Adult Education & Language Learning

The adult education system plays a critical role in building the human capital of immigrants who have limited host-country language proficiency, as well as for those who lack a high school diploma or equivalent. Adult education also has the potential to serve as an on-ramp to postsecondary education and jobs paying a family-sustaining wage. And language learning represents a key integration challenge, with such skills necessary for effective functioning in the community and the workforce. Against the backdrop of great need for adult education and language programs are issues of capacity and replication of successful models.

Recent Activity

Policy Briefs October 2023 Leveraging Data to Ensure Equitable and Effective Adult Skills Programming for Immigrants By Jacob Hofstetter and Margie McHugh	Articles March 21, 2023 Can Czechia Capitalize on High-Skilled Immigration amid Influx of Ukrainians? By Lucie Macková and Nikola Medová
Policy Briefs March 2023 Recommendations for the Task Force on New Americans By Margie McHugh, Jacob Hofstetter, Jeanne Batalova, Michael Fix, Valerie Lacarte, Maki Park, Delia Pompa and Julie Sugarman	Reports June 2022 The COVID-19 Catalyst: Learning from Pandemic-Driven Innovations in Immigrant Integration Policy By Jasmijn Slootjes
Reports February 2022 The IELCE Program: Understanding Its Design and Challenges in Meeting Immigrant Learners’ Needs By Jacob Hofstetter and Alexis Cherewka	Multimedia April 21, 2021 Disparities Facing U.S. Children in Immigrant Families: New Data and Ideas for Indicators to Promote Equity
Fact Sheets April 2021 Immigrant and U.S.-Born Parents of Young and Elementary-School-Age Children: Key Sociodemographic Characteristics By Jacob Hofstetter and Margie McHugh	Articles September 3, 2020 The Digital Divide Hits U.S. Immigrant Households Disproportionately during the COVID-19 Pandemic By Alexis Cherewka

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Policy Briefs October 2023 Leveraging Data to Ensure Equitable and Effective Adult Skills Programming for Immigrants By Jacob Hofstetter and Margie McHugh	Policy Briefs March 2023 Recommendations for the Task Force on New Americans By Margie McHugh, Jacob Hofstetter, Jeanne Batalova, Michael Fix, Valerie Lacarte, Maki Park, Delia Pompa and Julie Sugarman
Reports June 2022 The COVID-19 Catalyst: Learning from Pandemic-Driven Innovations in Immigrant Integration Policy By Jasmijn Slootjes	Reports February 2022 The IELCE Program: Understanding Its Design and Challenges in Meeting Immigrant Learners’ Needs By Jacob Hofstetter and Alexis Cherewka
Fact Sheets April 2021 Immigrant and U.S.-Born Parents of Young and Elementary-School-Age Children: Key Sociodemographic Characteristics By Jacob Hofstetter and Margie McHugh	Reports May 2020 European Cities on the Front Line: New and Emerging Governance Models for Migrant Inclusion By Liam Patuzzi
Reports January 2020 Beyond Work: Reducing Social Isolation for Refugee Women and Other Marginalized Newcomers By Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan	Reports December 2019 Integrating Refugees and Asylum Seekers into the German Economy and Society: Empirical Evidence and Policy Objectives By Herbert Brücker, Philipp Jaschke and Yuliya Kosyakova

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Feature

March 21, 2023

Can Czechia Capitalize on High-Skilled Immigration amid Influx of Ukrainians?

High-skilled immigration represents a potential major benefit to Czechia, which has undergone rapid economic growth since the transition from communism. The arrival of hundreds of thousands of new Ukrainians, many of whom are well educated, marks a moment for the country to re-evaluate its integration policies, as this article details.

Feature

September 3, 2020

The Digital Divide Hits U.S. Immigrant Households Disproportionately during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the effects of the so-called digital divide for U.S. immigrants and other groups with reduced online connectivity. Internet access and the skills to navigate digital environments have become even more critical for work, education, and health care during the public-health crisis, yet immigrants make up a disproportionately large share of U.S. residents unable to take advantage of these tools.

Students and Reading _JMH5036 (1) US Dept of Ed Flickr

Spotlight

November 11, 2016

Language Diversity and English Proficiency in the United States

Although the number of U.S. residents who speak a language other than English has grown in recent decades, the share of those who are Limited English Proficient (LEP) has fallen: 40 percent in 2015, compared to 44 percent in 1980—even as immigration rose rapidly. This article examines growing linguistic diversity in the country and sketches a profile of the LEP population, including size, location, and socioeconomic characteristics.

Spotlight

April 14, 2016

Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States

Get all the latest and historical facts and figures on immigrants and immigration in the United States in this handy resource. With immigration often surfacing in public and political debates, learn the answers to such questions as: How do current immigration flows compare to earlier ones? How many unauthorized immigrants live in the United States? How many refugees are admitted annually? And get answers to many more questions.

YoungImmigrantLineUp1 WBEZPeterHolderness Flickr

Feature

August 13, 2015

Origin and Community: Asian and Latin American Unauthorized Youth and U.S. Deportation Relief

This article explores differences in application and renewal rates for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program among unauthorized immigrants from Latin America and Asia. Based on interviews with immigrant advocates and service providers, it appears participation in the deportation relief program may be different among origin groups based on varying perceptions of lack of trust in government and shame over legal status, as well as political barriers.

This Migration Policy Institute Europe webinar examines possible scenarios for how social, economic, and technological trends could affect jobs, labor market policy, education and social policies, and migrant integration. Speakers also explored the potential of coding schools for refugees to help alleviate skills shortages and provide a pathway to work.

Recent Activity

Policy Briefs

August 2017

The Education and Work Profiles of the DACA Population

The future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is uncertain, amid skepticism from the Trump administration about its merits and the promise of legal challenge from ten state attorneys general. This issue brief presents a profile of young adults eligible for DACA in terms of their educational attainment and labor force participation, as well as what is at stake should the program be terminated.

Reports

March 2017

Strengthening Local Education Systems for Newly Arrived Adults and Children: Empowering Cities through Better Use of EU Instruments

This MPI Europe report examines the challenges that cities across the European Union are facing when helping new arrivals access education and training, including limited funding and need for better monitoring of program outcomes. It also highlights innovative ways municipalities support newly arrived migrants as they enter the education system and local labor force, including two-generation and co-located services as well as "whole-place" approaches.

Video, Audio, Webinars

February 28, 2017

Reducing Integration Barriers Facing Foreign-Trained Immigrants: Policy and Practice Lessons from Across the United States

Marking the release of a report on the barriers foreign-trained high-skilled immigrants face in the United States, this webinar examines programs and initiatives that assist with credential recognition, employment, and relicensure, as well as recent policy developments. Discussants review recommendations for community-based organizations, employers, and policymakers to expand successful efforts aimed at preventing brain waste.

Video, Audio

January 27, 2017

Hanging in the Balance: The Future of DACA and the Dreamers

As the Trump administration assumes office and the DACA program faces an uncertain future, University of California President Janet Napolitano; Donald Graham, cofounder of TheDream.Us; and Ike Brannon, Visiting Fellow at the CATO Institute join MPI's Doris Meissner for a discussion on the possible impacts of rescinding DACA, particularly in the areas of higher education, philanthropy, and the economy.

Commentaries

December 2016

New Data Resources Can Help Improve Targeting of State Early Childhood and Parent-Focused Programs

As states work to build high-quality early childhood systems and implement the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), having detailed knowledge of the characteristics of immigrant parents can help maximize the effectiveness of programs that seek to improve child and family outcomes, as this commentary explains.

Fact Sheets

December 2016

State Sociodemographic Portraits of Immigrant and U.S.-Born Parents of Young Children

These fact sheets provide a sociodemographic sketch of parents with children ages 0 to 8 in the 30 states with the largest number of immigrant families, offering data and analysis of some of the key parental characteristics to help stakeholders identify populations that could be targets for early childhood and parent-focused programs working to improve child and parent outcomes.

Video, Audio

December 7, 2016

Doctors as Taxi Drivers: The Costs of Brain Waste among Highly Skilled Immigrants in the United States

A presentation of the first-ever U.S. estimates on the economic costs of brain waste for highly skilled immigrants, their families, and the U.S. economy. The researchers discuss their findings in terms of the billions of dollars in forgone earnings and unrealized taxes when college-educated immigrants are relegated to low-skilled work.

Video, Expert Q&A

December 6, 2016

Brain Waste: Researchers Discuss Economic Costs of Skill Underutilization among Highly Skilled Immigrants

Nearly 2 million college-educated immigrants in the United States are stuck in low-skilled jobs or are unemployed—a phenomenon known as brain waste. In this brief video, MPI researchers discuss their key findings on immigrant skill underutilization and the resulting billions of dollars in unrealized wages and forgone federal, state, and local tax receipts.

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