National Skills Coalition Calls for Strong Investments In Skills to Accompany Comprehensive Immigration Reform

/ The Old Crank

Recently I had the opportunity to work with the National Skills Coalition (NSC) on developing a proposal to significantly expand federal investment in adult education and training as part of comprehensive immigration reform (CIR). Most of us who work in adult education or workforce development think it’s likely that CIR will cause a significant increase in demand for adult education—not just by currently undocumented immigrants seeking to learn English, but also for many U.S. citizens and legal residents in the current workforce who will be under increasing pressure to upgrade their skills in response to the labor market changes that CIR will produce. Our report, Comprehensive Immigration Reform: A Proposal for a Skills Strategy that Supports Economic Growth and Opportunity, was released earlier this week.

NSC is, naturally, very employment-focused in their view of adult education. What I think is unique about this proposal, and something I’m particularly proud of, is how we attempted to outline an overarching strategy that recognizes the need for an integrated approach to meeting this likely growth in demand. So, for example, the report calls for expanding English language learning for all immigrants while investing more in integrated basic skills and vocational training for the existing workforce—and to do it in a systematic way that leverages the adult education system we have now.

The report also proposes to accomplish this within the framework of the current Senate immigration reform legislation, but without increasing the overall cost of the bill.

It was a pleasure to work with NSC on this proposal. If you have any comments or questions about it, I’d love to hear from you.

New Study Links Poor Math Skills with Higher Rate of Mortgage Default

/ The Old Crank

A new study has just been released that links poor math skills with a higher rate of mortgage default. The media have picked up on the report, with many going so far as to declare poor math skills as the cause of the subprime mortgage disaster. Here’s an example, from the Wall Street Journal:

A sudden increase in the number of subprime mortgage defaults helped push the economy into a deep global recession in 2008. Economists have offered intricate explanations for what caused it. A new study suggests that it might have been as simple as not being able to perform basic math calculations. (my emphasis)

Simpler than trying to figure out those more intricate economic explanations, at least.

Light blogging (probably) this week and next while I (continue to) take some time off.

Immigration Reform Update

/ The Old Crank

(Updated Below)

According to The Hill, the Senate will vote Monday on ending debate on an amendment offered Sen.  Leahy (D-VT) to the Senate immigration bill that bundles together a border security deal worked out by Sens. Bob Corker (R-TN) and John Hoeven (R-ND) with some other changes. I took a quick look at the amendment this morning (and you can too—here is the text), and, not surprisingly, the changes proposed by Sen. Rubio to the English requirement in the bill—or any of the other English language amendments offered so far—did not make it into this “omnibus”amendment.

That doesn’t mean that it still might not be offered, (I have no idea right now) but now that a border security deal has been struck, there is a big push to get this bill passed without further controversy by the end of the week, just before Senators leave for the July 4th recess.

Interestingly, the Corker-Hoeven deal isn’t just about border security: it includes a new Title, Title V, that creates a $1.5 billion “Jobs for Youth” program proposed by Sen. Sanders (I-VT). (See page 1183.)

UPDATE 06/24/13: Noah Bierman, in a story in today’s Boston Globe, confirms that the Rubio amendment is dead for now, but notes that a similar proposal will surely re-emerge at some point in the House:

Rubio’s proposal to require an English-language proficiency test earlier in the path to citizenship for illegal immigrants suffered a setback Friday, after Senate leaders did not include it in an agreement on another amendment to beef up border security.

But the issue of mandatory English testing and classes is expected to be raised again in the House, where the Republican majority has been chillier to an immigration overhaul that would allow a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

New Alert on English Amendments

/ The Old Crank

A few posts ago I pulled out all the amendments related to English proficiency offered to the Senate immigration bill, and I’ve been focusing on the one that I think has the most liklihood of passage: the amendment submitted by Sen. Rubio discussed here.

Here’s a new one: Sen. Fischer (R-NE) has introduced what she is referring to as an  “assimilation amendment” that would require undocumented immigrants to demonstrate English language proficiency prior to even registering for provisional  status. In other words, an undocumented immigrant who could not demonstrate English proficiency would not be allowed to attain legal status of any kind at all. Here is the text of the amendment.

I think this has a low likelihood of passage, but that doesn’t mean, if you are concerned about it, that you shouldn’t contact your Senator. Helpfully, TESOL has just issued an alert on both the Rubio and Fischer amendments:

http://capwiz.com/tesol/callalert/index.tt?alertid=62737906