This curriculum guide resulted from a project conducted to: (1) improve the productivity and efficiency of 21 companies by providing workplace literacy instruction to workers lacking basic skills required for their jobs; and (2) to improve the capability of educational providers to meet the basic skill needs of the manufacturing and financial services industries by developing customized curriculum and instructional materials. The curriculum guide contains the following four sections: core definitions for basic skills; core workplace basic skill competencies for four subject areas--reading, writing, oral communication, and mathematics; instructional designs, including lesson plan ideas and learning activities; and curriculum samples for a comprehensive program, with excerpts from each level of instruction in the four subject areas. (KC)