IMMIGRATION, EDUCATION,
AND THE CHANGING SUBURBS
MARCELO M. SUÁREZ-OROZCO, Ph.D.
The Richard Fisher Membership Fellow,
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ
& The Courtney Sale Ross University Professor at New York University
Co-Director, Immigration Studies @ NYU
www.nyu.education/immigration
Changing Suburbs Institute, Manhattanville College
Friday March 5, 2010
Migration and Our Changing Suburbs
Culture and Identity
Comparative Transnational Migration
http://www.migrationinformation.org/datahub/charts/6.1.shtml
The New Immigration and the New,
New Immigration Top Countries of Birth, 2008
Country of Birth
2006
%
11,534,972
30.8
2. Philippines
1,634,117
4.4
3. India
1,505,351
4.0
4. China
1,357,482
3.6
5. Vietnam
1,116,156
3.0
6. El Salvador
1,042,218
2.8
7. Korea
1,021,212
2.7
8. Cuba
932,563
2.5
9. Canada
847,228
2.3
10. Dominican Republic
764,930
2.0
11. Guatemala
740,986
2.0
12. Jamaica
643,067
1.7
1. Mexico
Adapted from Pew Hispanic Center, 2008
Distribution of Children by Race and Ethnicity: 1990,
2008, and 2030
*Non-Hispanic. Estimates for 2008 and 2030 for Whites, Blacks and Others are for those who identify with only one race.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau and National Center for Health Statistics
Transgenerational Asymmetry
Age-Sex Pyramid for Non-Hispanic Whites in the United States, 2006
Current Population Survey
85+
Male
Female
80-84
75-79
70-74
65-69
60-64
55-59
50-54
45-49
40-44
35-39
30-34
25-29
20-24
15-19
10-14
5-9
0-4
-6
-5
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Transgenerational Asymmetry
Age-Sex Pyramid for Native-Born Hispanics in the United States, 2006
Current Population Survey
85+
80-84
Male
Female
75-79
70-74
65-69
60-64
55-59
50-54
45-49
40-44
35-39
30-34
25-29
20-24
15-19
10-14
5-9
0-4
-10
-9
-8
-7
-6
-5
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Challenge of Learning English
 Highly motivated to learn
 99% said it was very important to learn English
 93% liked learning
 But 1/3 though it was “very hard”
 English is _________
~ very important for the future
~ important to succeed
~ important to get ahead
 Open Ended tasks
 Main impediment for getting ahead in the US? — 56% said English
 Main impediment for going to college — 45% said English
 TAT Card 1-- Many told narratives of struggles of learning
English Language Proficiency
50%
Percent of Students
40%
30%
sample
norm
20%
10%
0%
70 or below
71-85
86-100
101-115
Standard Scores
116 -130
131 or above
TAT
Academic English Country Comparisons Year 5
English Language Proficiency
90
Average Standard Score
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
China
Dominican
Republic
Central America
Haiti
Mexico
Academic Performance Pathways
4.00
A
3.00
B
2.00
C
1.00
D
Year 1
Mean
Year 2
Mean
Year 3
Mean
Year 4
Mean
Year 5
Mean
Low [14.4%]
2.08
1.99
1.58
1.41
1.45
Improving [10.9%]
2.32
2.27
2.34
2.64
3.06
Precipitous
Decline [26.8 %]
2.91
2.89
2.55
2.01
1.68
Slow
Decline [24.3%]
2.96
3.02
3.02
2.73
2.47
High [23.6 %]
3.47
3.63
3.61
3.50
3.46
Characteristics of Pathways
 Decliners










Less educated parents
Attending poor quality schools
Gaps in English language proficiency
Most family conflict
More likely to have protracted separations
Endorsed psychological symptoms
Undocumented
Few supportive school relations
Low behavioral engagement
Difficulty sustaining incoming hope & drive
 Low Achievers






Come in with gaps in literacy & schooling
Attended worst schools
Significant family problems
Few supportive school relations
Lure of work
Never find their academic bearings
Characteristics of Pathways
 Improving





Initial transplant shock
Often had undergone pre-migration trauma
Attended better schools than decliners or low achievers
More likely to have intact families & working parents
More likely to connect with a mentor
 High Achievers








Most educated parents
Least family separations
Better family relations
Best emotional wellbeing
Attended best schools
Most supportive school based relationships
Best English language skills
Highest behavioral engagement
Is Education Relevant to Immigration?
Education is now more important than ever before in
human history, it will be more important to immigrants
now than in other previous wave in history and the
future belongs, literally, to the children of immigrants
Each additional year of school is associated with
powerful long-term virtuous cycles including lowered
fertility, increased health, and financial well-being
Is College is the new high school?
The problems of today -- from to threats to the
environment, war, deep poverty require smarter global
solutions -- demanding more of education
Cultural Sensibilities
Children growing up today are more likely than in any
previous generation to face a life of working, networking,
and living with others from different national, linguistic,
religious, and racial backgrounds. Therefore working
across cultural and linguistic boundaries will hence forth
have a huge premium
Paradigm of Complexity
 Managing Complexity in the 21 st Century will require an
education for life-long cognitive, behavioral, and
relational engagement with the world. The skills needed
for identifying, analyzing and mobilizing to solve
problems from multiple perspectives will require
individuals who are intellectually curious and cognitively
flexible, tolerant of ambiguity, able to synthesize
knowledge within and across disciplines, culturally and
linguistically sophisticated, and able to work
collaboratively in groups made up of diverse individuals
Promising Practices with Immigrant
Students
 Language Learning Accommodations
 Ease Culture Shock & Negotiating Transitions
 Accommodate for longer time required to graduate (for newcomer adolescents)
 Accommodations required to prepare for High Stakes Tests
 Engage families & communities
 Provide Explicit College Pathway Knowledge
 Provide Tutoring/After-school/Summer academic supports
An Educational Agenda for All Youth





Well Grounded in Core Subjects with Strong Language Supports, L1 and L2
Capacity for synthetic and interdisciplinary thinking
Consciousness - Global Consciousness
Cultural Sensibilities
Self-awareness
 Health & wellbeing & self-knowledge
 Critical Thinking & Lifelong Learning Skills
 Communication Skills
 Writing & Public Speaking
 Collaborative skills
 Interpersonal skills and ability to work with those different than oneself
 Information, Media Skills/ICT Literacy
 Life Skills
 Leadership
 Adaptability & flexibility
 Personal accountability & Self-Regulation