Assignment 5:

Overlooked and Underserved: Immigrant Students in U.S. Secondary Schools

Jorge Ruiz de Velasco, Michael E. Fix, Beatriz Chu Clewell.

http://www.urban.org/publications/310022.html 

“These earlier studies have also suggested the importance of focusing greater attention on the educational needs of older(middle and high school-age) limited English proficient (LEP) immigrants and on the challenges facing the high-poverty secondary schools in which they are found.

1993, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported the creation of a program of local demonstration projects focused on immigrant secondary education that addressed some of these challenges.

The projects name PRIME-Program in Immigrant Education.

Two Subpopulations of immigrant children of immigrant children that pose special challenges to secondary schools but have received little attention:

1)   Immigrant teens who arrive in the U.S. school system with significant gaps in their schooling. Many of these children are not fully literate in their native language, much less in English.

2)   Students from language minority homes who have been in U.S. schools longer, but have yet to master basic language and literacy skills. While these students may be orally proficient in English, their reading and writing skills lag those of their students counterparts.

Challenges for the program:

·      Lack in staff

·      Organization

·      System of accountability

http://eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED438727.pdf 

Understanding the Needs

Who is the student?

Profiles of 6 Immigrant Students ( from Brazil, El Salvador, Haiti, Mexico, Russia, and Vietnam)- their educational backgrounds and language

proficiencies, and challenges faced in school.

Factors that shape the need of these students

Social Cultural and Development

“First and second-generation immigrant children are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population under age 15.”

·      In 1997 one out of five elementary and secondary school students had a foreign-born parents.

·      3.2 million LEP students nationwide in 1998

·      With the increase of Immigrant students in different stages of learning English, there has been an increasing number of students needing extra academic instruction in addition to ESL classes.

·      The majority of K-12 public schools have lived in only five states- California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Texas

·      Factors that contribute to that affect immigrant students’ adjustment to U.S. schooling and their success in the transition form adolescence to adulthood. Including individual and family characteristics

o      Socioeconomic status and previous academic achievement, language proficiencies (both native language and English), the similarities and differences between their native countries and cultures and the United States, their immigration experiences and status, and the contexts in which they live in the Unites States.

·      “ The demographic realities described above are cause for serious concern, and many educators believe that the education system believe that the education system in the United States is poorly prepared to meet the needs of its linguistically and culturally diverse student population.”

·      Drop out rates are higher among language-minority secondary school students.

o      Hispanic students are more likely than white students to leave

·      New Concepts and new challenges: Progessional Development for Teachers of Immigrant Youth by Josue M. Gonzalez and Linda Darling-Hammond

o      Most classroom teachers do not receive special training in these areas.

Crossing the Schoolhouse Border: immigrant Students and the California Public Schools. A California Tomorrow Policy Research Report.

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED295779&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED295

779

“Detailed interviews with immigrant students in the California school system indicate that the schools are not meeting the challenge of providing these students with an education adequate to prepare them to be productive members of American society. The first section presents demographic data and background information on immigrant children and their immigration experience. The second section reviews the content and structure of school programs, describes the school experience of immigrant children, and presents data on the achievement and school success of immigrant students. The final section offers suggestions for steps to be taken at the state, local, school site, and community levels to create a more adequate school experience for immigrant children. Appendices include the interview guide used in this study and a bibliography with 134 references. (SKW)” 

Educating Immigrant Students. What We Need to Know to Meet the Challenges.

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED416276&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED416276

“The shortcomings and assets of existing knowledge about educating immigrant students and their implications for serving immigrant populations traditionally underserved in U.S. public schools are addressed. How immigration interacts with race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, social class, and residential location is explored through current information on immigrants, the conceptualization of racial and ethnic socialization for immigrant children, and studying the educational experiences of immigrants. The first four chapters are an overview of factors and issues in immigration in the United States. They summarize the most current information on the socioeconomic, demographic, linguistic, and educational characteristics of U.S. immigrant children. The next two chapters examine the racial and ethnic identity reconstruction of immigrant minority children and its implications for their schooling. The following three chapters describe the different groups of people dominating current immigration, discussing groups by areas of geographic origin. Chapter 10 provides a brief review and summary to make recommendations and consider implications for policy and practice. The chapters are titled: (1) "Immigration and Schooling in the United States"; (2) "Families and Communities"; (3) "Overcoming Language Barriers"; (4) "Educational Attainment"; (5) "Learning New Cultures"; (6) "Learning in School"; (7) "Hispanic Children"; (8) "Asian Children"; (9) "Caribbean and African Black Children"; and (10) "The Future for Immigrant Students." (Contains 11 tables, 15 figures, and 200 references.) (SLD)”

The New Californians: Comparative Research Findings on the Educational Progress of Immigrant Children.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1929018