Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Schools across the US are under-educating English Language Learners (ELLs) and as a result they are unprepared to become contributing members of our economy and democracy (Garcia & Bartlett, 2007). For example, ELLS often have high dropout rates, high achievement gaps compared to non-ELLs and abysmal performance on standardized exams (Fránquiz & Salinas, 2011). In response, many schools in the US have shifted from an English as a Second Language model to bilingual education to best serve their newcomer students. “Newcomer students” refer to a subset of ELL students who have been living inside the U.S. for less than five years. While the newcomer high school student population is greater than that of the newcomer elementary student population, bilingual programs are scare at the high school level. Newcomer high school students are expected to master proficient academic English and complete all requirements to graduate in four years or less (Short & Boyson, 2004). Given that Bilingual education pedagogy acknowledges that it takes five to seven years to master a language at proficiency level (Estrada et al., 2006) this paper aims to identify how high schools are adapting bilingual education programs to aid newcomer adolescents. This paper thus provides a review of literature on high schools that successfully employ bilingual education. The literature concentrated on the creation of newcomer schools, which are schools located at a separate site from other schools that enroll exclusively immigrant students (Feinberg 2000). My analysis of the literature identified six best practices in bilingual education that contributed to the success of newcomer students:

• Translanguaging- Use and treatment of native language, culture and knowledge with high status in the classroom.
• Authentic Caring- Teaching with asset-based mentality with student’s needs at the center
• Social-Emotional Learning and Trauma Informed Practices- Recognizing the realities and trauma with being an unaccompanied minor, refugee, asylee and/or student with interrupted schooling
• Community Partnerships- providing wrap-around services and engage community
• Critically Sustained Pedagogy and Transnational Curriculum- Culturally and socio-politically responsive schooling with experiential learning opportunities
• Environment of Success- Narrative of success with high expectations for all students and the support and resources to achieve them

Based on the findings I distill implications for future research on whether an integrated school can achieve similar outcomes to newcomer schools using these best practices. While education scholars continue to advocate for radical integration as a solution for educational inequalities, newcomer schools were created to separate recently arrived immigrant students intentionally. This begs the questions: what if separate can be equal? What if separate can be equitable? And should quality education for newcomer students be sacrificed as we work towards radical integration? Additionally, I argue that a national bilingual policy could have a positive impact on the implementation of these best practices in high schools across the country by influencing public schools and their staff to buy into a poly-linguistic norm. Lastly, I include recommendations for involving newcomer students at the grassroots level in the process of advocating for more equitable policies in their schools.