Special Populations (Migrants, Refugees, and SIFEs)

Tags: Books and Other Reading Materials; Instructional Programs; Intervention; Placement; Rights, Students;

Target Population: All

Research Questions the Report Poses:

• What are the demographics of LEP and LEP students with disabilities?
• What kind of instructional services do LEP and LEP with disabilities receive, and how do they align with statewide standards?
• What are the outcomes of LEP and LEP with disabilities?

Findings:

• In 2001–02, LEP comprised 8.4 % of the student population, with the majority in lower elementary grades.
• Spanish is the most common native language of LEP by far.
• Although the largest portion of the LEP student population is enrolled within only a few districts, there are many districts across the U.S. serving small numbers of LEP students.
• Instructional services for LEP vary greatly, especially in the areas of extent of services provided, and extent of use of native language, and for Sp–Ed LEP–services provided outside vs. inside the classroom.
• There has been a shift in the past 10 years in LEP instructional services toward services provided in English.
• There has been a dramatic increase (350%) in the number of teachers who work with at least one LEP student from '92–'02.
• 6/10 teachers who worked with three or more LEP students reported a median of four hours of relevant in–service training.
• District coordinators reported that the instruction LEP and Sp–Ed LEP students received was less aligned with State standards than that of non–LEP students.
• Many school districts and schools had considerable difficulty in providing a count of SpEd–MEP students.
• Fewer LEP students were in special education than the entire student population as a whole. (9.2& vs. 13.5%)
• Compared to LEP students, SpEd–MEP students are less likely to receive LEP instructional services, and more likely to receive instruction in English.
• Instructional services for Spanish–language SpEd–MEP students differed from services received by SpEd–MEP students from other language backgrounds.

Policy Recommendations:

• As mainstream classes become more diverse, in ethnicity, English proficiency, and instruction, teachers and aides face new challenges, which should be answered with additional training.
• Districts should keep better records on LEP and former LEPs, and consider both when analyzing student outcomes.
• Schools need to determine as early as possible if students' difficulties stem from second language learning or from a disability, and provide support accordingly.
• Further efforts are needed to define effective instruction for SpEd–MEP students, and to promote increased collaboration across the LEP and special education programs in providing SpEd–MEP services.

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U.S. Department of Education. (2002). To assure the free appropriate public education of all children with disabilities: Twenty-fourth annual report to Congress on the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Act. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education.

Zehler, A. M., Fleischman, H. L., Hopstock, P. J., Pendzick, M. L., & Stephenson, T. G. (2003). Descriptive study of services to LEP students and LEP students with disabilities (No. 4 Special topic report: findings on special education LEP students). Development Associates, Inc.: Arlington, VA.

Tags: Intervention; Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA; Struggling Readers;

Target Population: All

Research Questions the Report Poses:

• Is there a difference in academic achievement between mobile and non-mobile students?
• Is there a difference in academic achievement of mobile students who are low–income versus mobile students who are not? Does the effect of mobility on academic achievement vary according to student's income level?
• Are there differences in academic achievement of fourth grade students based on the mobility level of the school they attend?

Findings:

• A significant difference was found between academic achievement of mobile and non–mobile students, in both math and language arts.
• Economically disadvantaged students were found to suffer greater (negative) effects from mobility than students that were not categorized as economically disadvantaged.
• Mean mobility level of school was found to (negatively) affect academic outcomes.
• One explanation for the reduced academic performance is loss of social capital (ie lack of social support and low parental involvement).

Policy Recommendations:

• Mobility rates are higher among elementary school children than high school students, and there is greater mobility within the same district. Therefore policies considered for implementation to help mobile students should begin at the elementary level.
• Educators should consider developing protocols that identify students in need of additional support and provide relevant programs appropriate to address student needs.
• Educators should have a system in place that: (a) monitors student records to ensure appropriate placement; (b) provides both social and academic support for new students; (c) provides support for parents and families new to the school; and (d) provides support in developing curricula for transitioning students.

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Eddy, Lisa, "THE EFFECT OF STUDENT MOBILITY ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT" (2011). Doctoral Dissertations. Paper 177.

Tags: Differentiated Instruction; Intervention;

Target Population: Elementary, Middle, High School

Findings:

• While the needs of Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFEs) may overlap with ELLs, SIFEs often need more additional support and remedial instruction than ELLs with a formal educational background.
• A well-designed program for SIFEs includes thematically organized literacy and content courses; small class size; and opportunities for teacher collaboration across ESL and content areas.
• After-school and Saturday programs can help students compensate for lost learning time and receive individualized instruction.
• Best practices for ensuring that SIFEs have access to the full curriculum include sheltered instruction, content-based ESL, standards-based learning, and collaborative learning.

Policy Recommendations:
N/A

• Read the Full Report

Office of English Language Learning & Migrant Education, Indiana Department of Education. (2007). Effective Programs for English Language Learners (ELL) with Interrupted Formal Education. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana Department of Education.

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: Intervention; Libraries; Rights, Students;

Target Population: All

Research Questions the Report Poses: Are provided resources to migrant children equal to those provided to non-migrant children?

Findings:

• Migrant children consistently achieve at lower levels than their counterparts.
• Professional staffing levels are generally higher at schools with large numbers of migrant children, and there are lower student-teacher ratios.
• Schools with large numbers of migrant children engaged in a number of special schooling initiatives.
• Regarding library books and computer technology, there was no consistent pattern that favored either group of children.
• There were no reports from the principals of schools that children at schools with no migrant children were being afforded disproportionate resources by the district at the expense of migrant children.

Policy Recommendations:
It is time to consider other and different institutional and structural changes apart from what has been offered in the past in order to truly provide migrant children true equal education opportunity in our public schools.

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Migrant Students: Resources for Migrant Children Similar to Other Students but Achievement Still Lags. (2007). Florida State Advisory Committee.

Tags: Instructional Programs; Latino ELL Students; Motivation; Rights, Students;

Target Population: High school

Research Questions the Report Poses: How well served are out-of-school immigrant youths in the state of California in general? How well served are out-of-school immigrant youths who receive services and resources from California's Migrant Education Program (MEP)?

Findings:

• Though the California Migrant Education Program's attempts to offer educational resources to OSYs, its limited funds and eligibility requirements only allow it to service about 80,000 OSYs.
• California OSYs are some of the most disadvantaged individuals in the state because their legal statuses often make access to public services difficult.
• California OSYs are very eager to continue their education, but they are often unable to do so because of a need to work.
• Approximately 80% of OSYs said their families depended on their incomes to survive.

Policy Recommendations:

• Increase funding to the California MEP
• Change eligibility requirements for receiving MEP funds so that more OSYs are able to receive them
• Offer educational opportunities that allow OSYs to both work and learn

• Link to Full Report

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
Public Policy Institute of California
500 Washington Street
Suite 800
San Francisco, California 94111
E-Mail:merina@ppic.org
Telephone: (415) 291-4400
Fax: (415) 291-4401

Hill, Laura., and Hayes, Joseph. (2007). Out-of-School Immigrant Youth. San Francisco, California: Public Policy Institute of California.

Target Population: Elementary, Middle, High School

Research Questions the Report Poses:

• Within a given school year, what proportion of ELL students and other students are mobile? Did these proportions change over 2004/05-2007/08?
• Does the proportion of students who are mobile disaggregated by ELL status vary by education level? Did these proportions change over 2004/05-2007/08?
• Within a given school year, what proportion of students disaggregated by ELL status make intradistrict transfers? What proportion made interdistrict transfers?
• Do intradistrict and interdistrict transfer rates vary by district size? Did these rates change over 2004/05-2007/08?
• How does the average number of mobility events that students experience over the observation period vary by student characteristics such as ELL status, eligibility for free or reduced price lunch, special education status, race/ethnicity, and grade level?

Findings:

• The proportion of students who experienced a mobility event was higher for ELL students than others.
• Mobility rates declined for both groups from 2004/05-2007/08, but at a faster rate for ELL students. By 07/08, the difference in mobility rates between ELLs and other students had narrowed from 3.6 % to .9%.
• Students who transferred between schools were more than twice as likely to transfer to a school in another district than to one in the same district.
• Both intradistrict and interdistrict transfer rates varied with the enrollment size of the district: the intradistrict transfer rare decreased with district enrollment.
• Students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch and students in special education programs averaged more mobility events than did their counterparts.

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Fong, A.B., Bae, S., and Huang, M. (2010). Patterns of Student Mobility Among English Language Learner Students in Arizona Public Schools. WestEd. Retrieved January 14, 2011 from: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/west/pdf/REL_2010093.pdf

Tags: American Indian ELL Students; Asian ELL Students; Differentiated Instruction; Latino ELL Students; Other ELL Students (Middle Eastern, African, European, etc.); Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA; Rights, Parents; Rights, Students; Struggling Readers;

Target Population: Parents, teachers, and advocates of elementary and middle schools' education.

Research Questions the Report Poses: This article raises the question of the impact of school mobility and its negative effects on student's educational outcomes.

Findings:

• Hispanic immigrants show the highest mobility rates in states like North Carolina and California.
• Current data shows that a student and its family move from state to state more than three times a year during the first grades of elementary school.
• The negative effect of constant moving is the disruption it causes in the new classroom and in the children involved in this moving process.

Policy Recommendations:

• School districts should monitor students' mobility, especially those students who are moving constantly causing academic disruption in any new classroom.
• School districts should also provide counseling to families who are flagged by mobility rates to ameliorate this situation and prevent constant moving.

• Read the Full Report

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
Hard copies can be ordered from CALDER and the Urban Institute.

Xu, Z., Hannaway, J., and D'Souza, S. (2009). Student Transience in North Carolina: The Effect of School Mobility on Student Outcomes Using Longitudinal Data. North Carolina: National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research.

Tags: Bilingual Instruction; Bilingualism / Biliteracy; Differentiated Instruction; Fluency; Instructional Programs; Intervention; Language of Instruction; Language Proficiency; Placement; Reading; Struggling Readers; Transfer of Literacy Skills; Vocabulary;

Target Population: Middle, High School

Research Questions the Report Poses: How accommodated are Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFEs) in NYC public schools? Why SIFEs are struggling academically and what are can be done to improve it?

Findings:

• SIFEs often have poor literary skills in any language, and are likely behind their age level in knowledge-content.
• SIFEs have complex social and psychological needs due to multiple factors including migration, unfamiliarity with surroundings, etc.
• SIFEs need more English language support, and often more individualized instruction to make progress.
• SIFEs lack foundational skills for academic work in English and in most cases their native language.
• Many SIFEs are not steered towards programs that can help them, and the schools they are placed in don't have the resources to teach them properly.
• Many SIFEs as often classified as having disabilities when cases show that this is typically not the case.

• Read the Full Report

Students with Interrupted Education: A Challenge for New York City Public Schools. (2010, May). Advocates for Children of New York. Retrieved July 28, 2010 from http://advocatesforchildren.org/SIFE%20Paper%20final.pdf

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: Comprehension; Curriculum; Language Proficiency; Reading; Struggling Readers; Vocabulary; Writing;

Target Population: All

Research Questions the Report Poses: What are the needs of ELLs? How can teachers address these needs?

Findings:

• Teachers need to get to know their students and about their home situations in order to be most effective.
• Writing well in English is often the most difficult skill for English language learners to master. Thus teachers should be aware that English language learners may not be familiar with standard American writing procedure like drafting, revision, editing, workshop, conference, audience, purpose, or genre.
• The best way to help students learn both English and the knowledge of school subjects is to teach language through content.

Policy Recommendations:

• Colleges and universities should offer pre-service teachers preparation in teaching ELLs including coursework in language acquisition, second language writing and readings, and culture classes.
• High school English departments should integrate programs that welcome and help acculturate late-arrival immigrant and refugee students with low literacy skills.
• The report also provides numerous practical recommendations for strategies in the classroom in various subjects.

• Read full report

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
The National Council of Teachers of English 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 Phone: 217-328-3870 or 877-369-6283 Fax: 217-328-9645

NCTE ELL Task Force. (2006). NCTE Position Paper on the Role of English Teachers in Educating English Language Learners. National Council of Teachers of English: Urbana, IL.