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 February 2022 The IELCE Program: Understanding Its Design and Challenges in Meeting Immigrant Learners’ Needs By Jacob Hofstetter and Alexis Cherewka	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	Multimedia December 1, 2021 The Importance of Family, Friend, and Neighbor Care for Immigrant and Dual Language Learner Families
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	Multimedia November 9, 2021 How the Child Welfare System Can Better Respond to Needs of Children from Immigrant Families
Multimedia November 12, 2021 Leveraging the Benefits That Immigration Can Bring	Multimedia November 8, 2021 MPI Turns 20

Pages

Policy Briefs October 2020 Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Families through Home Visiting: Innovative State and Local Approaches By Caitlin Katsiaficas	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
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	Fact Sheets July 2020 Brain Waste among U.S. Immigrants with Health Degrees: A Multi-State Profile By Jeanne Batalova, Michael Fix and Sarah Pierce
Policy Briefs June 2020 Native Language Assessments for K-12 English Learners: Policy Considerations and State Practices By Julie Sugarman and Leslie Villegas	Fact Sheets June 2020 COVID-19 and Unemployment: Assessing the Early Fallout for Immigrants and Other U.S. Workers By Randy Capps, Jeanne Batalova and Julia Gelatt
Fact Sheets May 2020 Barriers to COVID-19 Testing and Treatment: Immigrants without Health Coverage in the United States By Randy Capps and Julia Gelatt	Policy Briefs March 2020 Which English Learners Count When? Understanding State EL Subgroup Definitions in ESSA Reporting By Julie Sugarman

Pages

Video, Audio

November 20, 2018

Building Bridges Not Walls: Key Lessons from the 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report on Migration and Displacement

Marking the U.S.

FLICKR the unquiet librarian Musical Book Tasting with Padlet Dr. Melinda Byrne and ESOL Students

Video, Audio

October 30, 2018

Surviving vs. Thriving: The Need for a Paradigm Shift in Adult Education for Immigrants and Refugees

Taking stock of weaknesses in the WIOA-driven design of most adult basic education programming, MPI analysts draw on research from the integration, adult education, and postsecondary success fields in arguing for the adoption of an “English Plus Integration” (EPI) adult education program model, and discuss strategies for implementation.

Video, Audio

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.

flickr province of british columbia Minister of State visits early childhood development centre

Video, Audio

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.

flickr 21st Century Classroom 4571643113_f2e840ee38_z

Video, Audio

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 M

Recent Activity

Reports

March 2018

Supporting Dual Language Learner Success in Superdiverse PreK-3 Classrooms: The Sobrato Early Academic Language Model

In early education and care programs where children come from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, superdiversity is challenging providers to look beyond traditional approaches to supporting Dual Language Learners. This report examines a well-regarded model for preK-3 professional development. The report highlights promising practices and key adaptations of the model for use in in multilingual, multicultural classrooms.

Video, Audio

March 19, 2018

Immigration Data Matters: How to Find the Most Accurate Resources

With immigration increasingly visible in the news and the political space in the United States and internationally, getting access to accurate, high-quality data is essential to understand immigration’s demographic effects and impacts on the economy, education and labor systems, and communities. This event marks the release of the Immigration Data Matters guide.

Video

February 28, 2018

The Impact of Immigration Enforcement Policies On Teaching and Learning in America’s Public Schools

In an era of stepped-up immigration enforcement, speakers at this event present their research on the impact of enforcement policies on children from immigrant families and U.S. public schools.

Video, Audio, Webinars

February 22, 2018

Effectively Serving Children in a Superdiverse Classroom: Implications for the Early Education System

As the number and share of Dual Language Learners (DLLs) continues to grow across the United States, diversity within this population is also increasing. This webinar marks the release of a report providing analysis of the diversity within the DLL population nationwide and at the state and local levels. Speakers discuss data on the three rapidly growing subgroups within the DLL population: Black and Asian American and Pacific Islander DLLs and young children of refugees, and the implications for the early education and care field and K-12 education systems.

Reports

February 2018

Growing Superdiversity among Young U.S. Dual Language Learners and Its Implications

Dual Language Learners (DLLs) grow up in U.S. families with a wide range of languages, origins, and socioeconomic characteristics. Yet little is known about which practices and program models work best in superdiverse classrooms where no minority language is dominant. This report explores DLL diversity at national, state, and local levels, highlighting its implications for early childhood programs and schools.

Reports

January 2018

In the Age of Trump: Populist Backlash and Progressive Resistance Create Divergent State Immigrant Integration Contexts

As long-simmering passions related to federal immigration policies have come to a full boil, less noted but no less important debates are taking place at state and local levels with regards to policies affecting immigrants and their children. As states are increasingly diverging in their responses, this report examines how some of the key policies and programs that support long-term integration success are faring in this volatile era.

Policy Briefs

December 2017

New Opportunities? ESSA and Its Implications for Dual Language Learners and ECEC Workforce Development

Enactment of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015 introduced opportunities to use federal funds to strengthen the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce as a means of better meeting the needs of the growing and increasingly diverse young child population.

Fact Sheets

November 2017

A Profile of Current DACA Recipients by Education, Industry, and Occupation

An average of 915 DACA recipients every day will lose their work authorization and protection from deportation once the phaseout of the program moves into full force in spring 2018, MPI estimates. This fact sheet also offers U.S. and state estimates of the school enrollment and educational attainment, workforce participation, and industries and occupations of employment for the nearly 690,000 current DACA holders.

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