The National Workplace Literacy Program (NWLP) was a federal grant program that was initiated in 1988 to promote the following: contextualized, job-specific instruction in basic skills; joint governance through partnerships between employers, education providers, and employee organizations; and attention to individual workers' needs. The NWLP's impact was examined through a national evaluation with two primary objectives: describe the implementation and institutionalization of workplace literacy programs and assess the effects that workplace literacy instruction has on participating workers. The research focused on three local and two state-level partnerships funded in 1994. The study's major conclusions were as follows: program effectiveness is associated with instructional time; implementation is aided by experience and state/local infrastructure; and institutionalization is associated with workplace incentives for employers. Appended are the following: overviews of the structure and operation of the five program sites studied in depth; detailed profiles of the five sites, review of efforts to develop applied performance assessments; profile of impact study design and implementation at three local sites; data on workers in the impact study; estimation of program impacts and effects of hours of instruction on worker outcomes; and data collection forms. (Contains 32 references and 19 tables/figures.) (MN)