Helping Children from Immigrant Families Succeed: Model

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Helping Children from Immigrant Families Succeed
Model Strategies for Building Capacity in School
Systems.

• Andrés HenríquezModerator

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Context

• Children in immigrant families now constitute 20
  percent of the K-12 student population. The
  sheer number of these studentsmany of whom are
  not proficient in Englishcreates tremendous
  challenges for schools systems, particularly
  gateway communities.

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Fact 1

• During the 1990s, more than 14 million immigrants
  entered the United States--this figure exceeds
  immigration flow in any decade in the nations
  history (Fix Passel, 2003). In fact, the
  Agosto among Hispanics. This community is now 39
  million strong, bilingual, bicultural, mostly
  young Hispanics who will drive growth in the U.S.
  population and workforce and are growing in their
  political influence and buying power in the
  United States yearly (Grow, 2004).2

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Fact 2

• According to a study by the Inter-American
  Development Bank Sending Money Home, ninety
  cents out of every dollar earned by immigrants
  stays in their adopted communities creating a
  huge boost to local economies. Latino immigrant
  workers send more than 30 billion a year home
  from the U.S. But they pour more than 400
  billion annually into their local economies in
  this country (Millman, 2004).

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Fact 3

• This new immigration flow is having a profound
  effect on the nation's demographic distribution.
  As of the year 2000, the foreign-born represented
  11 of the total U.S. population and 25 of the
  low-wage workers. The foreign-born (i.e. the
  first generation) and U.S.-born children of
  immigrants (i.e., the second generation) together
  represe5nted 20 of all children under 18 in the
  U.S. and 25 of all low-income children.3 A
  second important demographic shift is the
  dispersal of immigrant populations to states and
  communities with comparatively little recent
  history of newcomers. Before 1995, there were a
  number of gateway states that were popular with
  migrants (CA, NY, TX, FL, IL, NJ). However,
  there are new growth areas like in the Rocky
  Mountains, the Midwest and in particular
  Southeastern state (NC, AK, GA)4

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Helping Children from Immigrant Families Succeed
Model Strategies for Building Capacity in School
Systems (Scenarios to set the context of talks)

• The Immigrant and Education Study Group is
  co-sponsored by GFE and Grantmakers Concerned
  with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR). The Study
  Group provides a regular forum for grantmakers to
  build their knowledge and understanding on a
  range of immigrant education issues of interest
  to its members. Members are the driving force
  behind the study group, defining discussion
  topics, identifying speakers, and organizing and
  facilitating group meetings. For more
  information contact
• Alison De Lucca, Program Coordinator
• Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and
  Refugees
• Tel [phone]
• Email alison_at_gcir.org
• URL www.gcir.org

Grantmakers for Education 2004
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Scenario 1

• Ana Maria Gonzalez arrived to this rural boarder
  community from Mexico as a teenager several years
  ago. Ana Maria is highly motivated and has a
  great thirst for knowledge. Ana Maria excels in
  mathematics and science and by her senior year
  Ana Maria graduates as her class valedictorian.
  However, because of her low economic and
  undocumented status, Ana Maria is not sure she
  can attend college. Ana Maria has little access
  to information about colleges and she knows
  little about the financial aid process. Her
  parents strongly feel she should stay home and
  work and not stray too far from home. In
  addition, the high school guidance counselor has
  little experience assisting Latino college bound
  students. What are the options for students like
  Ana Maria who excel academically, but are often
  held back because of lack information, lack of
  financial resources and strong ties to culture
  and family?

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Scenario 2

• After experiencing years of blight, the
  industrial town of Anywhere, USA has seen
  resurgence in the last several years. Fueled by
  the growing number of immigrants, the population
  of Anywhere has quadrupled in the last decade
  according to the most recent Census. Business in
  the old textile town is booming. Schools in the
  community, however, have been caught off guard by
  the demographic shift. The school superintendent
  has little knowledge of the kinds of
  interventions that would be most helpful to the
  new students. In addition, teachers in the
  district have not been prepared to teach the new
  immigrant population. The single ESL teacher in
  town is overly taxed and the number of English
  Language Learner (ELL) students is expected to
  double next September. The superintendent is
  unsure of how to shift professional development
  dollars to address the growing number of
  immigrant students. What are the options for
  these schools? What kinds of strategies should
  be put in place for the growing number of ELL
  students? What would you do if you were the
  district superintendent of Anywhere, USA?

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Scenario 3

• Like many of his ELL peers, Jose Agosto
  experiences a satisfactory educational system
  when compared to the one he left in Guatemala.
  However, as Jose enters secondary school he faces
  a number of barriers as he goes through the
  school system (low expectations of teachers, lack
  of resources at the school for ELL students). It
  has become clear to the school district that
  successfully teaching immigrant adolescents to
  speak English is not sufficient to enable them to
  succeed in middle and high schools. Jose is
  required to perform at high academic levels in
  subject-specific areas and Joses school
  principal is confused about federal policies
  requiring that all children be tested and
  promoted (should Jose with his limited English
  skills be tested when he doesnt yet have
  complete grasp of the language)? Jose and his
  peers are at the highest risk of dropping out of
  the school system altogether, but his school
  district has yet to devise a strategy for
  targeting ELL students going through the
  educational pipeline. What should a strategy
  consist of?

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Introductions of People

• Ashley Delucca--Ashley De Lucca is the
  Communications and Development Director at
  Project GRAD Los Angeles. She has worked with
  Project GRAD Los Angeles since its inception in
  1999 and is responsible for all development and
  communications activities in the organization.
  Prior to her tenure at Project GRAD Los Angeles,
  she coordinated the Womens Leadership Program at
  Mount St. Marys College. Ms. De Lucca will
  discuss how Project GRAD Los Angeles effectively
  works with students, families, schools, the
  community, higher education, and businesses to
  create a college-bound culture for immigrant
  students in Los Angeles.
• Hector Garza--is the founding president of the
  NCCEP. Through his extensive experience in the
  governmental, nonprofit and consulting sectors,
  Dr. Garza has gained a wealth of knowledge and
  field experience in creating and sustaining K-16
  educational partnerships, and has provided
  training and technical assistance in areas of
  educational reform, evaluation of college access
  programs, partnership building, media relations,
  community engagement, race relations and
  effective strategies for educating low-income and
  minority students in K-20.
• Mr. Mitchell is a Dalton attorney and former
  judge, state senator and U.S. Congressman. As the
  founding Chairman of The Georgia Project, he
  received the National Education Association's
  2001 George I. Sanchez Memorial Award. Mr.
  Mitchells experience with an effective local,
  place-based model to support schools and the
  broader community with immigrant integration will
  add a tremendous amount to the discussion.

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Presentations

• The Georgia Project is a community-based,
  non-profit organization which seeks to support
  the academic and social needs of Latino students,
  their families, and the citizens of Dalton,
  Whitfield County, and Northwest Georgia. The
  project aims to assist local schools and the
  community to respond favorably and effectively to
  the growing numbers of Latino newcomers. Its
  success can be attributed is to its grassroots
  nature and multifaceted partnership between the
  Dalton Public Schools, the surrounding Whitfield
  County Schools, the Universidad de Monterrey in
  Mexico, the business community and a council of
  concerned private citizens.
• Project GRAD is a nonprofit pre K-16 school
  reform model currently underway in twelve school
  districts across the country. The mission of the
  program is to ensure a quality public education
  for all children in economically disadvantaged
  communities to increase high school graduation
  rates and prepare graduates to be successful in
  college. Since its inception, achievement gaps in
  reading and math have been greatly reduced at the
  various Project GRAD sites. Project GRAD is a
  strong example of a comprehensive model that can
  be adapted to meet the needs of ethnically
  diverse communities.

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Presentations

• The National Council for Community and Education
  Partnerships (NCCEP) is committed to creating and
  sustaining educational partnerships. Its primary
  objective is to promote student achievement and
  increase access to postsecondary education for
  all students. By building broad-based
  partnerships, linking schools and communities,
  developing new initiatives, supporting proven
  programs and using research findings to create
  successful frameworks for action, NCCEP aims to
  invigorate the principle of equal educational
  opportunity for all, and in the process to enrich
  the entire life of our nation.