Educating Immigrant Students in the 21st Century: What Educators Need to Know

"A comprehensive and important examination of the education of immigrant students in the U.S. Rong and Preissle′s focus on cultural and linguistic transformation across four generations is truly unique." —Stacey J. Lee, Professor of Educational Policy Studies University of Wisconsin-Madison "Rong and Preissle′s first edition has become a standard reference for the education of immigrant students. The evolution and expansion of their research to encompass transnational and transcultural theoretical frameworks is cutting edge and absolutely timely given the changing, almost discursive nature of immigration within an increasingly complicated and shifting world context." —A. Lin Goodwin, Associate Dean and Professor of Education Teachers College, Columbia University Clear guidelines for making informed instructional decisions for immigrant students. Between 1990 and 2005, the number of immigrants and their children in the United States reached more than 70 million, or more than 20% of the nation′s population. Today, educators face significant shifts in the educational landscape. This revised sourcebook supplies educational policy makers and administrators with the information they need to address new challenges in providing children of diverse backgrounds with a quality education. This new edition of Educating Immigrant Children gives educators contemporary perspectives on immigration by clarifying the current demographic data and its significance for schools. The authors present updated information on the unique needs of immigrant students, including children from the Middle East and students of white non-Hispanic backgrounds, and help educators explore evidence-based practices and policies for adapting and improving the learning environment. The second edition examines: Factors that influence linguistic transition and educational achievement Strategies for working with immigrant families Equitable assessment approaches and accountability measures Data-based management methods for informed decision making Wide-ranging and illuminating, this book should be on the shelf of every educator and anyone who plays an active role in the education of immigrant children.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments About the Authors Introduction 1. Immigration and U.S. Schools 2. Immigrant Children, Their Families, and Environment 3. Learning English and Maintaining Heritage Languages 4. Educational Attainment 5. Immigrant Children From Asia 6. Immigrant Children From the Caribbean and Africa 7. Immigrant Children From Latin America 8. Immigrant Children From Middle Eastern Countries Sources of Information References Index

About the Author :
Xue Lan Rong, a professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is a first-generation immigrant whose native language is Chinese. As a classroom teacher, teacher educator, and educational sociologist, she has more than 25 years of teaching experience in public schools at various levels in the United States and China. She obtained her research experience via sociological, demographic, and pedagogical training. She has continually published in major sociological and educational journals and presented at national conferences on the topics of generation, race and ethnicity, national origins, gender, social class, and educational attainment and achievement of immigrant children since 1988, when she finished a dissertation on immigration and education at the University of Georgia. Judith Preissle, a professor at the University of Georgia, is a teacher educator and an educational anthropologist who brings a dual insider-outsider perspective to issues of education and immigration. She is a native-born citizen of the United States whose forebears arrived on the continent in the 18th and 19th centuries. She is also one of the many internal migrants of the 20th century, who grew up moving around the country and attending schools in six different states. Beginning her educational experience teaching social studies and language arts to 12-year-olds, she has worked at the University of Georgia since 1975, teaching the social foundations of education, qualitative research methods, and educational anthropology to an increasingly diverse population of graduates and undergraduates. She has published widely in these areas with special concentration on research design and ethics and on gender and minority education. She is a graduate of Indiana University.

Review :
"Rong and Preissle have again done an impressive job of combining current census and other data to paint a detailed picture of immigration to the U.S., and of making the case for an equitable approach to schooling all of America’s children. They provide practical recommendations for teachers and administrators on how to use this knowledge to make informed decisions about programs and practices, especially in the area of assessment and other accountability measures." "A comprehensive and important examination of the education of immigrant students in the U.S. Rong and Preissle’s focus on cultural and linguistic transformation across four generations is truly unique." "Rong and Preissle’s first edition has become a standard reference for the education of immigrant students. The evolution and expansion of their research to encompass transnational and transcultural theoretical frameworks is cutting edge and absolutely timely given the changing, almost discursive nature of immigration within an increasingly complicated and shifting world context."