Content area
Full text
Abstract
This paper reviews the literature on the educational experiences of Latino immigrant students in the United States, from early childhood through postsecondary educational attainment. Utilizing a developmental-contextual perspective, we explain the various environmental, political, structural, and psychological challenges these students face, while also highlighting protective factors in the school and family. We highlight how schools, communities, and families can work together to improve the educational chances of these students. These students are less likely to receive high-quality early childhood education and care before the age of five, setting the stage for potential academic disadvantage later on. Parental premigration characteristics play an important role in children's achievement during elementary and middle school, a time when parent educational involvement is important but often difficult for immigrant families. Immigrant students are less likely to graduate high school compared to children of native-born parents and during adolescence may experience isolation from U.S. peer groups. These findings are discussed in light of the additional risks carried by unauthorized status, as well as immigration and acculturation-related stressors. Given that these children are a growing segment of the U.S. population and will soon comprise a large portion of the nation's workforce, we argue that educating them effectively should be of utmost importance. We conclude with policy recommendations, practice recommendations for schools, and important directions for future research.
Key Words: immigration, parent educational involvement, school achievement, educational aspirations, Latino immigrant students, family-schoolcommunity collaboration, English language learners (ELLs), acculturation
Introduction
There are currently 41.3 million immigrants living in the United States (U.S.), 11.7 million of whom are unauthorized (Passel, Cohn, & GonzalesBarrera, 2013; Zong & Batalova, 2015). Latino immigrants make up 47% of the foreign-born population (Motel & Patten, 2011), and demographers predict that by 2020, 30% of all U.S. children will be children of immigrants (Capps, Fix, Ost, Reardon-Anderson, & Passel, 2004; Note: Throughout this article, "immigrant" refers to first-generation immigrant youth and children of immigrants.) This article will summarize the literature on perhaps the most important setting outside the family that will influence the development of these youngest members of immigrant families-school, and it will address the ways in which schools can be places of connection and belonging for immigrant children and youth, particularly when those schools effectively partner with...