Education and Immigrant Integration in the United States and Canada

Two sets of facts associated with current levels and forms of immigration in the United States and Canada complicate its governance. First, immigration has grown sharply higher and immigrant origins have expanded enormously in both countries. Second, immigrant groups are branching out from the largest cities, which have had substantial experience with managing successive waves of internal and international migration, to smaller cities, suburban areas and, increasingly, rural communities. These places are less well prepared to adjust to the new influxes.

Managing integration well starts with the recognition that the overwhelming majority of immigrants make strong long-term contributions to the communities in which they settle. Each party to the processes discussed here, however, is operating with incomplete, and often erroneous, information about the other, and each continues to have a static understanding of itself in what are extremely dynamic environments.

This report looks at the education and immigrant integration efforts in both the United States and Canada. For too long, far too much energy—as policymakers, analysts, and citizens—has been devoted to immigration policies and the associated disagreements about who should be admitted, under what circumstances, and with what priorities in mind. This volume of essays discusses the investment needed in assisting newcomers to become members of their new communities. The themes discussed in these essays are suggestive of where to start and of the challenges ahead.