Immigration and Education

Immigration has a profound effect on the social and economic future of the United States. There is an urgent need to improve educational options for new immigrant students at the high school level.

Immigrant students who are English language learners are struggling to perform in existing educational environments. According to a 2005 New York Times story on the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), at the time, student scores on the National Assessment of Education Progress had produced inconsistent results. Although NCLB legislation was designed to close the achievement gap between white, minority, and limited English proficient (LEP) students in public schools, Secretary of Education Margaret Spelling was quoted as saying that the results were “understandable in part, because the nation’s schools were assimilating huge numbers of immigrants”.

As reported by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan independent think tank in Washington DC that analyzes the movement of people worldwide, the number of limited English proficiency (LEP) school-age children has increased dramatically over the last 20 years. Compared to a 12% increase in the general student population for the years 1993 to 2003, the LEP student population rose 84%. And although children at the secondary rather than elementary level comprise the largest share of foreign-born students, they have fewer available resources for English language instruction. As a result, these students make up a significant share of the 30% of the class of 2008 who failed to graduate high school with their peers.

The gap between rich and poor in the United States is increasing dramatically and poverty is a growing trend among immigrant children. While schools alone cannot solve these economic and social problems, a high school diploma can help students break the cycle of poverty and underemployment, and open the door to college and full participation in our American democracy.

Immigration: a snapshot

According to the US Census Bureau’s 2005 American Community Survey:

  • 12.5% of our nation’s population or 37,547,789 individuals are foreign born
  • Over half of the foreign-born population are recent arrivals
  • 52.4% of the 37.2M foreign born residents over the age of five were limited English proficient.

California and New York lead a five-state list of the foreign-born share of the state population:

  • California: 27.2%
  • New York: 21.6%

Between 2000 and 2006, California was first on a list of five states with the largest absolute growth of foreign-born residents:

  • California: 1,037,812 residents
  • New York: 310,829 residents

The lack of a high school diploma has long-term quality of life consequences for individuals:

  • 17.9% of the foreign-born in the United States live in poverty
  • The 8% unemployment rate for adults without a high school diploma is nearly triple that of a college graduate
  • A college graduate will earn $1M more than a high school dropout over the course of his or her lifetime
  • 28% of adults who have not finished high school do not have health insurance as opposed to 7% for adults who hold a college degree.
  • 52% of adults without a high school diploma register to vote as compared with 83% of those who have earned a Bachelor’s degree.