Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education (IELCE) Resources
Integrated English literacy and civics education, or IELCE, is defined in WIOA as education services provided to English language learners who are adults, including professionals with degrees and credentials in their native countries, that enable such adults to achieve competency in the English language and acquire the basic and more advanced skills needed to function effectively as parents, workers, and citizens in the United States. Such services shall include instruction in literacy and English language acquisition, the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and civic participation, and may include workforce training.
IELCE is used in two distinct ways: it may be provided as an activity under Section 231, or it may also be implemented as a program under Section 243 with funds allocated as described in Section 243.
The IELCE program under Section 243 carries additional requirements beyond those that an eligible provider must meet in implementing IELCE as a local activity under Section 231. First, it must include an integrated education and training (IET) component. Additionally, each program that receives funding under Section 243 must be designed to:
- Prepare adults who are English language learners for, and place such adults
in, unsubsidized employment in in-demand industries and occupations that lead to economic self sufficiency; and - Integrate with the local workforce development system and its functions to
carry out the activities of the program.
Note that services described in Section 243 IELCE programs are for English language learners at all NRS levels, including ESL, ABE, and ASE.
IELCE Program Guide: This Guide is intended to be used as a self-assessment in your development or review of an IELCE program. The requirements are followed by review questions. The review questions will help you determine if all required components as set forth in Subpart G of the regulations are included in your program’s design.
The following resources provide guidance on implementing IELCE activities and programming as well as supporting learners and providing wrap around services.
LINCS Enhancing Access for Refugees and New Americans Project
This resource provides information on the federal EARN project as well as tips and strategies that adult education programs in Virginia are using to enhance access to refugees and new Americans on the state and program level.
The National EARN Project
“The Enhancing Access for Refugees and New Americans project provides resources and technical assistance to adult education state agency staff, local programs, and instructors who serve or are aiming to serve English learners in Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education (IELCE) programming and are interested in using an immigrant integration approach. Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) requirements offer IELCE programs opportunity to support learners’ linguistic, economic, and civic integration needs.” (LINCS)
The Enhancing Access for Refugees and New Americans (EARN) project launched a spotlight series focused on critical topics within Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education (IELCE)/Integrated Education and Training (IET) implementation.
- Enhancing Access: Using Bridge Strategies to Connect IELCE Activities to IET Programs: Bridge strategies are one approach to delivering IELCE activities in combination with IET programs. This spotlight describes how states, regions, and programs are using bridge strategies to prepare learners in IELCE activities for IET programs. EARN also has released a video highlighting how one program, Montgomery College in Maryland, connects IELCE and IET programming and contextualizes civics content in IELCE activities to prepare learners for the IET program.
- The Role of Navigators in IELCE/IET Career Pathways: Career navigators and advisors help English learners and immigrants navigate complex U.S. systems and access services to help support their integration into U.S. society. This spotlight explores potential actions for navigators to take as they support English learners along an IELCE/IET career pathway.
- Serving Refugees in IELCE Activities: Refugees and New Americans face unique challenges in acclimating to the United States, from gaining English language proficiency to successfully navigating American systems and entering careers with family-sustaining wages. This spotlight highlights strategies in serving refugees in adult education programming and IELCE.
- Using Multilingual Approaches to Support English Language Acquisition: A multilingual approach offers instructional strategies to supplement instruction in English and support English language acquisition. Multilingual approaches allow learners to access their full linguistic repertoire for the purposes of accelerating their English proficiency.
- Expanding the Use of Online Resources in IELCE Activities to Support Immigrant Integration and Inclusion: This guide offers tips and guidance for program administrators and instructors on using virtual learning strategies for serving ELs, especially in the Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education (IELCE) context. This guide also describes how programs can leverage online resources for IELCE instruction to support immigrant integration and inclusion, as defined in the next section.
- Supporting the Economic Integration of Adult Learners with Emerging Literacy Skills : Many immigrants, including those with emerging literacy skills, are already working and contributing to the U.S. economy and their own households. Others need support building the relevant skills to help them obtain employment and navigate economic systems. Adult education programming funded under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act can utilize Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education (IELCE) and Integrated Education and Training (IET) activities to support immigrants’ broader economic integration.
- Serving Internationally-Trained Professionals in IELCE Activities: ITPs frequently attend adult education programs; they often take English language acquisition classes or participate in IELCE activities. This spotlight shares promising practices that states, programs, and individual practitioners can use to support ITPs in applying their assets, skills, and credentials to achieve economic integration. Many of these practices support ITPs as they navigate career pathways, especially those that include IELCE and Integrated Education and Training (IET) activities.
- Civic Integration Resources – Civics in the Adult Education Classroom and Contextualizing Civics for the Workplace: The rights and responsibilities of citizenship and civic participation are critical components of civic integration and a key component of IELCE. IELCE instruction in this topic can include information about documentation and citizenship preparation as well as community engagement more broadly, such as through topics like navigating community services and achieving a more digitally equitable future. These resources highlight how IELCE activities can support civics education and deliver citizenship and civic participation services.
This LINCS website provides more information on the national EARN project.
Enhancing Access for Refugees and New Americans in Virginia
The following webinar recording contains strategies for how adult education programs in Virginia are utilizing robust partnerships, providing access to sustaining career pathways, and engaging diverse learners in order to enhance access for and support the linguistic, civic, and economic integration of refugees and new Americans.
Please reach out to VALRC for support on implementing these or other strategies for enhancing access to refugees and new Americans through adult education services or to share your strategies for these efforts by sending us an email at [email protected].
Supporting English Language Learners in IELCE/IET Programs
This section of the IET Blueprint website provides practitioners with guidance, strategies, and resources for supporting English language learners in IELCE programs.
The guidance, information, and support presented in this resource is based on VALRC’s Supporting ELLs in IELCE Programs survey that was conducted in the 2020-2021 program year.
Integrated Civics Instruction
According to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), civics education is an integral component of adult education services and includes instruction related to rights and responsibilities of citizenship and civic participation.
This Civics Instruction resource on the VALRC website provides further information on and resources to support civics instruction.
The materials and resources listed on this website are for use with either a Section 231 IELCE activity or a Section 243 IELCE program.
These videos provide a technical assistance overview of IET programs which includes an overview of IELCE programs as well a specific technical assistance related to IELCE Section 243 programs.
This is a lesson plan template that can be used to track and document the use of required IELCE components in the classroom.
When evaluating or developing curriculum for use in an IELCE program, use this checklist to assess the alignment between the curriculum and the required instructional components of IELCE programs.
ELL-U was a free professional development network for ESOL practitioners. The resources developed through this federally-funded initiative were designed to broaden, deepen, and strengthen the knowledge and skills of educators working with adult ELLs. The following are available via this resource: online courses, learning plans, and professional development materials.
This website from the Office of Refugee Resettlement provides a variety of resources related to refugees integrating into the American workforce system and providing workforce/employment services to refugees.
This brief highlights three instructional approaches—task-based learning, problem-based learning, and project based learning—and a classroom-based assessment.
This webinar, presented by Standards In Action, presents strategies and examples for implementing standards based instruction with English language learners.