World Schooling Responds to Request for Feedback on Digital Fairness Act

Drawing on many years of nationwide management within the grownup training and digital fairness area, World Schooling has been participating grownup training leaders and suppliers, immigrant service suppliers, and federal and state workplaces this previous yr to make sure the Digital Fairness Act of 2021 (DEA) will profit grownup learners. The overwhelming majority of grownup learners belong to a number of Lined Populations prioritized beneath the Digital Fairness Act, and grownup training methods have the experience, expertise, and connections to assist bridge the digital divide.

In response to the U.S. Division of Commerce’s Nationwide Telecommunications and Info Administration (NTIA) Request for Feedback (RFC) on the DEA, which included twenty-four questions overlaying all three DEA grant applications and the analysis of grantees and State Digital Fairness Plans, World Schooling submitted the next suggestions:

1. States ought to be sure that the general public remark intervals for his or her State Digital Fairness Plan drafts are absolutely accessible to communities by offering communications and inspiring participation in a wide range of codecs (paper/mail, cellphone, on-line, in-person) and languages (plain language, languages aside from English). States also needs to present clear, accessible summaries of their State Digital Fairness Plan and its targets and anticipated outcomes, together with how the plans will profit every of the Lined Populations and handle their obstacles to digital fairness.
2. States ought to decide to significant alternatives for engagement and partnerships with group stakeholders past the general public remark interval to permit for ongoing suggestions, evaluation, and proposals concerning State Digital Fairness Plan implementation and to make sure that implementation is conscious of the ever-evolving wants of Lined Populations.
3. NTIA ought to present steering and sources to States on designing, implementing, and sustaining a sturdy digital fairness ecosystem on the state and native ranges to strengthen and maintain the influence of State Digital Fairness Plans.
4. NTIA ought to set up reporting necessities and strategies for grantees that explicitly embrace soliciting and incorporating enter from these most impacted by the digital divide. For instance, grantees may present common progress reviews that embrace enter from group members, in addition to a abstract of how grantees solicited this enter and responded to it.
5. NTIA ought to think about shifting in the direction of a nationwide alignment of digital inclusion measures. To make sure fairness for all people, nevertheless, this standardization shouldn’t solely contain standardized testing or solely concentrate on employment or postsecondary enrollment. Lowering digital inclusion measures to standardized testing and employment and education-focused measures can drawback people from underrepresented and marginalized communities, who might have totally different wants, obstacles, and priorities with regard to digital fairness. As an alternative, it is very important think about the wide selection of things and indicators which might be significant and related to the communities being served.
6. To measure program effectiveness and results for Lined Populations, there’s a urgent want to deal with a number of information gaps, together with 1) a necessity for steering on the particular digital talent units required for various Lined Populations and different demographics and a couple of) an absence of analysis on educating and studying digital literacy with regard to totally different Lined Populations.
7. To advertise a baseline customary for digital literacy for all learners, NTIA ought to promote clear frameworks with outlined expertise progressions throughout totally different proficiency ranges and round related data, expertise, and attitudes. Moreover, for any requirements or frameworks promoted, NTIA also needs to present steering round addressing the differing expertise, wants, and attitudes of several types of learners.

Learn World Schooling’s full response to the Digital Fairness Act RFC.

As a nationwide chief within the grownup training area, World Schooling infuses digital fairness into all areas of our work, enabling everybody to thrive as learners, staff, and household and group members within the digital world. Be taught extra about our digital fairness work.

This weblog put up was revealed as a part of Remodeling Immigrant Digital Fairness (TIDE), a challenge of World Schooling. TIDE goals to serve grownup immigrant and refugee English language learners equitably and holistically educating and fascinating service suppliers, coverage makers, institutional decision-makers, and advocates for re-envisioning grownup training, digital fairness, and immigration on the nationwide, state, and native ranges. Entry TIDE’s DEA sources for grownup training leaders, suppliers, and advocates, and get in touch with Shirley Doan at shirley_doan@worlded.org in case you are excited by participating with us in DEA advocacy.