Inquiry Project Introduction

Immigration policy has always created many problems for the United States, from regulating the influx of those from other nations, to questions regarding the status of those already here. In recent decades, however, the education of the children of immigrants has posed increasing problems for both the government and school districts. According to the Pew Research Center, by 2050 one in five Americans will be an immigrant (Pew Research Center, 2008). An increasing number of schools will have to change to accommodate the particular needs of students who either come from another country, or have parents who made the journey. Right now, there are many urban school districts across the United States that are already dealing with the issues related to the education of the foreign-born who may be able to offer lessons to the rest of the country as the face of the nation changes.

One of the primary issues regarding the education of foreign-born students is supplying those who have Limited English Proficiency (LEP) or use English as a Second Language (ESL) with the facilities required to bring them up to the standards of their native-born peers. Improved English-speaking abilities are undoubtedly required for academic success in the United States. While suburban school districts with a large immigrant population may have access to the resources that aid these students, the apparently limited resources available to urban schools may prove a barrier to the effective transition of limited-English speaking students.

Of course, schools do not have to make up all of these costs out of their own pockets. The federal government has been required to supply funds for bilingual education since the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 and its subsequent amendments. Similarly, there is state funding available for LEP students. However, it is up to schools, based on their own individual needs, to decide how these funds can be proportioned. The question becomes a matter of where should these resources be spent to ensure the best education for all students.

This piece is going to look into the use of resources for foreign-born students and the children of immigrants in an urban school district in New Jersey that has an overwhelming number of students who fit into this category. According to the New Jersey Department of Education, Perth Amboy City school district had “approximately 1,300 LEP students in the Bilingual Program in grades K-12” in 2007. (NJDoE, 2008) This is a substantial program that handles a large number of immigrant as well as first generation American students who do not speak English as a first language. Coupled with the ESL program that the schools in the district also offer, they amount to a substantial amount of expenditure. Being an Abbott District, the school receives a large portion of its funding from the state to aid the education of students with special needs, including many of those in the bilingual education program.

My project will look at how these funds are allocated per student, as well as physical resources such as technology and available teaching staff. Through data analysis and a series of interviews with people involved in the bilingual education program, it will look at the extent to which the extra resources required to educate immigrants in urban schools have proven effective, and whether the extra focus that these students require can result in problems for the native-born minority.

Ultimately, my research aims to discover the best ways to ensure an equitable solution to the education of all students in American public schools, no matter their origins. The inevitable increase in immigration will mean that a large number of starting teachers will find themselves in a classroom with many LEP and ESL students as they progress in their careers. It will be essential for them to find a way to utilize the resources that they are given to ensure that both immigrants and native-born students are able to find success in changing schools within a changing nation.