Abstract
Introduction: Newcomer students seek routine and safety in schools, but often experience a “hard landing” when they begin school in the United States. Objective: While there is substantial literature on the academic and language achievement of emergent bilingual students, there is less specifically on unaccompanied immigrant students, and even less on their social and emotional well-being. Methodology: This study uses a human rights framework to analyze qualitative data from service providers (n = 79) for unaccompanied children. Results: Challenges to meeting the needs of this population include the limited capacity of schools and school districts, students’ language ability and preparedness for school, cultural differences, and individual health and mental health considerations. Supports to help immigrant students include academic and language assistance, cooperation among service providers, and emotional and behavioral programs. Conclusions: Recommendations include building community partnerships, creating more welcoming policies, school-assessments of programming compared to needs of newcomer students, and more research.
Highlights
Newcomer students seek routine and safety in schools, but often experience a “hard landing” when they begin school in the United States
Research Question 1: What challenges do unaccompanied children in foster care face as they navigate the educational system in the United States?
While the results suggest that the language struggles among UC students have much in common with prior research on other immigrant groups, the participants in this study pointed out that the struggles are sometimes greater for students who speak indigenous languages (Bauer & Arazi, 2011; Crea et al, 2018; Rance-Roney, 2010; Pacheco, 2010)
Summary
Newcomer students seek routine and safety in schools, but often experience a “hard landing” when they begin school in the United States. This study uses a human rights framework to view educational disparities for immigrant students and discusses the findings of a qualitative study of focus groups and interviews with a wide variety of service providers that highlights both the needs of UC students and support strategies in place to help UC students succeed in the U.S school system. In Federal Fiscal Year 2019, 76 020 UC were apprehended because they lacked legal status in the United States (Office of Refugee Resettlement-ORR, 2021). While this number drastically fell in 2020 due to COVID-19, it is rising again in 2021 (ORR, 2021). Many UC come to the United States in search of safety from interpersonal or community violence, to reunite with family, or for economic and educational opportunities (Szlyk et al, 2020; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees-UNHCR, 2014)
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