Engaging Immigrant Youth: Education for the 21 st Century Carola Suárez-Orozco, Ph.D. Co-Director Immigration Studies @ NYU Professor of Applied Psychology

Engaging Immigrant Youth: Education for the 21st

Century

Carola Suárez-Orozco, Ph.D.Co-Director Immigration Studies @ NYU

Professor of Applied PsychologyNYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, & Human

Developmentwww.nyu.education/immigration/

Immigration Studies @ NYU

Growing & Diverse Immigrant Student Population


Overlooked and Underserved


Harvard Immigration Study

Longitudinal, interdisciplinary, & comparative Documenting continuities and discontinuities in immigration

youth’s educational attitudes and adaptations over time 400 Youth from Central America, China, the Dominican

Republic, Haiti, & Mexico Ages 9 & 14 at beginning of study Recruited from 51 schools in 7 school districts in the Boston

& San Francisco areas Thirty graduate level bicultural & multilingual research

assistants Funded to date by the National Science Foundation, the W.T.

Grant Foundation and The Spencer Foundation


Study Objectives

Identify factors that contribute to 2 ACADEMIC outcomes in Year 5 Grades Achievement tests

Identify Trajectories of Grade performance over the course of 5 years

Describe Factors that contribute to Trajectories Ecological framework Using mixed methods Cumulative & interactional developmental challenges


Triangulated Data Collection Strategies

Ethnographic Observations

Structured Interviews: Students Parents School Personnel

Bilingual Verbal Abilities Testing

Woodcock-Johnson Test of Achievement

Report Cards

Teacher Completed Behavioral Checklists


Engagement

CognitiveEngagement

RelationalEngagement

BEHAVIORAL

ENGAGEMENT GRADES


Control Variables~Gender~Country of Origin ~Years in U.S. GRADES

Year 5

Predicting Academic Achievement Outcomes


Control Variables~Gender~Country of Origin ~Years in U.S.

School Factors~School Segregation ~Percent of students in school passing high stakes English test

GRADESYear 5





GRADESYear 5Home Factors

~2 Adults in home~Mother’s Education~Working Father





Student Factors~Attitudes towards School ~Psychological Symptoms~Cognitive engagement ~Relational engagement~Behavioral engagement~Academic English proficiency

GRADESYear 5

Home Factors~2 Adults in home~Mother’s Education~Working Father

32% of variance






Achievement Test Year 5Home Factors

~2 Adults in home~Mother’s Education~Working Father






Achievement Test Year 5


75% of variance






Achievement Test Year 5


11% of variance



0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

70 or below 71-85 86-100 101-115 116 -130 131 or above

Standard Scores

Percent of Students

samplenorm

English Language Proficiency


Challenge of Learning English


Academic Performance Pathways

A

B

C

D


Characteristics of Declining Pathways

Less educated parents

Attending poor quality schools

Gaps in English language proficiency

Most family conflict

More likely to have protracted separations

Many with unauthorized status

Endorsed psychological symptoms

Few supportive school relations

Low behavioral engagement

Difficulty sustaining incoming hope & drive


Myriam—Declining Case Study


Characteristics of Low Achievers

Least resources

Come in with gaps in literacy & schooling

Attended worst schools

Significant family problems

Few supportive school relations

Did not have the psychological issues of the Decliners

Lure of work

Never find their academic bearings


Leon—Case Study of a Low Achiever


Characteristics of Improvers

Initial transplant shock Often had undergone pre-migration trauma Attended better schools than decliners or low achievers More likely to have intact families & working parents More likely to connect with a mentor


Ramón—Improving Case Study


Characteristics of High Achievers

Most educated parents Least family separations Better family relations Best emotional wellbeing Attended best schools Most supportive school based relationships Best English language skills Highest behavioral engagement


Li—Case Study of a High Achiever


Educational Implications

Practices that serve ALL students well Rigorous Relevant for the 21st century Fostering Relationships Students at the center of Teaching & Learning Innovative Pedagogy (beyond “chalk & talk”) Flexible & Relevant Assessment (e.g. portfolios) Providing Explicit College Pathway Knowledge Providing Tutoring/After-school/Summer academic supports Finding ways NOT to make mentoring accidental


Accommodating Specific Newcomer Students

Engaging family & community supports Community outreach & cultural brokers

Faith based supports too often overlooked New culturally relevant definitions of parental involvement

Thorough initial intake evaluation assessing strengths and gaps Literacy Interrupted schooling Academic strengths & deficits

Providing Language learning supports Providing supports for psychological needs

Trauma & Separations Adjustments to a new land Fostering Relationships


References Cynthia García-Coll and Katherine Magnuson. (1997). "The Psychological Experience

of Immigration: A Developmental Perspective," in A. Booth, A. C. Crouter & Nancy Landale, eds., Immigration and the Family, pp. 91-132.

Hernández, D., and E. Charney. 1998. From Generation to Generation: The Health and Well-Being of Children of Immigrant Families. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press. 1998.

Suárez-Orozco, C., Gaytán, F. Bang, H. J., Pakes, J., & Rhodes, J. (2010). Academic Trajectories of Newcomer Immigrant Youth. Developmental Psychology, 46(3) 602-618.

Suárez-Orozco, C. and Suárez-Orozco, M. Children of Immigration, 2001. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Carola Suárez-Orozco, Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, and Irina Todorova. Learning a New Land: Immigrant Students in American Society, 2008. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Carola Suárez-Orozco, Irina Todorova, and Josephine Louie, "Making Up for Lost Time:" The Experience of Separation and Reunification Among Immigrant Families. Family Process 41(4), (2001), pp. 625-643.

Documents

Engaging Immigrant Youth: Education for the 21 st Century Carola Suárez-Orozco, Ph.D. Co-Director Immigration Studies @ NYU Professor of Applied Psychology