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Getting Serious About Improving Hispanic Children's Chances

Lisa Guernsey - 
April 23, 2009 - 9:50am

Hispanic children are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States, yet they are doing worse in school than any of their peers. They need urgent attention, says a new Social Policy Report from the Society of Research in Child Development, which recommends many steps to be taken by government, educational and community organizations. 

Two of the boldest calls to action are to:

  • Establish and strengthen dual-language programs, which have been shown in recent studies to be more effective than English-only programs at bridging achievement gaps for Hispanic children.
  • Provide more pre-kindergarten programs to Hispanic children, who have been shown in some studies to be less likely to attend preschool.

The report, which was written by Eugene Garcia and Bryant Jensen of Arizona State University, is summarized in a helpful policy brief. Here's an excerpt, outlining recommendations on the federal and state levels:

The federal government should:

  • Develop, evaluate, and expand programs to raise the number of preschool and early elementary teachers proficient in English and Spanish
  • Develop, evaluate, and expand programs to recruit Spanish speakers trained to teach students a second language to work as classroom language specialists
  • Expand dual-language programs through Head Start, Early Head Start, and other federal programs
  • Expand national and international databases that assess students’ academic performance

State governments should:

  • Collaborate with local communities to offer high-quality educational experiences at different times of the day and week to meet families’ scheduling needs
  • Provide Hispanic 3- and 4-year-olds access to free, state-funded, high-quality preschool programs
  • Give qualified preschool teachers pay and benefits equal to public school teachers
  • Establish information systems for districts and state education departments to 1) learn more about students’ race/ethnicity, parents’ education, family income, immigrant generation status, national origin, and primary language spoken at home, 2) monitor the academic progress of different groups of students, and 3) gauge policies’ and programs’ effectiveness over time

 

 

 

 

(Photo from SRCD's policy brief page.)

 

 

 

 

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Comments

Increasing the Achievement of Immigrant Children

Submitted by Betsy Lindeman Wong (not verified) on April 28, 2009 - 1:03pm.

The SCRD report has some great recommendations for increasing the educational achievement of Hispanic youth. For maximum effect, however, innovative dual-language programs for preschoolers and elementary children must be accompanied by programs to involve parents in their children's academic careers and in the life of the schools they attend.

I teach in a family literacy/ESOL program in Fairfax County, Virginia. What I find is that immigrant parents ...

* May not be fully literate themselves, making it more challenging to support a child's literacy development in any language.

* May not have attended more than a few years of school in the native country -- and thus may not be familiar with routine expectations and study habits (checking children's homework at night, getting children to school on time, etc.).

* May come from a culture in which the teacher is regarded as an authority figure who knows what is best and is not to be questioned, which clashes with the U.S. expectation of parents advocating for their children and actively participating in parent-teacher conferences.

* May be intimidated by the thought of participating in school activities such as field trips or "Family Fun Nights" for fear of not understanding English and looking foolish in front of their children.

What I also find is that the same immigrant parents are highly motivated individuals who are devoted to their children and want nothing more than to see them succeed in school.

Programs such as Fairfax County's offer free ESL courses to parents of children -- and free babysitting for younger children. These programs teach English language and literacy; more importantly, they also familiarize parents with U.S. school expectations and customs.

Parents learn to become partners with schools and advocates for their children. They participate more actively in their children's schooling as a result of these programs.

ESOL family literacy programs are a win-win situation. From a small initial investment, there are huge benefits -- for the children, their parents, and the school system as a whole.

Betsy Lindeman Wong
Adult ESOL Instructor
Fairfax County Public Schools
Adult and Community Education
ESOL Family Literacy