Action Step: Advocate for Immigrant Integration

It's time to contact your local legislators and Governor Jerry Brown and advocate for including immigrant integration as part of AEBG - the Adult Ed Block Grant. 

The challenges that the Trump administration have brought upon us have also brought a deeper understanding of the value of immigrants in California and the importance of supporting immigrant integration through Adult Education.

Both the California Immigrant Policy Center and CCAE - the California Council of Adult Education - are advocating for this important change to happen.  

Contact your local legislators and Governor Jerry Brown.  Explain to them why immigrant integration matters.

Here is information from the California Immigrant Policy Center and from CCAE about advocating for including immigrant integration into AEBG. 


California Immigrant Policy Center

Workforce Development & Adult Education

Administrative Advocacy & Budget Advocacy

 

CIPC is continuing our advocacy for equity within California’s adult education and workforce development programs and funding at a local and statewide level. In 2018, we are weighing in on budget proposals from adult education and workforce development stakeholders for increased employment training and services. These include adding “immigrant integration” metrics to the Adult Education Block Grant and funding the Breaking Barriers to Employment Act (AB 1111, 2017).

CIPC resource: Advancing Economic Opportunity for CA’s Immigrant & Refugee Workforce

 

 

 

California Immigrant Policy Center March 13th, 2018 Update

Update:  Governor Brown's 2018 Budget & New Proposals -

 

 

Adult Education & Workforce Development

Adult Education Block Grant -
The Adult Education Block Grant (AEBG) is an important source of state funding to programs and services that provide adults with the knowledge needed to be prepared for the workforce, such as English language courses, GED attainment, and vocational skills. These programs also support integration and inclusion outcomes for immigrants not seeking employment training but adult education services that support their engagement in community and civic life. This year’s budget continues to sustain the $500 million funding.

• Budget Proposal: A proposal from adult education stakeholders, the California Council for Adult Education and the California Adult Education Administrators Association, provides a two prong approach to advancing how AEBG funding reaches immigrant communities. The proposal would establish performance based funding that incentives the needs of communities with multiple barriers including limited English proficiency, poverty, and  lack of high school completion, and include “immigrant integration” as a reported outcome for state funding. CIPC will be working with stakeholders and the Legislature

Note:  CCAE - California Council for Adult Education - is recommending that Immigrant Integration metrics are incorporated into AEBG - the Adult Ed Block Grant.

Here is information from CCAE's FY 2018-19 Adult Ed Framework Priorities:
 

INCORPORATE IMMIGRANT INTEGRATION METRICS

Even as collaboration between the systems expands through regional consortium-building and AEBG, the K-12 community-based adult schools still have as their core mission to serve those low basic skills adults who oftentimes get caught in the remediation of post-secondary education. Additionally, the structural and cultural differences between the two systems have become more evident through this planning process and it is critical that the strengths of each be leveraged in ways that support student learning outcomes and appropriate levels of support services. The adult learners that are best served by K12 adult schools must not be left out.

  

- AEBG defines the specific outcomes sought – literacy and career progress.

- Serving immigrant adults in need of English language skills have been at the core of the K12 adult education mission since its inception. They come to adult schools to develop literacy, and in doing so, gain cultural competency and literacy more broadly defined as health, financial, digital literacy, parenting and family literacy, and civic engagement, all also critical to successful transition to college and careers.

 

- Unfortunately, the statute and overall AEBG framework does not explicitly provide for these types of immigrant integration metrics relative to demonstrating outcomes and accountability for student success.

 

- We are concerned that immigrant students who may not yet have the skills to demonstrate outcomes on the current statutory spectrum that focuses solely on literacy and career progress will be left behind as AEBG entities seek to focus on programming for those students for which clear outcomes and progress can be measured and for which funding may eventually be prioritized.

 

- The Alliance for Language Learners’ Integration, Education and Success (ALLIES) is an alliance serving the two-county Silicon Valley region of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Launched by a grant of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in 2010, mission of ALLIES is to advance regional economic and social health through high-impact alliances for immigrant educational and career success. Through this work, ALLIES developed an Immigrant Integration Pathway offering an innovative way to identify and measure the critical factors for successful immigrant integration. The pathway includes eight high-level goal areas that are then further broken down into approaches and supporting objectives. The goals are intended to be: o Used by individuals as well as service providers via common metrics that can help assess if an individual is progressing and/or practices are effective;

 

o Measurable qualitatively and quantitatively;

  

o Achievable with milestones under reasonable timeframes; and

o A tool for the immigrant to have ownership of their progress, with the ability to see how incremental gains are related to longer-term goals.¹

1 ALLIES Immigrant Integration Pathway Framework White Paper, 2017

https://www.allies4innovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Allies_WhitePaper_ImmigrantIntegrationFramework-hr.pdf

 

Using the ALLIES Framework, amend the AEBG statute to explicitly reference and include "immigrant integration metrics" under AEBG.

Amend Education Code Section 84920, as follows:

 

(a) To the extent that one-time funding is made available in the Budget Act of 2015, consistent with the provisions of Section 84917, the chancellor and the Superintendent shall identify common measures for determining the effectiveness of members of each consortium in meeting the educational needs of adults. At a minimum, the chancellor and the Superintendent shall accomplish both of the following:

(1) Define the specific data each consortium shall collect.

(2) Establish a menu of common assessments and policies regarding placement of adults seeking education and workforce services into adult education programs to be used by each consortium to measure educational needs of adults and the effectiveness of providers in addressing those needs.

(b) No later than August 1, 20178, the chancellor and the Superintendent shall report to the Director of Finance, the State Board of Education, and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on options for integrating the assessments described in subdivision (a) into the common assessment system developed pursuant to Section 78219. The report shall address compliance of the assessments with federal and state funding requirements for adult education programs, identify estimated costs

   and timelines for the assessments, and identify changes in policies that may be needed to avoid duplicate assessments.

(c) It is the intent of the Legislature that both of the following occur:

(1) That the educational needs of adults in the state be better identified and understood through better sharing of data across state agencies.

(2) That, at a minimum, the chancellor and the Superintendent shall enter into agreements to share data related to effectiveness of the consortia between their agencies and with other state agencies, including, but not necessarily limited to, the Employment Development Department and the California Workforce Investment Board.

(d) The chancellor and the Superintendent shall identify, no later than January 1, 2016 August 1, 2018, the measures for assessing the effectiveness of consortia that will be used in the report that is required pursuant to Section 84917. These measures shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, all of the following:

(1) How many adults are served by members of the consortium.

(2) How many adults served by members of the consortium have demonstrated the following, as applicable:

(A) Immigrant integration.

(B) Improved literacy skills.

(BC) Completion of high school diplomas or their recognized equivalents.

(CD) Completion of postsecondary certificates, degrees, or training programs.

(DE) Placement into jobs.

(EF) Improved wages.

(e) The chancellor and the Superintendent shall apportion the funds appropriated for purposes of this section in the Budget Act of 2015 in accordance with both of the following:

(1) Eighty-five percent of these funds shall be used for grants to consortia to establish systems or obtain data necessary to submit any reports or data required pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 84917.

(2) Fifteen percent of these funds shall be used for grants for development of statewide policies and procedures related to data collection or reporting or for technical assistance to consortia, or both.



(f) The chancellor and the Superintendent shall provide any guidance to the consortia necessary to support the sharing of data included in systems established by consortia pursuant to this section across consortia.



Here's an example of a very successful program which cultivates immigrant integration.

 
 

Civic Success: San Mateo Adult School ESL City Government Academy

An example of immigrant integration in action at San Mateo Adult School, a K-12 Adult School:

New San Mateo Program Educates Immigrants About Local Government
News Desk, March 19th, 2018

From the City of San Mateo: A diverse group of immigrants are getting an exclusive look at critical city services as part of the new English as a Second Language (ESL) City Government Academy. The City of San Mateo, in partnership with the San Mateo Adult School of the San Mateo Union High School District, recently launched the program to educate this new segment of the community about how local government works and to empower them to be able to access available resources and programs provided by the City. This first class of 25 students hail from 10 different countries.
The four-month program, which began in January, aims to expand participants' awareness of local government, and increase civic engagement, leadership and volunteerism.

"Our key goal is for participants to feel empowered and comfortable accessing City services," said City Manager Larry Patterson, who championed the program's inception. "We are particularly excited to be energizing a new segment of our community to become more civically engaged."
The program is the brainchild of Stephanie Kriebel, an educator who is herself a graduate of San Mateo's traditional City Services Academy.

"As an ESL teacher at San Mateo Adult School, I saw an opportunity for us to help bridge the immigrant community we serve with City services to help familiarize our students with what the City does, how it helps the community, and what opportunities lie within the City for them to pursue," Kriebel said.

Academy participants have an opportunity to meet with City staff and learn about local government while also garnering concrete knowledge and skills to empower them in their everyday lives, such as learning how to operate a fire extinguisher and register for a recreation class. For some, even visiting City facilities is novel. For others, the impact of participating in the Academy runs far deeper.
"I honestly think I'm so lucky to live in San Mateo because the City of San Mateo organizes so many events and programs for the community. I come from Guatemala originally, and these kinds of programs help me integrate into the community here. Now I have lots of things I can do," said program participant Edwin Turuy.

Program days include visits to San Mateo's Fire Station 23, Beresford Recreation Center and Park, Police Station, Wastewater Treatment Plant, and City Hall. Future cohorts will also have the opportunity to visit the San Mateo Public Library. The pilot program culminates with a graduation ceremony April 19, 2018.

Photos courtesy of the City of San Mateo (ESL students learn how to operate a fire extinguisher during a tour of a San Mateo fire station.)

Kristen Pursley: LAO Adult Education Analysis 2018-2019

From Kristen Pursley's Save Your Adult School blog:

LAO Adult Education Analysis 2018-19

The California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) recently issued an Adult Education Analysis as part of the 2018-2019 budget process. A link to the report is here: http://www.lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/3752

The report recommends eight changes to the adult education system in California. Some of the recommendations are intriguing, others problematic. Just for fun, I’m going to rate them on the following scale:

YES    YES,BUT   PROCEED WITH CAUTION NEED MORE INFORMATION   NO

Here are the recommendations and their Save Your Adult School ratings:

1. The adoption of a student ID number that could be used to identify students in both the adult school and community college systems  PROCEED WITH CAUTION
2. A uniform funding rate for community colleges and adult schools NEED MORE INFORMATION
3. The elimination of course fees or adoption of a single “nominal” charge ELIMINATION YES,BUT “NOMINAL” CHARGE NO!
4. A requirement that entities other than adult schools and community colleges that provide adult education (such as libraries) participate in the regional consortia NEED MORE INFORMATION
5. A portion of state funding for adult education to be based on performance NO
6. Align assessment and placement policies for community colleges and adult schools YES
7. No longer require adult school instructors to get a teaching credential, so that any holder of a bachelor’s degree will be qualified to teach adult school NO
8. Restrict credit instruction at community colleges to college-level coursework YES

Before we look at the individual recommendations and their possible consequences, let us take a look at the pedigree of the LAO report itself. There are two things to keep in mind.

Hit the link to read the rest of the post.

Immigrant Integration - Make It Part of AEBG

Immigrant integration! What do you know about it?

How do you talk about it? Where and how is it discussed in your consortium? Is it integrated into your consortium's plans for the future?

Are you including immigrant voices in your discussion of and planning for? Are you including adult learner voices in your discussion of and planning for?

These are pivotal questions as we continue to shape and refine the new form that Adult Education is taking post catastrophic cuts and closures and into the narrowed mission, workforce-focused Regional Consortia system. 

Is the new form okay?  Does it need tweaking?  Now - in budget season and while there is money to spend - is the time to look at what we have and where it can be improved to better serve the people of California.

Thank you to Bob Harper and Usha Narayanan - who presented on this topic at the CCAE Bay Conference on Saturday, March 3rd in the "ALLIES and the Immigrant Integration Framework" workshop.

To better understand the idea of immigrant integration, why it's valuable, and how it can become a powerful and empowering part of our work as consortia, check out this excellent slideshow created by Bob Harper, Ilse Pollet and Pat Rickard.

Click on this link to see the slideshow: http://www.caeaa.org/conf2018/conf4.pdf  

(Or scroll through the small but better than nothing screen shots of the slide show (below) - screenshot because the slide show is a pdf and jpg's are what are needed for images on Blogger.)

Important Note:  Incorporating immigrant integration metrics into the Adult Ed Block Grant is one of CCAE's asks of the Legislature and Governor Brown in this budget season. Learn more about CCAE's legislative and advocacy work here: https://www.ccaestate.org/legislative-news.