ELLs by Population: Latino

Tags: Latino ELL Students;

Target Population: All

Research Questions the Report Poses:

• What is the state of well-being among Latino children?
• What trends exist within this population subset and how do they affect equal opportunity and supports at a national, state, regional, and local level?

Findings:

• The conditions and situations of Latino children vary state-by-state, regionally, and generationally.
• Despite a hardworking population, the majority of Latino children live in poor and low-income families, and in high poverty neighborhoods which are more isolated from more affluent communities
• Most Latino children are U.S citizens yet many live in immigrant families resulting in barriers to services and potential separation of parents from children.
• Latino children are disadvantaged in the educational system (e.g., only 55% graduate with a high school diploma)

Policy Recommendations:

• There needs to be more research into the regional and other variations among the Latino population
• There is a need for clear targeted policies on health, education, juvenile justice, and poverty reduction.
• Need to use a holistic approach to assessing the present and future well-being of Latino children.

• Read The Full Report

Foxen, P., & Mather, M. (2010). America's Future: Latino Child Well-Being in Numbers and Trends. Washington, DC: National Council of La Raza.

Tags: Latino ELL Students;

Target Population: High School, Post-Secondary

Findings:

Demographics

• Latinos make up about 18% of all youths in the U.S. ages 16 to 25, with a high concentration of the young Latino population residing in New Mexico, California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Florida, and Colorado.
• More than two thirds (68%) of young Latinos are of Mexican heritage, and they are growing up in families that on average have less "educational capital" than do other Latinos.

Identity and Language

• Asked which term they generally use first to describe themselves, young Hispanics show a strong preference for their family’s country of origin (52%) over American (24%) or the terms Hispanic or Latino (20%).
• By a ratio of about two to one, young Hispanics say there are more cultural differences (64%) than commonalities (33%) within the Hispanic community in the U.S.
• About one third (36%) of Latinos ages 16 to 25 are English dominant in their language patterns, while 41% are bilingual and 23% are Spanish dominant.
• Seven in ten (70%) say that when speaking with family members and friends, they often or sometimes use a hybrid known as "Spanglish" that mixes words from both languages.

Social Challenges

• Young Hispanic females have the highest rates of teen parenthood of any major racial or ethnic group in the country.
• About seven in ten (69%) Latino youths say that becoming a teen parent prevents a person from reaching one's goals in life; 28% disagree.
• About three in ten (31%) young Latinos say they have a friend or relative who is a current or former gang member. This degree of familiarity with gangs is much more prevalent among the native born than the foreign born — 40% versus 17%.
• Perceptions of discrimination are more common among native-born young Latinos than among those who are foreign born.

Education and Career

• Young Latinos are satisfied with their lives, optimistic about their futures and place a high value on education, hard work, and career success.
• Even more so than other youths, young Latinos have high aspirations for career success. Some 89% say it is very important in their lives, compared with 80% of the full population of 18- to 25-year-olds who say the same.
• Latinos believe in the rewards of hard work. More than eight-in-ten—including 80% of Latino youths and 86% of Latinos ages 26 and older—say that most people can get ahead in life if they work hard.
• Nearly three quarters of Latino youths who cut off their education before college cite financial pressure to support a family. About half cite poor English skills.
• When asked a question that presented a number of possible reasons that Latinos do not do as well as other students in school, more respondents blamed poor parenting and poor English skills than blamed poor teachers.
• The household income of young Latinos lags well behind that of young whites and is slightly ahead of young blacks.
• The poverty rate among young Latinos declines significantly from the first generation (29%) to the second (19%).

• Read the Full Report

Pew Research Center/Pew Hispanic Center. (2009). Between Two Worlds: How Young Latinos Come of Age in America, Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.

Tags: Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA;

Target Population: Elementary

Research Questions the Report Poses: What is the relationship between family ecocultural factors and Latina/o children’s engagement in reading?

Findings:

• Family routines (what families do, as well as how, when, and why they do it) can provide important information about children's roles, expectations, and experiences within specific out-of-school learning situations, including reading engagement.
• Motivation theories need to broaden their scope to include the child within her/his context, including family workload, language use at home, religious literacy activities, and use of media.
• Teaching research which addresses diversity in terms of how people live, and not simply in terms of an extraneous characteristic of only some ethnicities, is likely to improve our understanding of how all children learn.
• These findings also offer a new lens through which policymakers and schools can direct their efforts to engage families and understand student achievement.

Policy Recommendations:
N/A

• Read the Full Report

Arzubiaga, A, Rueda, R, & Monzó, L. (2002). Family Matters Related to the Reading Engagement of Latina/o Children. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement.

Tags: Intervention; Latino ELL Students; Motivation; Rights, Students;

Target Population: Post-Secondary

Research Questions the Report Poses:

• How does the educational attainment vary among subgroups of immigrants?
• What factors account for these differences?
• What barriers do some immigrant students face? What is the payoff to postsecondary education in U.S. society?

Findings:

• Mexican and Latin American immigrants have, on average, relatively low rates of participation and success in postsecondary education.
• Language barriers and lack of familiarity with U.S. social institutions create difficulties, but it is not immigrant status per se that explains the unsatisfactory outcomes for these immigrant populations.
• Overall, immigrants and their children are actually more likely than natives (of the same countries of origin) to earn college degrees.
• The gaps among groups from different countries of origin are large. Those from China, Japan, and many African countries have high success rates. Those from Mexico, Guatemala, Haiti, Laos, and Cambodia fare less well.
• The children of immigrants who benefited from postsecondary education in their countries of origin are likely to succeed in the United States. The children of parents who are not in a position to help them prepare for and navigate the postsecondary system are likely to struggle.

Policy Recommendations:

• Because immigration has become such a divisive political issue in the United States, focusing on the benefits to society of opening doors to higher education for all is the most promising strategy.
• Sometimes, changes in motivation and behavior resulting from financial incentives, rather than the extra funds themselves, can be central to improved postsecondary success. Judith Scott–Clayton, for example, found that West Virginia's state grant program increases college completion rates by establishing clear academic goals and providing incentives to meet them.
• Policies to improve the elementary and secondary school experiences of all children are likely the most important components of a strategy to improve the postsecondary success of immigrant children.

• Read the Full Report

Baum, S., Flores, S.M. (2011.) "Higher Education and Children in Immigrant Families." Immigrant Children 21 (1). The Future of Children. Retrieved from: http://www.futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/journals/article/index.xml?journalid=74&articleid=545.

Tags: American Indian ELL Students; Asian ELL Students; Curriculum; Instructional Programs; Latino ELL Students; Motivation; Other ELL Students (Middle Eastern, African, European, etc.);

Target Population: This article targets the general population, especially those Latino and minority groups in high school or first year in college.

Research Questions the Report Poses: This article raises the question of students' academic preparation to transition from high school to postsecondary education.

Findings:

• Poor academic performance during high school due to poor academic preparation for college can predetermine the failure of students during college.
• Current research shows that to make a different in academic preparation, school administrations and teachers have to create a rigorous academic program that needs to be continuous and based on rich coursework.
• Organizations like Achieve, ACT, and the Education Policy Improvement Center are providing feedbacks for students to better their transition from high school to college.

Policy Recommendations:

• Policymakers should begin to address the importance of academic preparation for students, especially in high school, entering college.
• The federal government should be responsible of distributing and communicating the general public the steps to take to gain greater academic preparation and skills in schools.
• Policymakers should propose and manage the strategies implemented to guarantee the success of the programs.

• Read the report

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
Center for American Progress 1333 H Street, NW, 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20005

Chait, Robin and Andrea Venezia. (2009). Improving Academic Preparation for College: What We Know and How State and Federal Policy Can Help. Washington, D.C.: Center for American Progress.

Tags: Comprehension; Instructional Programs; Intervention; Language Proficiency; Latino ELL Students; Placement; Writing;

Target Population: Middle, High School, Post-Secondary

Research Questions the Report Poses: What issues should states consider to improve schooling for English language learners?

Findings:

• ELLs need high quality instruction focused on advanced literacy skills and not just on language acquisition; and
• Immersion-only programs lead to increased special education placements
• Latino ELLs are overrepresented in special education and lower tracked classrooms;

Policy Recommendations:

• States and districts need to redesign literacy work for ELLs in high schools to change from remediation to academic enrichment; and
• States and districts need to ensure that ELLs participate in rigorous, college preparation courses and receive support so that they can succeed in these courses

• Link to Full Report

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
n/a

Koelsch, N. (2006). Improving literacy outcomes for English language learners in high school: Considerations for states and districts in developing a coherent policy Framework. National High School Center .

Tags: Latino ELL Students; Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA; Transfer of Literacy Skills;

Target Population: Preschool, Elementary School

Research Questions the Report Poses: How do the structures of Latino families influence Latino children’s cognitive development?

Findings:
In short, Latino children are teaching researchers much about the situated dynamics of child development—especially the mechanisms through which particular norms, forms of participation, and requisite cognitive demands are pressed in multiple contexts. Much work remains to understand how Latino parents deploy heritage and novel practices to advance child development, and how their activities and practices differentially shape cognitive and social– emotional vitality. We are just beginning to learn how the multiple contexts of children and adolescents vary across Latino subgroups and how they rival or reinforce the family’s influence. Ideally, researchers could capture the processes occurring inside the home—providing children with beneficial cognitive tools and engaging solidarity—and then observe how children carry these into other settings, like schools and peer groups. Some institutions, especially schools, often fail to recognize the social assets with which Latino children arrive, from respect for adults and vibrant social skills to serving their family by getting ahead in school.

• Read the Full Report

Fuller, B., & Coll, C.G. (2010). Learning From Latinos: Contexts, Families, and Child Development in Motion. American Psychological Association. Retrieved January 14, 2011 from http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/dev-46-3-559.pdf

Tags: American Indian ELL Students; Asian ELL Students; Intervention; Latino ELL Students; Motivation; Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA;

Target Population: High School

Research Questions the Report Poses: How do female high school Latina students overcome obstacles in order to graduate from high school?

Findings:

Latinas have high aspirations and goals but often are unable to reach them because of academic and social barriers such as:

• Poverty
• Immigration status
• Language barriers
• Lack of parental involvement
• Teenage pregnancy

Policy Recommendations:

• Invest in the future of Latinas. Congress should put more money into providing child care, early childhood education, health care, nutrition assistance, and tax benefits.
• Provide Latina girls with role models and set up programs that help them reach their goals. More money should be put into mentoring programs, school counseling, and college access programs.
• Make sure that all Latina girls are prepared for any post-secondary education opportunity.
• Ensure that schools are free of racial and gender discrimination. Schools should also make sure that they enforce and promote dual language programs for ELLs.
• Aid in gaining more Latino parental involvement. The government and schools should fund more programs to help parents become more active in schools.
• Fund more efforts to prevent teenage pregnancy, including implementing sex education programs.
• Support students who are pregnant or who are currently parenting.
• Schools should require better data collection and promote school accountability.

• Read the Full Report

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
MALDEF: http://maldef.org/contact/

National Women’'s Law Center & Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Listening to Latinas: barriers to high school graduation. (2009, August). Retrieved from: http://maldef.org/assets/pdf/ListeningtoLatinas.pdf

Tags: Instructional Programs; Latino ELL Students; Phonics; Reading; Struggling Readers; Transfer of Literacy Skills; Vocabulary;

Target Population: Preschool

Research Questions the Report Poses: What steps can be taken to increase access to pre-K and early childhood programs for ELLs, particularly Hispanic ELLs?

Findings:

• Hispanic students have been achieving more and more over the past three generations.
• o Hispanic students born in the US do better on achievement tests than immigrant Hispanic children
• Hispanic students are still overrepresented among low-achieving students.
• Achievement among Hispanic students varies widely according to country of origin. South Americans and Cubans perform almost as well as White and Asian students, while Mexican-American students are far below White achievement levels
• High quality infant/toddler programs, pre-K programs, and K-3 schooling can contribute to meaningfully higher levels of school readiness and school achievement among low SES students, including low SES Hispanics.
• R&D is needed to provide better early childhood education for Hispanics. This includes developing and testing new programs, methods, and approaches that are tailored to fit the needs of Hispanic students.

Policy Recommendations:
Recommends that State Governments:

• Expand and increase infant/toddler programs in their states that serve or could potentially serve large numbers of Hispanic families.
• Continue to expand state-funded pre-K initiatives in an effort to have voluntary universal pre-K systems in most states within 10-20 years.
• Increase efforts to disseminate information to Hispanic parents about available pre-K programs.
• Increase funding for voluntary multi-year summer programs for students with low SES.
• Create programs to draw more ELL and bilingual educators.
• Increase pay and benefit levels for pre-K teachers and administrators so that they are equal to their public school counterparts.

• Expand the Head Start and Early Head Start programs.
• Invest resources to designing, testing, and evaluating pre-K and K-3 language and literacy development strategies.
• Fund program testing that will yield more bilingual and ELL teachers.
• Create assessments for ELLs at the pre-K level in both Engish and Spanish.
• Increase longitudinal studies on Hispanics and other groups who achieve below US norms.
• Increase US participation in international assessments.

• Fund long-term efforts to design, test, and evaluate pre-K and K-3 language and literacy development strategies for Hispanics from all SES levels and from immigrant/nonimmigrant families.
• Create foundations that can help provide the above funding.

• Create recommendations for new approaches to infant/toddler, pre-K, and K-3 programs for Hispanic students.
• Create proposals on how state governments can increase their ELL/bilingual educators.
• Create literacy development information, materials, and other parental supports.

• Read the Full Report

Para nuestros niños: Expanding and Improving Early Education for Hispanics. (2007). National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics.

Tags: Latino ELL Students; Motivation; Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA; Rights, Parents; Rights, Students;

Target Population: Post-Secondary

Research Questions the Report Poses: Are Hispanic students well-informed about their financial aid options for higher education? How does knowledge about financial aid affect Hispanic students' choices to pursue higher education?

Findings:

• 98% of respondents in the survey said that they felt it was important to have a college education
• 38% of respondents did not feel the benefits of college outweigh the costs
• Not being able to work and incurring debt were the opportunity costs associated with going to college
• The opportunity costs associated with going to college were not being able to work and incurring debt
• More than 50% of the respondents incorrectly thought students have to be U.S. citizens to apply for college financial aid
• Few respondents could accurately estimate the cost of attending either the University of California or California State University
• Overall, respondents demonstrated a lack of familiarity with government grants for education

Policy Recommendations:

• Students need to be better informed about the "less tangible, but real, social status differences that exist between the college-educated and the non-college educated" so that they feel that the opportunity costs of attending college are worth paying
• Because of misperceptions about how much college actually costs, Latino students may continue to be underrepresented on college campuses. To this end, perceptions must be corrected by presenting students with information about the realistic costs of attending college.
• Latino students need to be better informed about Cal Grants and Pell Grants, as well as other grant and loan opportunities available through state and federal government.
• Students and their parents both need to be educated about the system of college finances, including scholarships, loans, grants, and government guaranteed loans.
• Student perceptions about the significance of legal residency status vs. U.S. citizenship status need to be corrected, especially given the citizenship status of many students' parents

• Read the Full Report

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
n/a

Zarate, E.Z., and Pachon, H.P. (2006). Perceptions of College Financial Aid Among California Latino Youth. Tomas Rivera Policy Institute: Los Angeles, CA.

Tags: Bilingual Instruction; Bilingualism / Biliteracy; Latino ELL Students; Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA; Reading;

Target Population: Preschool

Research Questions the Report Poses: How does Pre–K education positively impact the Latino population?

Findings:

• Despite education being prominent and important in many Latinos' home countries, many Latinos in the United States do not have their children enrolled in Pre-K programs.
• Pre-K programs are often cost-prohibitive for Latinos or unavailable in their areas.
• Research shows that disadvantaged children who receive Pre-K education stand to make the biggest gains from that education.

Policy Recommendations:

• Outreach to parents needs to be more effective. Parents of ELLs need to know about the options available to them in terms of Pre-K programs available.
• Pre–K instruction needs to be available in the home language of minorities, especially ELLs.
• In conjunction with the above, critical staff at Pre-K programs need to be bilingual to accommodate more ELL students' language needs.
• Enrollment and eligibility requirements both need to be modified so as not to discriminate against ELLs or hinder them from getting into Pre–K programs.

• Read the full report (128KB PDF)*
• Download Executive Summary in Spanish (7KB PDF)*

Garcia, E.E., Gonzales, D.M. (2006). Pre-K and Latinos: The Foundation for America's Future. Pre-K Now Research Series: Washington, DC.

Tags: Instructional Programs; Latino ELL Students;

Target Population: Preschool; Elementary; Middle; High School; Post-Secondary

Research Questions the Report Poses: What are the issues facing Hispanic students? How can educators, researchers, communities and policy-makers help Hispanic students overcome these barriers?

Findings:
The report outlines six key issues in the education of the Hispanic population:

• Innovative classroom strategies including culturally responsive and technology enriched teaching.
• School funding equity
• Professional development for teachers
• Early education and post-secondary education
• The politics of immigration, and migrant education
• Educator recruitment and retention

Policy Recommendations:

• Analyze barriers that Hispanic students face in gaining access to college
• Provide parents with financial information that can be used for students' college education
• Improve teacher's education programs. Teachers are not well prepared for teaching Hispanic students, especially Hispanic ELL students.
• Reduce class sizes, improve student resources, and student social services
• Teachers should be exposed to a curriculum during their university years that teachers them cultural understanding and sensitivity
• Work to pass legislation that changes property tax laws and state laws to broaden the school funding base

• Link to Full Report

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
Visit www.nea.org or call (202) 833-4000

Verdugo, Richard R. (2006. "Report on the Status of Hispanics in Education: Overcoming a History of Neglect." National Education Association.

Tags: Curriculum; Instructional Programs; Language Proficiency; Latino ELL Students;

Target Population: Elementary, Middle, High School

Research Questions the Report Poses: "Why do California elementary schools serving similar proportions of low-income, Spanish speaking EL students differ by over 250 points on California's new EL Academic Performance Index score? What school practices can help explain this API gap?"

Findings:

• One practice strongly correlated with a higher EL-API among our sample of elementary schools was the extensive use of student assessment data by the district and the principal in an effort to improve instruction and student learning.
• EL-API performance was higher in schools where principals reported that a larger proportion of their teaching staff had qualities such as a demonstrated ability to raise student achievement, strong content knowledge, and others.
• Higher EL-API was correlated with schools in which teachers reported most strongly that there is school-wide instructional consistency within grades, curricular alignment from grade-to-grade, and that instruction is based upon state academic standards.
• A shared culture within the school regarding the value of improving student achievement and a sense of shared responsibility for it seems to distinguish the higher performing schools in our sample based on EL—APIs.
• A school's outreach to parents, encouragement of teacher collaboration, and enforcement of positive student behaviors (like attendance and tolerance) have long been recognized as important contributors to the student and professional culture at a school.

Policy Recommendations:

• California should "stay the course with its reforms" to make sure that "curriculum programs and state standards tests are well aligned with the state's academic standards."
• School districts need to provide "better assessment and other data on their students in easy-to-access formats"
• Hire more administrators to try to adjust the highest-in-the-nation pupil-to-administrator ratio in the country
• Professional development needs to provided to ensure that teachers have the resources they need to effectively combat the challenges that educating ELL students provides

• Read more about this report
• Download full report (1.1MB PDF)*

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
n/a

Williams, T., Hakuta, K., Haertel, E., et al. (2007). Similar English Learner Students, Different Results: Why Do Some Schools Do Better? A follow-up analysis, based on a large-scale survey of California elementary schools serving low-income and EL students. Mountain View, CA: EdSource.

Tags: Intervention; Latino ELL Students; Motivation; Rights, Students;

Target Population: Middle, High School, Post-Secondary (all adolescents)

Research Questions the Report Poses:

• How do Latino adolescents navigate the different social settings and institutions that they encounter in life?
• Within the current environment, are school and work viewed by Latino youth as a great "equalizer," part of an opportunity structure that can give them the tools and security to succeed and progress?
• Or, do Latino youth perceive these settings as further reinforcing the broader inequalities that they already face?
• Do young Latinos feel that they are treated differently within such settings, and if so, in which specific ways do they experience and interpret these differences?
• Broadly speaking, how do young Latinos' interactions within all of these systems affect their sense of well-being, identity, and belonging in U.S. society?

Findings:

• Latino youth tend to have an optimistic outlook on the role of education and a strong desire to achieve successful careers. These attitudes are often associated with the hopes and expectations of their immigrant parents and with their own desire to contribute to their community and nation.
• Despite these optimistic attitudes, the teenagers expressed a pervasive sense of being negatively stereotyped by institutional actors as varied as teachers, employers, and police officers. They described how assumptions about Hispanic youth and Latinos in general are manifested within the different social settings discussed.
• Latino youth report significant ethnic stereotyping at school by teachers, administrators, and peers. Such stereotyping, they feel, often leads Hispanic students to be overlooked, excluded, or negatively tracked, and results in unequal educational opportunities.
• The youth often perceive the workplace as a site of unfair practices based on racial and ethnic assumptions on the part of employers. Many of these youth's perceptions of discrimination in the workforce were directly related to the experiences of their parents and other community members.
• Across all focus groups, the youth emphatically described feeling unfairly and habitually profiled by law enforcement as a result of negative assumptions regarding Hispanic youth, gangs, and immigrants. Such regular contact with the police, which takes place in a variety of spaces, compounds feelings of vulnerability and distrust in their communities.
• One of the most consistent findings across the focus groups was the teenagers' pervasive sense of being racialized-or constructed as different, as "other"-on a regular basis, and in practically all realms of experience.

• Read the Full Report

Foxen, P. (2010, October, 21)."Speaking Out: Latino Youth on Discrimination in the United States" National Council of La Raza. Retrieved January 3, 2011, from: http://www.nclr.org/index.php/publications/speaking_out_latino_youth_on_discrimination_in_the_united_states/

Tags: Motivation; Rights, Parents; Rights, Students;

Target Population: All

Research Questions the Report Poses: How are immigrants adapting to life in the United States, particularly considering their country of origin?

Findings:

• First, immigrant children and children of immigrants (that is, the first and second generations) tend to have higher ambition (aspirations or expectations, or both) than their third–generation and higher counterparts and have generally superior academic performance.
• Immigrants of different national origins vary significantly in both ambition and performance. (Asian–origin groups tend to have higher and more stable expectations and to perform better in school; Mexican, Latino, and Caribbean immigrants scatter toward the opposite end of the spectrum.)
• Girls consistently have higher ambition and perform better than boys.
• Aspirations and academic performance are strongly correlated, although it is hard to say which causes which.
• Along with their aspirations and expectations, the self–identities and self–esteem of children of immigrants are key to their assimilation.
• Place of birth and length of residence in the host society are powerful determinants of self–identity.
• Education promotes a dual or "transnational" identity.
• Immigrant youths of color such as blacks, mulattoes, mestizos, and Asians are more likely to experience discrimination and, hence, to develop a reactive ethnicity and adopt ethnic labels that they usually regard as very important.
• The American racial hierarchy has resulted in a plurality of self–designations among children of immigrants, into four categories: nonhyphenated Americans, hyphenated Americans, pan–ethnics, and nonhyphenated foreign nationals.
• Fluent bilingualism is associated with higher cognitive development, academic performance, and self–esteem in adolescence.
• Fluency in the language of the host society is almost universal among second–generation youths; fluency in the parental languages is much less common.
• All national origin groups make significant progress from the first to the second generation in educational attainment, with second–generation outcomes approaching average outcomes for native whites.
• Although all national origin groups make educational progress, second–generation Mexicans and Central Americans fall significantly behind native whites in rates of high school completion and college graduation.
• Male incarceration rates increase for all national origin groups between the first and second generations, with Mexican and Latin American the highest and Asian the lowest.
• Female fertility rates in adolescence and early adulthood decline across generations for all Latin national origin groups, while Asian fertility rates are extremely low and decline further between generations.
• Although there is educational progress between the first and second generations, subsequent generations stagnate educationally and occupationally. They never catch up with the native–white averages.

Policy Recommendations:

• A first urgent policy measure is the legalization of 1.5–generation youths who are unauthorized migrants.
• Legislation like the DREAM Acts needs to be passed lest the immigrant youth population devolves into a self–fulfilling prophecy in which youths barred from conventional mobility channels turn to gangs and other unorthodox means of self–affirmation and survival.
• The available evidence supports the paradox that preserving the linguistic and cultural heritage of the home countries often helps migrant children move ahead in America.

• Read the Full Report

Portes, A., Rivas, A. (2011) "The Adaptation of Migrant Children." Immigrant Children 21 (1). The Future of Children. Retrieved from: http://www.futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/journals/article/index.xml?journalid=74&articleid=547.

Tags: Latino ELL Students;

Target Population: Preschool, Elementary, Middle, High School

Research Questions the Report Poses: How have the schools changed in the past ten years in terms of enrollment and demographics?

Findings:

• Hispanics account for 3 million of 4.7 million additional students in American public schools from 1993–94 to 2002–03, or 64% of the increase. The number of black students increased by 1.1 million, and the number of Asians grew by half a million. Meanwhile, white public school enrollment dropped by 35,000.
• White students continued to attend schools populated primarily by other whites and relatively few attended schools populated primarily by minorities.
• A relatively small number of schools absorbed most of the increase in Hispanic enrollment and that those schools differ in important ways from schools less affected by Hispanic population growth.
• Nationwide, the average share of white students in Hispanic–impacted schools decreased from 60% to 38%. Meanwhile, in all other schools the white share declined more modestly from 71% to 66%.
• Across all grades, new schools differ from existing schools in that they are smaller, and they have more affluent students.

Policy Recommendations:
The report did not offer policy recommendations.

• Link to Full Report

Fry, R. (2006). The changing landscape of American public education: New students, new schools. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.

Tags: Latino ELL Students; Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA;

Target Population: Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and High School

Findings:

Cultural assets include:

• Newborns of Latino immigrants are remarkably healthy.
• Most Latino children, about 80%, grow up in two-parent families (particularly Mexican and Cuban and to a lesser extent Puerto Rican families).
• Mexican-American kindergarteners display robust social skills (self-control and aggression) in comparison to African-American and White children.
• Immigrant Latina mothers have low risk of giving birth to unhealthy infants, in spite of typically low income status. This may be attributed to healthier prenatal practices (more fruits and vegetables, less smoking and alcohol consumption) than Americans.
• Latino children have strong social skills and emotional confidence upon entering school.
• Math scores are strong in first-generation elementary students.
• Robust effort and engagement of first-generation Latino students is demonstrated by academic achievement in high school even when test scores are lower.

Risk factors include:

• Mexican-American mothers tend to have a limited educational background.
• Cognitive growth (including indices of preschool abilities and high school completion) fades in second- and third- generation children.
• Math scores decline for second- and third-generation students.
• Latino adolescents' strong obligation to their family can impact school performance.

Policy Recommendations:

• What factors drive the immigrant paradox?
• What does the diversity of Latino students tell us about differing cultural origins and contemporary communities?
• Do public policies build from these family strengths, or inadvertently erode cultural assets?

• Read the Full Report

Coll, C.G., Fuligni, A., Galindo, C., Hernandez, D., & Tienda, M. (n.d.). The cultural strengths of Latino families: Firm scaffolds for children and youth. New Journalism on Latino Children. Retrieved from: http://www.ewa.org/site/DocServer/NJLC_CulturalStrengths_WEB.pdf?docID=641

Tags: Bilingual Instruction; Bilingualism / Biliteracy; Latino ELL Students; Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA;

Target Population: Preschool, Elementary, Middle, High School, Post-Secondary

Findings:

• In 2008, Latinos were about half as likely as African Americans and a third as likely as White students to obtain a college degree.
• “According to the U.S. Census, almost 29 percent of Latino children lived below the poverty line nationally in 2007 (compared to 15 percent of White children), and the effects of poverty on intellectual and academic achievement can be pernicious.”
• Latina mothers have the lowest education of all ethnic groups.
• Low-income Latino parents are often overlooked by schools often related to low levels of education or limited English.
• Learning to read and build vocabulary in Spanish can be an key stepping stone to learning English.
• A randomized study of preschool programs (English bilingual versus two-way immersion) Spanish-speaking students in the dual-language program showed significant growth in Spanish vocabulary with similar learning gains.
• Latino children of poverty often have fewer “opportunities to learn,” which can impede learning.
• Latino children, especially those learning English, who enter school underprepared need significant additional instructional time.
• In the West, 60% of Latinos in large cities attend schools with 90-100% non-white peers. English language learners face similar hyper-segregation that limits social capital.
• “Housing is the fulcrum of opportunity.” Segregated housing perpetuates intergenerational inequality.
• Latino students are more likely than others to move frequently, which can have a negative impact on academic achievement.
• Many Latino students are out of school a significant time due to preventable illness as a result of lack of health care access.
• Integrated physical and mental health, when implemented well, can impact children’s health, achievement, and mobility.
• California’s Healthy Start centers showed extensive effects but has been defunded.
• Well-prepared teachers for Latino students are hard to attract and retain.
• American schools often treat speaking a language other than English as an impediment, unlike other developed nations. This limits the human resource and cognitive advantage of being literate in another language.
• Students in two-way immersion classes have positive intercultural relations.
• College access and preparation programs, which often begin too late or include too few students, are severely limited in effect.
• Most Latino students attend two-year colleges, which are less likely to provide financial aid. Lack of funding is a key deterrent for Latinos going to college.
• RAND study indicated that doubling college completion rate of Latinos would cost $6.5 billion but benefit society by $13 billion.

Policy Recommendations:

• Early and continuing cognitive enrichment
• Early intervention that extends parents’ “Funds of knowledge”
• Preschool that builds incorporates home language
• Use of bilingual instruction with good models of both languages
• Subsidized preschool programs
• Housing Policies
• “Latino students must be assigned to schools that will give them the chance to break the vicious cycle of poor schooling and limited opportunity.”
• Changing school boundaries to prevent socioeconomic and linguistic isolation
• Desegregated housing (mayoral collaboration with school boards)
• Policies to help low-income families establish stable housing in a community
• School desegregation and residential stabilization
• Integrated Social Services
• Concerted effort to establish more school-based health clinics for low-income students/families
• Universal health care accessed at school sites or local communities
• Recruiting and Preparing Extraordinary Teachers
• Recruit teachers from students’ communities
• Improving work conditions (smaller classes, supportive leadership, planning time, and safe campuses)
• Targeted recruitment and tuition support for teachers in bilingual programs.
• Exploiting the Latino Linguistic Advantage
• Languages should be seen as resources.
• College Preparation and Support Programs
• Bridge K-12 schools with institutes of higher education.
• Recruit Latino students
• Create supports for peer study and social groups
• Place the best teachers in freshman classes
• Extend program components beyond the freshman year
• Acknowledge cumulative skill development
• Provide meaningful financial aid
• Cost-free four-year education for qualified individuals (through alignment of federal and state aid)
• Support for the passage of the Dream Act that would provide undocumented students with no criminal record conditional legal status and access to student aid
• Supports for dual language programs
• Dropout prevention and college access programs

• Read the Full Report

Gándara, P. (2010). The Latino Education Crisis: Rescuing the American Dream. WestEd. Retrieved from: http://www.wested.org/online_pubs/pp-10-02.pdf

Tags: Latino ELL Students; Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA; Rights, Parents; Rights, Students;

Target Population: Middle and high school students

Research Questions the Report Poses:

• What are Latino parents' perceptions of their own participation in their children's education?
• What are schools' and teachers' expectations of parental involvement?
• How do parents' and schools' expectations match?
• What are Latino students' perceptions of their parents' role in their education?
• What are the programmatic initiatives that address parental involvement?

Findings:

• Schools and school districts need to have clear goals and objectives to increase parental involvement in middle and high schools.
• Latino parents most often define the word education (educación) as their parental involvement in their children's lives, and, as a consequence, this will help students in their academic performance in school.
• Latino parents describe the communication between parents and teachers/administrators/counselors in middle or high school as rather impersonal and inadequate.
• Language, for Latino parents, is still the main factor that discourages them from actively participating in school activities and events.
• The second, most important reason for low Latino parental involvement is work demand.

Policy Recommendations:

The author recommends:

• Statewide and national accountability requirements measuring parental involvement
• Legislation that allows flex time or work-leave for school meetings
• Increased bilingual staffing
• Funding for innovative parent engagement models
• Large-scale partnerships between communities, universities, and schools
• Clear goals for increasing parental involvement
• Compensation for teachers with strong records of parental engagement
• Increased professional development

• Read the Full Report

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
The Tomás Rivera Policy Institute University of Southern California School of Policy, Planning and Development 650 Childs Way, Lewis Hall, Suite 102 Los Angeles, California 90089-0626

Zarate, Maria Estela. (2007). Understanding Latino Parental Involvement in Education: Perceptions, Expectations, and Recommendations. Los Angeles, California. The Tomás Rivera Policy Institute. University of Southern California.