Unaccompanied children’s education in the United States: service provider’s perspective on challenges and support strategies

Introduction: Newcomer students seek routine and safety in schools, but often experience a “hard landing” when they begin school in the United States. Objective: While there is substantial literature on the academic and language achievement of emergent bilingual students, there is less specifically...

Full description

Autores:
Evans, Kerri
Oliveira, Gabrielle
Hasson, Robert
Crea, Thomas
Neville, Sarah Elizabeth
Fitchett, Virginia
Tipo de recurso:
Article of journal
Fecha de publicación:
2022
Institución:
Corporación Universidad de la Costa
Repositorio:
REDICUC - Repositorio CUC
Idioma:
eng
OAI Identifier:
oai:repositorio.cuc.edu.co:11323/10093
Acceso en línea:
https://hdl.handle.net/11323/10093
https://repositorio.cuc.edu.co
Palabra clave:
Unaccompanied children
Immigrant
Education
Challenges
Support strategies
Student
Inmigrante
Educación
Retos
Estrategias de apoyo
Estudiante
Niños no acompañados
Rights
openAccess
License
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 4.0 Internacional (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Description
Summary:Introduction: Newcomer students seek routine and safety in schools, but often experience a “hard landing” when they begin school in the United States. Objective: While there is substantial literature on the academic and language achievement of emergent bilingual students, there is less specifically on unaccompanied immigrant students, and even less on their social and emotional well-being. Methodology: This study uses a human rights framework to analyze qualitative data from service providers (n = 79) for unaccompanied children. Results: Challenges to meeting the needs of this population include the limited capacity of schools and school districts, students’ language ability and preparedness for school, cultural differences, and individual health and mental health considerations. Supports to help immigrant students include academic and language assistance, cooperation among service providers, and emotional and behavioral programs. Conclusions: Recommendations include building community partnerships, creating more welcoming policies, school-assessments of programming compared to needs of newcomer students, and more research.