There is a growing understanding among Americans that radical improvements in K-12 education are necessary to prepare kids for the New Economy jobs of the future. There's a much vaguer understanding that many adults need skill upgrades to keep themselves employable. The Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (or MASSInc), the outstanding private non-profit research institute that publishes Commonwealth magazine, has released a groundbreaking new report that dramatically documents the need for big improvements in adult education as part of the "lifelong learning" system we need in the New Economy.

This report, entitled "New Skills for a New Economy," is the product of two years of research into the Massachusetts work force by two teams of researchers from Harvard and Northeastern Universities. Its most important finding should serve as a wake up call to policymakers in every state: about 1.1 million of Massachusetts' 3.2 million workers lack the basic skills necessary for success in the New Economy. (This is stunning in part because Massachusetts has such a vibrant high-tech economy, ranking first in the Progressive Policy Institute's State New Economy Index in 2000). More specifically, 195,000 workers are immigrants with limited English-speaking ability; 280,000 workers lack a high school diploma or GED; and 667,000 lack the advanced literacy skills deemed necessary for basic functioning in New Economy jobs.

MASSInc's researchers conclude that with some improvements (including weekend classes, more funding, and better accountability for results), the state's adult basic education system can take care of much of the needs of the first two categories of underskilled workers. But it's the third, and largest, category -- those representing what the report calls the "New Literacy Challenge" -- that require an entirely new approach.

This challenge is based on the increasingly well-established belief that "new basic skills" include "the ability to solve complex problems, think critically, communicate effectively, and use computers and other technology," as the report puts it. Instilling these new basic skills is beyond the ambit of traditional adult education, and is reached only sporadically by corporate or public training programs. MASSInc recommends a new system of partnerships between community colleges and employers to meet the "New Literacy Challenge," building on the work-site based "developmental education" programs already existing in most Massachusetts community colleges. The report urges employers to pay for enrollment in developmental education classes, and to help design them to meet actual job-skill needs. It also endorses the Progressive Policy Institute proposal for tax credits for employers who provide or pay for basic skills education.

The MASSInc report is required reading for every policymaker who is interested in a serious effort to prepare the work force for the New Economy. It should also help serve notice that the task of radically improving the education and skills training capacity of the country -- and each of the 50 states -- needs to move out of the margins of political debate and emerge front and center.