In an era which is characterized by rapidly growing information in all areas of study, students must learn to sift through all of the available information. They must then decide which information they will use and how they will apply what they have learned. Workplace Literacy is most often described in terms of skills, knowledge, and behaviors. Emphasis is placed on strong and relevant reading, writing, speaking, listening, mathematics, computer literacy, and expanded basic skills taught at the application level or higher. In addition, technical reading, technical writing, applied physics, statistics, logic, probability, reasoning and problem solving, and knowledge of measurement and information systems are demanded as basic to job performance.
Technological literacy is connected to both information and workplace literacy.
This literacy provides the ability to know and select the appropriate technological systems and processes to address everyday challenges. While there is no general agreement about the content of this literacy, most educators subscribe to the need for universal knowledge that allows us to understand and communicate in an ever shrinking world. If, as Chall tells us, literacy is influenced by the literacy environment of the home as well as through teaching in school, then parents and the larger community play a role in ensuring that Eau Claire Area School District students achieve a level of literacy that will serve them as lifelong learners and workers. Parents and other community members must be partners with the school by giving children language experiences and a love of literacy before and during the time children are in school. They must be invited to work in and with schools to create policy, write curriculum, and be liaisons with others in the community.