Defending a Space to Learn English: Legal Framework for International/Newcomer Schools

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Challenging Educational Spaces and Places for Immigrant Youth in a Time of Heightened Anti-Immigrant Policy

Abstract

Historically, immigrant students have had to overcome barriers to access space in education – space for appropriate language classes or exclusion from spaces of mainstream coursework due to limited English. Racial and linguistic minority students are often segregated and placed in inadequate learning spaces such as “Mexican rooms,” a practice that put Latinx and English Learner (EL) students in a separate classroom (Gandara & Orfield, 2012). Presently, some immigrant students are selecting to attend schools that exclusively enroll EL students. These schools, using the international school model, have a strong record of academic success compared to traditional ESOL programs. For example, students at international schools in New York City perform more than 20 percentage points higher than the average for ELs in the district (Garcia & Sylvan, 2011). Students also feel safer and more supported in these schools – creating an environment and culture that promotes learning and socio-emotional development (Bajaj & Suresh, 2018). Even though this school model is effective at improving the educational achievement of immigrant youth, at immediate glance one might consider it as the segregation of immigrant students, which is problematic in the context of racial history in the US. In fact, the NAACP has threatened legal action against international schools for segregating minority students (Trull, 2015).

There are many federal policies and Supreme Court decisions that impact school segregation and language policies –some of which are contradictory in practice. Immigrant students have used the courts to defend their space in education. Most recently in Horne v. Flores the court set precedent that EL students can be segregated from English speakers for up to the entire school day and that ELs can be denied access to content classes until proficiency in English is met (Rios-Aguilar & Gandara, 2012). The court has established a contradictory system where school segregation is illegal but allowable for English language acquisition as long as EL students receive adequate funds and resources for their separate learning environments.

Using LatCrit Theory, I conduct a document analysis of relevant Supreme Court decisions and dissenting arguments, and federal policy from the Department of Education and Department of Justice to develop a legal framework to guide practices for the use of international schools as a solution to creating safe spaces that protect access to education for immigrant students. With the current threats to cut federal support for immigrants, this framework defends the use of federal funds under the Every Student Succeeds Act to support international schools as an evidence-based practice to improve educational outcomes of immigrant students.

Author

• Elizabeth Davis, George Mason University