The State of the Art Assessment in Basic Skills Education Program 2

The Army has a current need to provide literacy and life-coping skills training for many soldiers to enable them to perform in their MOSs. General literacy training has been found ineffective in improving job performance, and a military job specific functional literacy program has been mandated by the Army. The purpose of this project was to assess the present state of the art in Army Basic Skills Education for soldiers in their first permanent duty assignment. On-going programs were assessed in relation to their goals and objectives, target populations, curriculum, delivery systems, personnel and facilities. Recommendations for improving the Army's functional literacy and life-coping skills training program were made, based upon: the Army's stated program goals; the discussion of pertinent issues in six papers produced by experts; the current practice in other military settings and in civilian settings; and interviews with recognized authorities on basic skills, adult basic education, and functional literacy. Project findings indicated that the Army should develop an instructional system designed to provide criterion- referenced functional literacy and life-coping skills training upon task analysis of MOS requirements.