English language learners (ELLs) represent the fastest-growing student segment of the K-12 population in the U.S. Among ELLs, newly arrived immigrant adolescents represent one of the most at-risk subgroups for academic failure—especially those with gaps in their formal education and low levels of English literacy. Profiled districts generally define newcomer students as immigrant students who have spent between one and four years in the U.S. school system. This research brief discusses how to meet the diverse educational and social-emotional needs in serving newcomer students in middle and high school.
Consider the “program-within-school” modelResearch by the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) demonstrates that the program-within-school model, in which select or all school sites operate distinct newcomer programs, is the most common approach. The next most common approach is the “separate-site” model, in which administrators dedicate a separate district facility to the newcomer program. Some programs operate for less than a full day and newcomers attend their zoned schools for the remainder of the time. Students enroll in the program for a limited period of time—in most separate-site programs, students stay for only a year. Administrators at District B and District E had been serving newcomer students through the separate-site model. In addition to a program-within-school model, administrators at District C operate a “whole-school” model, which is the least common approach for newcomer programs. In this model, district administrators dedicate one or more full, four-year high schools to serve only newcomers. This school serves as the home school for newcomers for all four years.
Proactively identify…