job-related reading? In this program evaluation, participants also made statistically reliable improvements in written and oral communication - in about the same percentage range of improvement.

Employees also were interviewed and reported their perceptions of the programs effects: 61% reported that participation in the program increased their academic (reading) skills, 39% improved their oral skills, 34% their written expression, 29% their job knowledge, 27% improved their self-confidence, and 24% reported that they improved their basic education. Many participants (69%) reported that their reason for attending the classes was to get a promotion or a better job. At the end of the program two (3%) had achieved this goal.

In this program the hospital staff, education providers, and external evaluator evaluated the program as successful, citing employee improvements as the basic criteria for evaluating the program as successful.

A Policy-Oriented Study With Minimal Data. A report by the Southport Institute for Policy Analysis (Faison, Vencill, & McVey (1992) describes how four small manufacturing firms provide "basic skills" or "workforce literacy" instruction to their employees. The report was accompanied by a press release stating that the study "...shows that both management and workers are enthusiastic about the results."

Among the benefits cited by managers in the four firms were "...less waste of time and materials, reduced error rates, greater customer satisfaction, improved communications and labor relations, and the ability to introduce new production processes and systems of work organization." The press release also quotes two workers, one stating that, in regard to a math course taken, "I have more confidence; I can do in a half hour what used to take two hours." Another stated, "I can do reports faster because my English is better. I can say what I need to say and show the boss I'm interested in doing the job and getting ahead."

Significantly, this report, by a policy analysis institute, includes no quantitative data showing pre- and post-test scores such as those in the hospital case study cited above. There are, in fact, no data on percentages of employees who reported reaching their goals, and, in fact, no clearly stated goals are given for any of the four firms studied. If each of the four firms had as one of it's goals that participating employees should improve their ability to read their job-related reading materials, from this study we would not be able to say how many achieved this goal.