Immigrant Students Rights

Immigrants and their children make up a large and growing percentage of New York City's population. For this reason, there are over 150,000 students who are English Language Learners (ELLs) attending the New York City public schools. ELLs make up about 14% of total students in New York City. While not all ELLs are immigrants or the children of immigrants, and not all immigrants and/or their children require assistance in learning English, the majority of new immigrants are ELLs and the size and diversity of New York's immigrant communities create more demand for English language instruction in schools.

English language instruction in schools typically include English as a Second Language (ESL) and bilingual education programs. ESL is a program that is taught entirely in English and teaches ELLs how to speak English. Bilingual programs are taught in the student's native language and in English. These programs are designed to help ELLs achieve proficiency in English, and mastery of other subjects as well, through very specific English learning techniques in ESL, and through strengthening the child's native language. For more information concerning the effectiveness of these programs in New York City, the Board of Education has published a report based on a series of studies about ELLs.

Unfortunately, the drop out rate among ELL students, already high, has grown even higher in the last few years, largely as a result of the implementation of the new standards and lack of proper services to ELL students. ELLs in the class of 2000 had an unprecedented, high drop out rate of 30.6% compared to an overall drop out rate of 19.3% for the class of 2000. Among the probable causes of this problem are the shortage of intervention and specialized resources catering to the needs of ELLs, and inacessibility to existing services by immigrant parents due to a language barrier. For more information, Advocates for Children has published two relevant reports for viewing: Report from the Front Lines: What's Needed to Make New York's ESL and Bilingual Programs Succeed and Playing by The Rules When The System Doesn't: Immigrant Families and Summer School in New York.

Immigrant and ELL families have a number of rights and entitlements in the NYC public school system. Please see AFC's Immigrant Rights guide for a full listing of these rights and entitlements.

Parental involvement is a crucial component to success of children who are considered "at risk" of dropping out of school before the completion of their education. This is a particular issue for ELL parents as they often don't have someone they can speak to in their child's school who knows their language and may not always receive translated school notices. The NYC public schools should provide translation and interpretation service but often do not. Schools should reach out to and communicate with immigrant families as much as possible. Please see "The Newcomer Program: Helping Immigrant Students Succeed in the US Schools" and "Putting the Cart Before the Horse: Parent Involvement in the Improving America's Schools Act".

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