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This study draws lessons for other states from the program and policy landscape of immigrant education in California, which is home to 40 percent of the nation’s ELLs. It assesses the national controversy surrounding “bilingual” versus English-only education. Detailed policy recommendations include addressing significant challenges immigrant students face aside from learning English: reducing stigmatization of immigrant and ELL students, fostering parental participation, dealing with legal and immigration-related issues, and helping children navigate the school system and access health care.
Creating a Formula for Success: Why English Language Learner Students Are Dropping Out of School, and How to Increase Graduation Rates
This report uses school data and student focus groups to assess why increasing numbers of English language learners (ELLs) in New York City dropped out of school after the state adopted higher graduation standards. Recommendations include: 1) targeting middle and high schools where 248 ELLS are underperforming; 2) implementing new strategies to reach students at high risk because they arrive in the United States as teenagers; 3) improving instruction in both ESL and core classes as well as increasing the number of teachers certified for ESL and bilingual instruction; 4) implementing a language access policy to enable immigrant parents to participate more actively in their children's education.
Comprehensive review of high-quality, early childhood intervention programs documents that well-designed programs for disadvantaged children age four and younger can significantly benefit children's academic and social development and save money in later social program costs. Immigrant children are disproportionately affected by two of the four "childhood risk" factors that intervention programs are intended to counteract: living in poverty and having parents who do not speak English at home.
This study provides a detailed demographic portrait from the 2000 Census on the rapid growth of immigrant children, who often belong to one of the "protected classes" of the No Child Left Behind Act because they are LEP, low income, and/or a member of a racial or ethnic minority group. It presents information on children of immigrants, LEP children, and children of immigrants in low-income families; how family income and parental education interact with linguistic proficiency and isolation; and the characteristics of children of Latino, Asian, and black immigrants, with comparisons among children with parents from different countries.
This report Eexplores the institutional barriers and lack of resources that prevent secondary schools from meeting the educational needs of a growing number of LEP students. It Pprovides a national profile of 249 of LEP students, examines their educational barriers, and offers educators and policymakers strategies to overcome those barriers.
This report examines why children of immigrants are less likely to participate in early education programs despite the value of these programs in enhancing school readiness and integration. It analyzes participation by age and type of child care arrangements, preschool/kindergarten enrollment, and socio-demographic factors affecting participation, and concludes with policy recommendations for improving enrollment at the state and local levels.
The report describes how narrowly focused standardized tests are being used to inappropriately exclude and track young children in immigrant families, and recommends how school readiness programs can be designed to support immigrant families and build on the powerful role of culture and language in a child's development.
The book is a comprehensive effort to understand why African Americans and Latinos earn lower grades and drop out of college more often than Anglos or Asians. It uses new national longitudinal data on college freshmen to examine the influence of neighborhood, family, peer group, and early schooling on who enters and succeeds in college. The authors explore the continuing influence of race in America, as it affects even the talented and promising young adults.
Extensive analysis of national data on elementary schools identifies risks for LEP students in both high- and low-LEP schools. The high concentration of LEP students— with more than 70 percent attending only 10 percent of the nation’s schools—makes provision of specialized services more cost efficient, but puts these children at risk because their predominately urban high-LEP schools have high rates of poverty, less-experienced principals, and severe shortages of trained teachers. The 30 percent of LEP children who attend mostly suburban low-LEP schools are isolated within their schools and have few support programs to serve their needs.
Charts presented at a Migration Policy Institute workshop highlight the concentration of Limited English Proficient (LEP) students in the nation's schools. Seventy percent of LEP students in Kindergarten through 5th grade are enrolled in only 10 percent of the country's public elementary schools. Charts also compare high- and low-LEP schools in terms of qualifications of the staff and availability of programs to serve LEP students.
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