A Warm Welcome: The Impact of Newcomer School Enrollment on Student Educational Outcomes

• In Event: Sociology of Education Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 14. Contemporary Dilemmas in K-12

Abstract

The United States has seen a large influx of migrants in recent decades, including many school-aged children and children unaccompanied by parents. Newly-arrived immigrant adolescents, called newcomer students, often have limited school choices due to being marginalized in terms of language proficiency, race/ethnicity, poverty, and often trauma. However, newcomer programs are designed as a transitional environment to help immigrant adolescents develop English language skills, address socio-emotional and mental health needs, and socially integrate into American life. Using administrative data on newcomer students from a large, diverse urban school district in Texas, and descriptive and instrumental variable methods, this study estimates the impact of enrolling in a full-day, separate-site newcomer program on student outcomes. We find that newcomer school enrollment has strong, positive effects on students’ English language acquisition, as measured by state test scores and reclassification rates, as well as strong, negative effects on school disciplinary problems. Newcomer programs may be a promising strategy to support the English language acquisition and integration of immigrant youth into U.S. schools.

Authors

• Brian Holzman, Texas A&M University

• Aimee Chin, University of Houston

• Jasmin (Jee Sun) Lee, Rice University

• Camila Cigarroa Kennedy, Education Northwest

• Tori LaShan Thomas, Houston Education Research Consortium at Rice

• Stephanie Potochnick, UNC Chapel Hill

• Kalena Cortes, Texas A&M University