Reconciling Integration and Separation in the Education of Newcomer Immigrant Students

• In Event: A New Language for Segregation: Responding to and (Re)Producing the Isolation of English Learners

Abstract

Objective
Spurred by globalization and international conflict, children are increasingly migrating across international borders (Suárez-Orozco, 2005). These newly-arrived immigrant students (i.e., newcomers), many of whom are English learners (ELs), benefit from specific supports that attend to their academic, linguistic, and socioemotional needs; yet, they also need opportunities to interact with members of their new communities. This paper presents findings from a national study of K-12 newcomer education, revealing the tensions that arise as educational leaders reconcile their concerns with separating and integrating these students. We address two questions: 1) How do district and school leaders balance perceived tensions between integration and separation of newcomers? and 2) What factors are associated with the development of more or less integrated services?

Theoretical Perspectives
The conception of equality as equal treatment invoked in Brown (1954) often contrasts with Lau (1974), which requires differential treatment for language minorities to achieve equality. Thompson (2013) refers to this tension as “negative” and “positive” equality. The extent to which schools employ negative and/or positive equality can have differential effects on students. For example, while long-term ELs often perceive separation as an affront to their intelligence, newcomers perceive separate courses and their teachers as helpful (Dabach, 2014). Given that newcomers’ needs likely differ from other ELs in important ways, this paper pays particular attention to whether and how districts decide to support their separation and/or integration.

Methods & Data
We conducted semi-structured interviews in six districts varying by size, EL concentration, and region. One or two researchers visited each district for up to a week, interviewing stakeholders at the district, school, and community levels. Approximately 20-30 interviews were conducted in each district, with a total of 136 participants. Interviews focused on newcomer policies and programs, and the challenges stakeholders experienced in supporting newcomers. Interviews were transcribed and coded thematically (Ryan & Bernard, 2003), with “separation and integration” emerging as a major theme that was coded for systematically.

Results
All stakeholders grappled with competing desires to integrate newcomers and to provide specialized and separated services. While interviewees described how integration facilitated access to English-proficient peers and grade-level content, they also noted that separation allowed for the provision of targeted and individualized supports and created spaces of trust and belonging. District and school leaders thus had to make strategic choices to balance these needs. Their choices were informed by a range of factors, including student-level factors (age and grade, level of prior schooling, time since arrival), school- and district-level factors (size, existing resources), and socio-historical factors (EL concentration, historical precedence of integrated/separated services for ELs).

Significance
Current migration trends make it essential for research to explore how districts are responding. While integration versus separation is often considered a general issue for ELs, there is considerable variation within the EL population, and this study contributes both valuable and timely information specific to ELs who are newcomers. Findings will provide relevant information to both policymakers and practitioners who are working to design systems of support for newcomers across a range of contexts.

Authors

• Megan Hopkins, University of California - San Diego

• Ilana Marice Umansky, University of Oregon

• Dafney Blanca Dabach, University of Washington - Seattle