New Talk about Ell Students

Abstract

Students from immigrant families, including foreignborn children and those born in the United States to immigrant parents, are a large and growing segment of the student population. In 2005, the U.S. had about 11 million school-aged children of immigrants, making them about one-fifth of the school-aged population (Rong & Preissle, 2008). Students from immigrant families are diverse in terms of ethnicity, race, religion, language background, English proficiency, immigration status, and social class. These differences in background make a profound difference in how they negotiate schooling. Immigrant youth who enter the U.S. as adolescents, in particular, face significant challenges. Research suggests that immigrant English learners score lower on standardized tests, graduate from high school at lower rates and drop out at higher rates than their native English-speaking peers. Students who arrive in the U.S. as adolescents often develop the social English necessary to chat with friends and consume popular culture quickly. But students need four to seven years to develop academic English (Hakuta, Butler, & Witt, 2000), which may make it challenging to have the academic English necessary to graduate from high school in four years. Late-entry ELLs face particular difficulties in states with high school exit exams because of these language issues. Immigrant students' prior educational experiences play a central role in their educational achievement in the U.S. About 6% of newcomer immigrant students have experienced interrupted formal education in their home countries; in places like New York City, about 10% of all ELLs are students with interrupted formal education (Bartlett & Garcia, 2011; Advocates for Children, 2010). These youth are typically two or more years behind their same-age peers in school, and many aren't literate in their native languages. Immigrant English learn-ers are typically tracked into ELL classes that focus almost exclusively on acquiring English, often to the exclusion of academic content (Callahan, 2005; Callahan, Wilkinson, Muller, & Frisco, 2009). Too often, educators assume English learners can't do academic work until they're fully proficient in English (Callahan, 2005). Instead of offering students access to academic subjects and the opportunity to develop critical and independent thinking, schools too often subject ELLs to vocabulary drills. When they do exit ELL programs, they're often unprepared to handle the academic content in mainstream classes because they haven't been prepared to do so. When ELL placement limits access to academic subject matter, there are long-term negative effects on students' achievement and future educational opportunities. Educators often view immigrant cultures and languages as barriers to academic success. Instead of building on students' backgrounds, the assimilationist perspective encourages educators to disregard native languages and cultures (Lee, 2005; Valenzuela, 1999), which alienates both the immigrant youth and their families from schools. Lessons from the indernationals The issue for educators is what schools can do to improve educational opportunities for these youth. What are the elements of a successful educational program for newcomer immigrant English learners? How can schools provide these students with an academically enriching, culturally responsive, and socially supportive education? In the last few years, my colleagues and I have been studying high schools in the Internationals Network for Public Schools in New York City, which points to the possibilities and challenges of providing newcomer immigrant English learners with a high-quality education. Schools in the Internationals Network have a reputation for successfully educating immigrant students from diverse backgrounds. One study of the three oldest International High Schools in New York City reveals that the final graduation rate for students who entered in 1998 was 88. …