K-12 Education

Immigrants and second-generation students who are children of immigrants confront a number of unique academic challenges, including limited proficiency in the host-country language and greater barriers in preparing for college and careers. Research here focuses on student educational attainment and in particular on English Learners (ELs), who have persistent and wide achievement gaps with native English speakers. Adolescent ELs face a greater workload, learning English at the same time they are studying core content areas in English.

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Commentaries December 2020 How the Fear of Immigration Enforcement Affects the Mental Health of Latino Youth By Randy Capps and Michael Fix	Multimedia October 21, 2020 Lessons from the Pandemic: Weaknesses in K-12 Teacher Education Policies Fuel Inequities Facing English Learners
Multimedia September 29, 2020 Centering English Learners in Schools’ Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic	Policy Briefs September 2020 Educating English Learners during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Policy Ideas for States and School Districts By Julie Sugarman and Melissa Lazarin
Articles September 3, 2020 The Digital Divide Hits U.S. Immigrant Households Disproportionately during the COVID-19 Pandemic By Alexis Cherewka	Reports September 2020 Immigration Enforcement and the Mental Health of Latino High School Students By Randy Capps, Jodi Berger Cardoso, Kalina Brabeck, Michael Fix and Ariel G. Ruiz Soto
Multimedia June 16, 2020 Addressing Equity Concerns for English Learners: Where Do Native Language Assessments Fit In?	Policy Briefs June 2020 Native Language Assessments for K-12 English Learners: Policy Considerations and State Practices By Julie Sugarman and Leslie Villegas

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Policy Briefs May 2018 A Guide to Finding and Understanding English Learner Data By Julie Sugarman	Reports March 2018 Supporting Dual Language Learner Success in Superdiverse PreK-3 Classrooms: The Sobrato Early Academic Language Model By Anya Hurwitz and Laurie Olsen
Reports February 2018 Growing Superdiversity among Young U.S. Dual Language Learners and Its Implications By Maki Park, Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova	Reports February 2018 Mainstreaming 2.0: How Europe’s Education Systems Can Boost Migrant Inclusion By Aliyyah Ahad and Meghan Benton
Reports February 2018 Designing Civic Education for Diverse Societies: Models, Tradeoffs, and Outcomes By Per Mouritsen and Astrid Jaeger	Reports January 2018 In the Age of Trump: Populist Backlash and Progressive Resistance Create Divergent State Immigrant Integration Contexts By Margie McHugh
Policy Briefs December 2017 New Opportunities? ESSA and Its Implications for Dual Language Learners and ECEC Workforce Development By Delia Pompa, Maki Park and Michael Fix	Fact Sheets November 2017 A Profile of Current DACA Recipients by Education, Industry, and Occupation By Jie Zong, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Jeanne Batalova, Julia Gelatt and Randy Capps

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Video, Audio

August 25, 2016

Closing the Gap? The Role of Funding in Equitable Education for English Learners in the United States

This webinar explores the key education funding mechanisms in place to support English Learner elementary and secondary students in the United States, public conversations about funding, and efforts to improve the equitable distribution of educational resources.

Video, Audio

June 23, 2016

Using Supplementary School Funding to Improve the Educational Outcomes of Migrant-Background Students: A Transatlantic Comparison

Report authors and an ELL professional discuss the mechanics of school funding and the specialized services provided for migrant-background students in the United States, Canada, France, and Germany. Speakers also highlight the choices facing policymakers who seek to use supplementary funding to better support effective, high-quality education for children from immigrant and refugee families.

2016.3.23 Integration Young Refugee Children Webinar flickr Megenei and Hamza by Kristen341737653_c33a1ec925_z

Video, Audio

March 23, 2016

How Well Are Young Children of Refugees Integrating into the United States?

MPI analysts discuss the findings of a report comparing young children of refugees to other U.S. children on several key indicators of well-being.

Event PH 2016.1.21 ESSA Webinar flickr Penn State alumnus Sergio Santiago reads a book to students as a Teach For America teacher

Video, Audio

January 21, 2016

Taking Stock of ESSA’s Potential Impact on Immigrant and English-Learner Students

Experts Delia Pompa and Margie McHugh examine provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) related to the success of immigrant and English-learner students during this webinar, answering questions about the new law's implementation and possible impacts.

Video, Audio

October 27, 2015

Young Refugee Children: Their Schooling Experiences in the United States and in Countries of First Asylum

In this webinar, the authors of three papers on the experiences of refugee children present their findings, with a focus on how such experiences affect their mental health and education.

Recent Activity

Commentaries

December 2020

How the Fear of Immigration Enforcement Affects the Mental Health of Latino Youth

The prevalence of mental-health symptoms among Latino high school students, immigrant and U.S. born alike, is closely related to their fears of immigration enforcement. And the situation may have worsened since the researchers sampled this population, given the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic hardship have increased the stress on Latino communities that have been hit disproportionately hard, as this commentary explores.

Video, Audio, Webinars

October 21, 2020

Lessons from the Pandemic: Weaknesses in K-12 Teacher Education Policies Fuel Inequities Facing English Learners

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of education, and it is expected that English Learners (ELs) will suffer disproportionate impacts. In this webcast, panelists discuss how weaknesses in existing EL teacher education and professional development policies have played into schools’ uneven response to the pandemic. They also offer lessons for future reform.

Video, Audio, Webinars

September 29, 2020

Centering English Learners in Schools’ Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Practioners from California and Tennessee join MPI researchers in a discussion on key challenges to meeting English Learners’ needs during the pandemic and the policies and practices school systems will need to put in place to support them and their families through the public-health and education crisis, as well as when schooling returns to normal.

Policy Briefs

September 2020

Educating English Learners during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Policy Ideas for States and School Districts

The 2020–21 academic year is underway, but many U.S. schools, students, and families are still reeling from the rocky transition to remote learning that occurred months earlier, after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. For English Learners and students in immigrant families, many of the challenges are magnified. This policy brief examines how schools’ pandemic response is affecting these students and offers recommendations to help schools and districts support them in this period of uncertainty.

Articles

September 3, 2020

The Digital Divide Hits U.S. Immigrant Households Disproportionately during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the effects of the so-called digital divide for U.S. immigrants and other groups with reduced online connectivity. Internet access and the skills to navigate digital environments have become even more critical for work, education, and health care during the public-health crisis, yet immigrants make up a disproportionately large share of U.S. residents unable to take advantage of these tools.

Reports

September 2020

Immigration Enforcement and the Mental Health of Latino High School Students

This study explores the relationship between immigration enforcement and the mental health of Latino high school students, finding that majorities surveyed in both high- and low-enforcement environments reported fear that someone close to them could be deported, with resulting symptoms of conditions such as depression and PTSD. The report provides examples of how schools are responding to support the mental health and engagement of these students.

Video, Audio, Webinars

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. The conversation offers participants an introduction to the key policy and practical considerations in the implementation of these assessments, particularly in a time of pandemic-induced disruptions for schools and looming budget cuts.

Policy Briefs

June 2020

Native Language Assessments for K-12 English Learners: Policy Considerations and State Practices

With high stakes attached to standardized tests in U.S. education, it is critical that these assessments accurately capture what students know and can do in a subject. For English Learners, this may be a challenge if they cannot fully demonstrate in English what they have learned. Native language assessments are one promising tool for overcoming this hurdle, though questions about when and with whom they are most effective remain.

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