National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy

Policy Briefs

April 2024

Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Families through Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Services

Young girl talks to a child psychologist

iStock.com/Lacheev

Infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) services can offer vital support for young children’s healthy development. Yet, young children in immigrant and refugee families often do not benefit, due in part to lower levels of health-care coverage and limited cultural responsiveness in the field. This issue brief explores the benefits and barriers to supporting these children via IECMH services, and some ways to close key gaps.

Reports

January 2024

Refining State Accountability Systems for English Learner Success

A high school student answers a math problem on a whiteboard

Allison Shelley/EDUimages

State accountability systems are designed to identify and close student achievement gaps. Yet most do not report and interpret English Learner (EL) outcomes in a way that paints a full picture of how different instructional services have contributed to academic development. This report sketches a vision for reimagined accountability systems that can support better understanding of ELs’ learning and inform school improvement strategies.

Reports

November 2023

The Unmet Potential of Community Consultations in U.S. Refugee Resettlement

Young woman speaks to other participants at a meeting

iStock.com/SDI Productions

As humanitarian migrant arrivals in the United States increase, via refugee resettlement and channels such as temporary parole, communication between the national, state, and local actors involved in supporting their reception and integration is critical. This report examines the goals and design of quarterly resettlement consultations, as well as opportunities to refine these processes to boost their impact and relevance in a changing policy landscape.

Fact Sheets

October 2023

Recent Immigrant Children: A Profile of New Arrivals to U.S. Schools

Allison Shelley/EDUimages

A significant increase in the number of immigrant children in U.S. schools over the last decade has challenged K-12 educators to expand their capacity to serve students with different backgrounds and educational needs. This fact sheet sketches a profile of recently arrived immigrant children, presenting data on top states of residence, national origins, household characteristics, and more.

Policy Briefs

October 2023

Leveraging Data to Ensure Equitable and Effective Adult Skills Programming for Immigrants

Adult immigrant students work together in an English class

iStock.com/shironosov

Immigrants make significant contributions to the U.S. economy and social fabric, but many also face barriers to integration. Adult education and workforce development programs offer services intended to help address such challenges yet can be mismatched to immigrants' needs. This issue brief sketches a profile of U.S.-born and immigrant adults, highlighting key similarities and differences relevant to the design of adult skills programs.

Policy Briefs

July 2023

ESSER: Moving the Needle on Equitable and Adequate Education Funding for English Learners

4th and 5th grade students working on posters

Allison Shelley/EDUimages

The pandemic and move to remote learning affected students across the United States, and certain groups—including the nation’s 5 million English Learners (ELs)—were hit particularly hard. At the same time, the federal government made unprecedented investments in public K-12 education to counter the pandemic’s adverse impacts. This issue brief explores the ways school districts have invested these funds to support ELs.

Featured

English Learners and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) includes a number of new requirements for the education of English Learners (ELs), including standardized criteria for identifying EL students and inclusion of English proficiency as a measurement of school quality. Resources on this page can help inform decisions such as how quickly schools must improve and how states can intervene with struggling districts.

Featured

ELL Information Center

The English Language Learner (ELL) Information Center provides informative fact sheets, maps, and state-level data resources that chronicle the demography and trends of immigrant families and their children.

Recent Activity

Commentaries June 2017 Immigrants and the New Brain Gain: Ways to Leverage Rising Educational Attainment By Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix	Reports June 2017 How Are Refugees Faring? Integration at U.S. and State Levels By Michael Fix, Kate Hooper and Jie Zong
Fact Sheets June 2017 New Brain Gain: Rising Human Capital among Recent Immigrants to the United States By Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix	Multimedia March 9, 2017 Strategic Opportunities for Including English Learners in ESSA State Accountability Plans
Commentaries March 2017 Trump and DeVos: What Could the New Administration Spell for English Learner and Immigrant Students? By Julie Sugarman	Fact Sheets March 2017 Facts about English Learners and the NCLB/ESSA Transition in Select States By Julie Sugarman and Kevin Lee
Multimedia February 28, 2017 Reducing Integration Barriers Facing Foreign-Trained Immigrants: Policy and Practice Lessons from Across the United States	Reports February 2017 Unlocking Skills: Successful Initiatives for Integrating Foreign-Trained Immigrant Professionals By Margie McHugh and Madeleine Morawski

Pages

Reports April 2012 A Demographic Profile of Black Caribbean Immigrants in the United States By Kevin J. A. Thomas	Reports April 2012 Diverse Streams: African Migration to the United States By Randy Capps, Kristen McCabe and Michael Fix
Reports March 2012 The Educational Trajectories of English Language Learners in Texas By Stella M. Flores , Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix	Fact Sheets December 2011 Limited English Proficient Individuals in the United States: Number, Share, Growth, and Linguistic Diversity By Chhandasi Pandya, Margie McHugh and Jeanne Batalova
Reports November 2011 Up for Grabs: The Gains and Prospects of First- and Second-Generation Young Adults By Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix	Books September 2011 Immigrants and Welfare: The Impact of Welfare Reform on America's Newcomers
Reports July 2011 The Economic Integration of Immigrants in the United States: Long- and Short-Term Perspectives By Aaron Terrazas	Reports June 2011 Improving Immigrants' Employment Prospects through Work-Focused Language Instruction By Margie McHugh and A.E. Challinor

Pages

Video, Audio

December 7, 2011

Up for Grabs: The Gains and Prospects of First- and Second-Generation Young Adults

A discussion on the gains that young adult immigrants or the U.S.-born children of immigrants have made in education and employment, with speakers: Michael Fix, Jeanne Batalova, Andrew P. Kelly, Raul Gonzalez, and Margie McHugh.

Audio

October 6, 2011

Language Access and Schools: Federal Requirements and School Experiences

This is the latest in NCIIP’s language access webinar series exploring the policy and program implementation imperatives for government and community agencies serving Limited English Proficient (LEP) populations.

Audio

September 21, 2011

LEP Workers & Access to Workforce Services: Perspectives on Current Barriers to Access and Prospects for Improvements Under WIA Reauthorization

In this webinar, experts discuss barriers immigrant and LEP individuals face in accessing the WIA system, how a revitalized WIA could address these barriers, and the extent to which the current Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee's WIA reauthorization proposal addresses these barriers.

Video

August 12, 2011

The New Demography of U.S. Schools

In this video, Michael Fix and Margie McHugh discuss the distribution of English Language Learners across the country, their growth in enrollment, and more.

Video

August 12, 2011

English Language Learners and Their Performance in U.S. Public Schools

In this video, Michael Fix and Margie McHugh examine key indicators of ELL students' performance on standardized tests, among other topics.

Recent Activity

Policy Briefs

October 2018

English Plus Integration: Shifting the Instructional Paradigm for Immigrant Adult Learners to Support Integration Success

To successfully integrate, immigrants and refugees need a variety of skills and knowledge—from English proficiency to understanding how school systems and local services work. Yet the adult education programs in place to support them have narrowed in scope. This policy brief proposes a new instructional model, English Plus Integration, to help states more comprehensively meet the diverse needs of their adult immigrant learners.

Video, Audio, Webinars

September 24, 2018

Addressing the Intergenerational Mental Health Needs of Refugee Families with Young Children

Experts on this webinar discuss efforts being undertaken in Maryland to serve refugee families with young children through tailored, trauma-informed approaches that address their specific mental health needs.

Reports

September 2018

A Profile of Houston’s Diverse Immigrant Population in a Rapidly Changing Policy Landscape

The Houston metro area, home to 1.6 million immigrants, is diverse and rapidly growing. This report sketches the area's immigrant population, examining top origin countries, key socioeconomic measures, and more. It also explores how Hurricane Harvey affected the immigrant population, and how national policy changes under the Trump administration are being felt locally, including by DACA recipients and asylum seekers.

Video, Audio, Webinars

August 29, 2018

Young Children in Refugee Families and Early Childhood Programs: Ways to Mitigate the Effects of Trauma

Experts discuss the effects of trauma on the development of young refugee children, and highlight ways early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs can address this trauma, including practical strategies that child-care providers in Canada are using to support the resiliency of refugee children and families.

Fact Sheets

August 2018

English Learners in Select States: Demographics, Outcomes, and State Accountability Policies

States are in the midst of designing new policies to hold schools accountable for the education of English Learner (EL) students, as mandated by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This series of fact sheets sketches the characteristics of immigrant and EL students in 25 states, the gaps between their educational outcomes and those of their peers, and the accountability policies each state is developing.

Commentaries

August 2018

Through the Back Door: Remaking the Immigration System via the Expected “Public-Charge” Rule

A Trump administration “public-charge” rule expected to be unveiled soon could create the potential to significantly reshape family-based legal immigration to the United States—and reduce arrivals from Asia, Latin America, and Africa—by imposing a de facto financial test that 40 percent of the U.S. born themselves would fail, as this commentary explains.

Reports

August 2018

Tapping the Talents of Highly Skilled Immigrants in the United States: Takeaways from Experts Summit

Economists project a shortage of 5 million U.S. workers with postsecondary education and training by 2020. Yet 2 million immigrant college graduates in the United States are either unemployed or work in jobs that require no more than a high school degree. How can this skill underutilization, known as "brain waste," be remedied? MPI asked the experts, and this report summarizes their discussion and recommendations.

Video, Audio, Webinars

June 27, 2018

K-12 Instructional Models for English Learners: What They Are and Why They Matter

Marking the release of an MPI brief, experts on this webinar examine the key features of English Learner (EL) instructional models and discuss state- and district-level approaches to supporting schools in implementing effective EL program models, with a particular focus on what is being done in New York and Madison Wisconsin.

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