America's Languages in the 21st Century: The National Commission and what WVFTLA Can Do to Advocate for Foreign Language Instruction Bill Rivers, Joint National Committee for Languages WVFLTA Fall Conference October 17, 2015 WVSU, Institute, WV

Overview Federal Programs and funding in 2015 JNCL-NCLIS Advocacy Strategy Global Talent The Commission on Language Learning of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences What YOU can do!

Programs & Funding FLAP: No action in FY 16; still at zero in the USED budget request Title VI/Fulbright-Hays: $4m increase in the USED budget request; STARTALK – level funded NSEP: level funded – Flagship – K-12 Partnerships As always: we may have a Continuing Resolution (everything at FY14 levels) or an Omnibus or a shutdown. THEREFORE: vitally important to keep sending our message to the Hill on the importance of language and the need for these programs

JNCL-NCLIS Congressional Strategy Focus on AAAS study: Focus on programs funded by security agencies, as national security funding is likely to increase – STARTALK – Flagship/NSEP – DLIFLC Maintain pressure on USED: FLAP, Title VI/F-H Seal of Biliteracy Continue developing strong relationships in the White House and business sector Continue to make the case for language as a vital component of responsible 21 st Century citizenship – FL & STEM ( – FL & Educational, cognitive benefits ( content/uploads/2014/06/Language-Immersion-can-Close-Achievement-Gaps.pdf) content/uploads/2014/06/Language-Immersion-can-Close-Achievement-Gaps.pdf – FL & jobs (

The Global Talent Program Globalization & Localization Association Task Force on Global Talent (GTP): – Google, Cisco, eBay, Twitter, Microsoft, Marriott, ManPower, JNCL- NCLIS; Chair – Bill Rivers, JNCL-NCLIS Invitation to participate in Michigan State University’s annual Recruiting Trends Survey: recruiting-trends/ recruiting-trends/ Pilot survey in March 2014 with GALA Module on cultural & linguistic capital in Summer, 2014 survey – mid ( workers) and large (>500 workers) size businesses – Their hiring plans for spring 2015 semester – Focus on entry level positions, requirements, perceived gaps n = 2101 (2008: 90,386 mid-size and 18,469 large businesses in the US. US Census Bureau, 2010) Survey repeated in October 2015 – results to come

Global Talent Survey: Preliminary Results 33% of US mid and large size companies have international operations and/or serve multilingual/multicultural clientele 11% actively seek recruits with FL skills 93% seek “employees who can show they are able to work effectively with customers, clients, and businesses from a range of different countries and cultures.” 64% seek employees with multicultural experience 49% seek employees with overseas experience 55% track employee FL skills 35% give advantage to multilingual candidates 21% report difficulty in managing and integrating diverse teams due to a lack of global talent 14% report a loss of business opportunities due to a lack of FL skills Top business skills in demand for initial hires with Global Talent: sales, customer service, project management 69% of respondents believe that higher education must do more to prepare students with Global Talent Video: deos/report_importance_of_global_talent_within_international_businesses deos/report_importance_of_global_talent_within_international_businesses

American Academy of Arts and Sciences & Language AAAS – founded in 1780 by John Adams, John Hancock, John Bowdoin Oldest US honorary zcademy 2013: The Heart of the Matter – Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences; – Requested by Congress in – participant in the Languages for All summit 2014 –request from Congress to AAAS to assess the impact of language on the national interest ( – First broad based, Congressionally requested study since 1978 (“Perkins Commission”) New commission will work for a year to assess the impact of FL on education, global security, economic growth, and social justice, and hen spend a second year proselytizing Stay Tuned for More! – PR opportunities throughout the commission’s work; public hearings – Senior commissioners who will speak out on language – Coherent agenda for 2016 and beyond – Congressional interest after the publishing of the report in 2016

Looking forward: AAAS Commission on Language Learning Commission announced July 31, Chair: Dr. Paul LeClerc, former CEO, NYPL and former president, CUNY-Hunter Members as of 9/30/15 (* denotes a fellow of AAAS): – Dr. Dan Davidson, President, American Councils for International Education – Ms. Marty Abbott, Executive Director, ACTFL – Dr. Rosemary Feal, Executive Director, MLA – Amb. Karl Eikenberry*, LTG, USA (ret.), Stanford University – Dr. Pauline Yu*, President, American Council of Learned Societies – Dr. Nicholas Dirks*, Chancellor, University of California (Berkeley) – Ms. Jessie Little Doe Baird, Wôpanâak Nation – Dr. Mark Aronoff*, SUNY-Stonybrook Dept. of Linguistics – Dr. Phil Rubin, Haskins Lab – Hon. Diane Wood*, Chief Judge, US Court of Appeals, 7 th Circuit – Dr. Carol Gluck*, Columbia University – Dr. Hunter Rawlings*, American Association of Universities – Amb. Nancy McEldowney, Foreign Service Institute – Marta Tienda*, Princeton University More have been/will be invited 3 public meetings of the full commission Additional subcommittee meetings Invited testimony (oral & written)

What can you do? Make your class and program the best it can be! Engage in continual professional development – – WVFLTA – ACTFL – Your language organization Let us know how we can help: – Nevada, Indiana, Virginia, Maryland Seals of Bilteracy; Rhode Island Language Commission; Indiana – Dual Language Immersion bill Sign up for our newsbrief & policy alerts at Work with the ACTFL state teams: Write to your Congress members when we send a policy alert! Come to Language Advocacy Days (February 25-26)

LANGUAGE ADVOCACY DAYS February 25-26, Washington, DC embership/2016-language- advocacy-day-registration/

Contact Bill Rivers,