Engaging Immigrant Youth:
Education for the 21st Century
Carola Suárez-Orozco, Ph.D.
Co-Director Immigration Studies @ NYU
Professor of Applied Psychology
NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, & Human Development
www.nyu.education/immigration/
Growing & Diverse Immigrant Student Population
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Overlooked and Underserved
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Harvard Immigration Study
 Longitudinal, interdisciplinary, & comparative
 Documenting continuities and discontinuities in immigration
youth’s educational attitudes and adaptations over time
 400 Youth from Central America, China, the Dominican
Republic, Haiti, & Mexico
 Ages 9 & 14 at beginning of study
 Recruited from 51 schools in 7 school districts in the Boston
& San Francisco areas
 Thirty graduate level bicultural & multilingual research
assistants
 Funded to date by the National Science Foundation, the W.T.
Grant Foundation and The Spencer Foundation
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Study Objectives
 Identify factors that contribute to 2 ACADEMIC
outcomes in Year 5
 Grades
 Achievement tests
 Identify Trajectories of Grade performance over
the course of 5 years
 Describe Factors that contribute to Trajectories
 Ecological framework
 Using mixed methods
 Cumulative & interactional developmental challenges
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Triangulated Data Collection Strategies
 Ethnographic Observations
 Structured Interviews:
 Students
 Parents
 School Personnel
 Bilingual Verbal Abilities Testing
 Woodcock-Johnson Test of Achievement
 Report Cards
 Teacher Completed Behavioral Checklists
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Engagement
Cognitive
Engagement
BEHAVIORAL
ENGAGEMENT
Relational
Engagement
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GRADES
Predicting Academic Achievement Outcomes
Control Variables
~Gender
~Country of Origin
~Years in U.S.
GRADES
Year 5
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Predicting Academic Achievement Outcomes
Control Variables
~Gender
~Country of Origin
~Years in U.S.
GRADES
Year 5
School Factors
~School Segregation
~Percent of students in
school passing high
stakes English test
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Predicting Academic Achievement Outcomes
Control Variables
~Gender
~Country of Origin
~Years in U.S.
Home Factors
~2 Adults in home
~Mother’s Education
~Working Father
School Factors
~School Segregation
~Percent of students in
school passing high
stakes English test
Immigration Studies @ NYU
GRADES
Year 5
Predicting Academic Achievement Outcomes
Student Factors
Control Variables
~Gender
~Country of Origin
~Years in U.S.
~Attitudes towards School
~Psychological Symptoms
~Cognitive engagement
~Relational engagement
~Behavioral engagement
~Academic English proficiency
Home Factors
~2 Adults in home
~Mother’s Education
~Working Father
GRADES
Year 5
School Factors
~School Segregation
~Percent of students in
school passing high
stakes English test
Immigration Studies @ NYU
32% of variance
Predicting Academic Achievement Outcomes
Control Variables
~Gender
~Country of Origin
~Years in U.S.
Student Factors
~Attitudes towards School
~Psychological Symptoms
~Cognitive engagement
~Relational engagement
~Behavioral engagement
~Academic English proficiency
Home Factors
~2 Adults in home
~Mother’s Education
~Working Father
School Factors
~School Segregation
~Percent of students in
school passing high
stakes English test
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Achievement
Test
Year 5
Predicting Academic Achievement Outcomes
Control Variables
~Gender
~Country of Origin
~Years in U.S.
Student Factors
~Attitudes towards School
~Psychological Symptoms
~Cognitive engagement
~Relational engagement
~Behavioral engagement
~Academic English proficiency
Home Factors
~2 Adults in home
~Mother’s Education
~Working Father
Achievement
Test
Year 5
School Factors
~School Segregation
~Percent of students in
school passing high
stakes English test
Immigration Studies @ NYU
75% of variance
Predicting Academic Achievement Outcomes
Control Variables
~Gender
~Country of Origin
~Years in U.S.
Student Factors
~Attitudes towards School
~Psychological Symptoms
~Cognitive engagement
~Relational engagement
~Behavioral engagement
~Academic English proficiency
Home Factors
~2 Adults in home
~Mother’s Education
~Working Father
Achievement
Test
Year 5
School Factors
~School Segregation
~Percent of students in
school passing high
stakes English test
Immigration Studies @ NYU
11% of variance
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
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116 -130
131 or above
Challenge of Learning English
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Academic Performance Pathways
A
B
C
D
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Characteristics of Declining Pathways
 Less educated parents
 Attending poor quality schools
 Gaps in English language proficiency
 Most family conflict
 More likely to have protracted separations
 Many with unauthorized status
 Endorsed psychological symptoms
 Few supportive school relations
 Low behavioral engagement
 Difficulty sustaining incoming hope & drive
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Myriam—Declining Case Study
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Characteristics of Low Achievers
 Least resources
 Come in with gaps in literacy & schooling
 Attended worst schools
 Significant family problems
 Few supportive school relations
 Did not have the psychological issues of the Decliners
 Lure of work
 Never find their academic bearings
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Leon—Case Study of a Low Achiever
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Characteristics of Improvers
 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
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Ramón—Improving Case Study
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Characteristics of 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
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Li—Case Study of a High Achiever
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Educational Implications
 Practices that serve ALL students well
Rigorous
Relevant for the 21st century
 Fostering Relationships
Students at the center of Teaching & Learning
 Innovative Pedagogy (beyond “chalk & talk”)
 Flexible & Relevant Assessment (e.g. portfolios)
Providing Explicit College Pathway Knowledge
Providing Tutoring/After-school/Summer academic supports
 Finding ways NOT to make mentoring accidental
Immigration Studies @ NYU
Accommodating Specific Newcomer Students
 Engaging family & community supports
 Community outreach & cultural brokers
Faith based supports too often overlooked
 New culturally relevant definitions of parental involvement
 Thorough initial intake evaluation assessing strengths and gaps
 Literacy
 Interrupted schooling
 Academic strengths & deficits
 Providing Language learning supports
 Providing supports for psychological needs
 Trauma & Separations
 Adjustments to a new land
 Fostering Relationships
Immigration Studies @ NYU
References
 Cynthia García-Coll and Katherine Magnuson. (1997). "The Psychological Experience
of Immigration: A Developmental Perspective," in A. Booth, A. C. Crouter & Nancy
Landale, eds., Immigration and the Family, pp. 91-132.
 Hernández, D., and E. Charney. 1998. From Generation to Generation: The Health
and Well-Being of Children of Immigrant Families. Washington D.C.: National
Academy Press. 1998.
 Suárez-Orozco, C., Gaytán, F. Bang, H. J., Pakes, J., & Rhodes, J. (2010). Academic
Trajectories of Newcomer Immigrant Youth. Developmental Psychology, 46(3) 602618.
 Suárez-Orozco, C. and Suárez-Orozco, M. Children of Immigration, 2001.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
 Carola Suárez-Orozco, Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, and Irina Todorova. Learning a New
Land: Immigrant Students in American Society, 2008. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
 Carola Suárez-Orozco, Irina Todorova, and Josephine Louie, "Making Up for Lost Time:"
The Experience of Separation and Reunification Among Immigrant Families. Family
Process 41(4), (2001), pp. 625-643.
Immigration Studies @ NYU