| Citation: | Ruiz-de-Velasco, J., Fix, M., & Clewell, B. C. (2000). Overlooked and underserved: Immigrant students in U.S. secondary schools. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute. ED449275. http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/overlooked.pdf |
Annotation:
This report is an evaluation of the Program in Immigrant Education (PRIME), a program created to serve immigrant students in secondary schools. It documents U.S. immigration trends and their impact on schools, the challenges faced by PRIME schools, and how the schools addressed the challenges they faced. It does not report outcome data for the program. The evaluators found that two sub-populations of immigrant secondary school students face the most significant barriers to education: (1) students that arrive with significant gaps in their education, and (2) students who have been in U.S. schools longer but have not mastered basic English language and literacy skills. The evaluators also found that secondary schools seeking to serve immigrant students faced four institutional challenges: a) limited staff capacity to instruct immigrant learners, b) the nature of the organization of secondary schools, c) systems of accountability that have historically omitted limited English proficiency/immigrant students, and d) wide knowledge gaps about how to Òsimultaneously build both language and subject-matter learning.Ó Researchers conducted both quantitative analyses of aggregate databases and qualitative analysis of the policy and practice issues facing ten PRIME demonstration project high schools and middle schools in five school districts. The report includes some information about parent involvement in the program sites, but does not provide extensive detail. It does offer the reader a good overview of U.S. immigration trends, the needs of limited English proficiency and immigrant students, and the challenges secondary schools face in meeting these needs.
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