Crossroads: The Psychology of Immigration in the New Century

Family-of-Origin Capital
Immigrant students arrive in the United States with an array
of parental resources (Portes & Rumbaut, 2006; C. Suárez-
Orozco, Gaytán, & Kim, 2010). Although some immigrant
students come from privileged backgrounds, children living
in families headed by immigrant parents are more likely
to be living in poverty than their nonimmigrant-origin
peers (Mather, 2009). This is a significant issue to consider,
as immigrant children are more likely to be raised in
circumstances of poverty than any other group of children
residing in the United States (Mather, 2009). Educational
attainment within the first generation is closely, but not
exclusively, tied to parental educational levels (Portes &
Rumbaut, 2001). Youths arriving from families with lower
levels of education tend to struggle academically, while those
who come from more literate families and with strong skills
often flourish (Kasinitz et al., 2008; Portes & Rumbaut,
2001). Highly literate parents are better equipped to guide
their children in studying, accessing educational information
(Goldenberg, Rueda, & August, 2006), and supporting
literacy development either in their native language (U.S.
Census Bureau, 2007) or in English (Páez, 2001; Portes &
Hao, 1998).
School Resources
U.S. schools are often not well prepared to serve immigrantorigin
students. Schools that serve ELL students have chronic
shortages of teachers with specialized training, and principals,
counselors, and other support staff rarely have such specialized
training either (Ruiz-de-Velasco et al., 2000). In general,
education of immigrant-origin students is conceived of “as
a special or add-on activity outside what school staff often
considers the ‘normal’ functions of the secondary school”
(Ruiz-de-Velasco et al., 2000, p. 58). Thus, programming to
meet the needs of these students often happens in the absence
of sufficient expertise or clear standards.
Immigrant-origin students are often segregated in
neighborhoods marked by poverty and low-performing
schools (Hernandez et al., 2007). Nationally, immigrant
Latinos/as in particular tend to settle in highly segregated
and deeply impoverished urban settings and attend the most
segregated schools of any group in the United States. In
1996, only 25% of Latino/a students attended majority White
schools (Orfield & Lee, 2006). In school, ELL students are
often taught in classrooms separated from the other students
(Olsen, 1997), and in many cases, they do not have much
meaningful contact with their U.S.-born English-speaking
Immigrant Populations in Educational Contexts
peers (Carhill et al., 2008; C. Suárez-Orozco et al., 2008).
Such separations have been associated with reduced school
resources and a variety of negative educational outcomes,
including low expectations, difficulties learning English, lower
achievement, greater school violence, and higher dropout rates
(Gándara & Contreras, 2008; Orfield & Lee, 2006).
Through a parallel process, ELL (bilingual and ESL) teachers
also experience marginalization in the broader school context
(Bascia, 1996; Lucas, 1997; Olsen, 1997; Portes & Rumbaut,
2001; Stanton-Salazar, 2001; C. Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-
Orozco, 2001; Trickett et al., 2012) reflected in insufficient
access to needed educational resources, inadequate teaching
space and facilities, exclusion from educational decision
making, and lack of feedback or support from colleagues
who teach in mainstream classrooms (Markham, 1999; Olsen,
1997). With limited resources and support and a wide range
of English-language skills and educational backgrounds,
ELL teachers struggle to create individualized educational
opportunities for their increasingly diverse immigrant-origin
students (Trickett et al., 2012).
Language-related Educational
Challenges and Models of Language
Instruction
Acquiring the language of the new country is a critical
aspect of academic transition for first-generation immigrant
students. According to an Urban Institute report (Capps
et al., 2005), 62% of foreign-born children speak English
less than “very well.” However, there is a great distinction
between interpersonal communicative English and academic
English. Although developing academic second-language
skills generally requires between 4 and 7 years of optimal
academic instruction (V. P. Collier, 1987, 1992; Cummins,
1991, 2000), students in the United States are generally
expected to transition out of second-language acquisition
programs within 3 years.
While schools place an emphasis on learning English,
research, though counterintuitive, consistently suggests that a
greater degree of literacy instruction in the native language
leads to greater academic success in English (Goldenberg,
2008). Goldenberg (2008) cited five meta-analyses (August
& Shanahan, 2006; Greene, 1997; Rolstad, Mahoney, &
Glass, 2005; Slavin & Cheung, 2005; Willig, 1985) and
a comprehensive review (Genesee, Lindholm-Leary,
Saunders, & Christian, 2006) that concluded that learning
55