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

Reports July 2022 Changing the Playbook: Immigrants and the COVID-19 Response in Two U.S. Communities By Randy Capps and Michael Fix	Policy Briefs June 2022 Immigrant Children’s Medicaid and CHIP Access and Participation: A Data Profile By Valerie Lacarte
Commentaries June 2022 How State Assessments Became and Remain a Driver for Equity for English Learners By Melissa Lazarin	Articles June 17, 2022 Growing State and Local Role in U.S. Immigration Policy Affects Sense of Belonging for Newcomers and Natives Alike By Tomás R. Jiménez, Deborah J. Schildkraut, Yuen J. Huo, and John F. Dovidio
Multimedia May 17, 2022 Testing Disrupted: Assessment of English Learners Complicated by Pandemic	Reports May 2022 English Learner Testing during the Pandemic: An Early Readout and Look Ahead By Melissa Lazarin
Policy Briefs May 2022 Cultural Competency Secrets to Success with Immigrant and Refugee Families: Spreading and Adapting 2Gen Working Practices By Chris Estes, Devin Deaton, Aparna Jayashankar and Margie McHugh	Policy Briefs May 2022 Growing Language Skills with Immigrant and Refugee Families: Spreading and Adapting 2Gen Working Practices By Chris Estes, Devin Deaton, Aparna Jayashankar and Margie McHugh

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Fact Sheets February 2022 Una guía para padres sobre las evaluaciones de estudiantes de inglés By Delia Pompa and Jazmin Flores Peña	Fact Sheets February 2022 A Parent’s Guide to English Learner Assessments By Delia Pompa and Jazmin Flores Peña
Policy Briefs December 2021 The Invisible Work of Family, Friend, and Neighbor Caregivers and Its Importance for Immigrant and Dual Language Learner Families By Maki Park and Jazmin Flores Peña	Reports November 2021 The Impacts on English Learners of Key State High School Policies and Graduation Requirements By Julie Sugarman
Reports October 2021 A Framework for Language Access: Key Features of U.S. State and Local Language Access Laws and Policies By Jacob Hofstetter, Margie McHugh and Anna O’Toole	Policy Briefs September 2021 Immigrants’ U.S. Labor Market Disadvantage in the COVID-19 Economy: The Role of Geography and Industries of Employment By Randy Capps, Jeanne Batalova and Julia Gelatt
Policy Briefs June 2021 Immigrant and Other U.S. Workers a Year into the Pandemic: A Focus on Top Immigrant States By Julia Gelatt, Jeanne Batalova and Christopher Levesque	Reports June 2021 Leaving Money on the Table: The Persistence of Brain Waste among College-Educated Immigrants By Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix

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Video, Audio

June 16, 2020

Addressing Equity Concerns for English Learners: Where Do Native Language Assessments Fit In?

This webchat marks the release of a report examining the role native language assessments play in addressing equity concerns for English Learner (EL) students.

Expert Q&A, Audio

March 11, 2020

Expert Podcast: Understanding How English Learners Count in ESSA Reporting

This podcast features a discussion between MPI's Margie McHugh and Julie Sugarman about how to understand the varying composition of states' English Learner (EL) subgroup under ESSA, and why understanding these technical differences matters when making decisions about how ELs and schools are faring.

Video, Audio

March 5, 2020

Green Cards and Public Charge: Who Could Be Denied Based on Benefits Use?

On this webinar, MPI experts discussed the public-charge rule and released estimates of the populations that could be deemed ineligible for a green card based on existing benefits use.

flickr KOMUnews Columbia School Board to Discuss English Language Learners Program

Video, Audio

February 12, 2020

An Uneven Landscape: The Differing State Approaches to English Learner Policies under ESSA

Experts share how states have approached Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) implementation, areas where the law and state efforts to support English Learners can be improved, and findings from the compendium, The Patchy Landscape of State English Learner Policies under ESSA.

flickr Seattle OIRA August 2015 Ready to Work Graduation Celebration Credit Nate Gowdy Photography

Video, Audio

January 23, 2020

Employment Services for Refugees: Leveraging Mainstream U.S. Systems and Funding

On this webinar, experts and state refugee resettlement program leaders discuss activities that can be key parts of a broader strategy for sustaining and improving employment services for refugees, including partnerships with experts in workforce development strategies, access to federal workforce development funding, and other policies and resources.

Recent Activity

Reports

February 2020

The Patchy Landscape of State English Learner Policies under ESSA

All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have developed blueprints to meet their commitments under the Every Student Succeeds Act—including requirements that aim to raise the profile of English Learners (EL) in state accountability systems. This report breaks these plans down, comparing the significant diversity of approaches taken on everything from EL identification to tracking academic achievement.

Video, Audio, Webinars

January 23, 2020

Employment Services for Refugees: Leveraging Mainstream U.S. Systems and Funding

Policy Briefs

November 2019

Health Insurance Coverage of Immigrants and Latinos in the Kansas City Metro Area

Latinos and immigrants are at least twice as likely to lack health insurance coverage as the overall population in the Kansas City metropolitan area. This gap that has significant implications for the region, as Latinos and immigrants will form an ever-growing share of the area’s labor force and tax base amid anticipated declines in the native-born, non-Latino population.

Commentaries

October 2019

Health Insurance Test for Green-Card Applicants Could Sharply Cut Future U.S. Legal Immigration

A new Trump administration action requiring intending immigrants to prove they can purchase eligible health insurance within 30 days of arrival has the potential to block fully 65 percent of those who apply for a green card from abroad, MPI estimates.

Video, Audio, Webinars

August 28, 2019

Effectively Serving Immigrant and Dual Language Learner Families through Home Visiting Programs

Marking a policy brief's release, this webinar explores the promise of home visiting services that support new parents alongside their infants and toddlers, plus strategies for improving how these programs work with immigrant and linguistically diverse families.

Policy Briefs

August 2019

Leveraging the Potential of Home Visiting Programs to Serve Immigrant and Dual Language Learner Families

Home visiting programs for young families are growing in popularity across the United States, and have demonstrated their effectiveness in supporting maternal health and child well-being. At the same time, more infants and toddlers are growing up in immigrant families and households where a language other than English is spoken. Why then are these children under-represented in these programs? This brief explores common barriers, ways to address them, and why it is important to do so.

Commentaries

August 2019

Millions Will Feel Chilling Effects of U.S. Public-Charge Rule That Is Also Likely to Reshape Legal Immigration

The public-charge rule issued by the Trump administration in August 2019 will have profound effects on future immigration and on use of public benefits by millions of legal noncitizens and their U.S.-citizen family members. Complex standards for determining when an immigrant is likely to become a public charge could cause a significant share of the nearly 23 million noncitizens and U.S. citizens in benefits-using immigrant families to disenroll, as this commentary explains.

Policy Briefs

June 2019

Legal Protections for K-12 English Learner and Immigrant-Background Students

A complicated web of laws, policy guidance, and court rulings affect how English Learner (EL) and immigrant-background students are educated across the United States. This EL Insight sorts through them to highlight seven key ways the U.S. government protects the rights of these students to a K-12 education. It also highlights who can enforce these rules and how they can be seen in action.

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