Characteristics of Schools in New Immigrant-Receiving Communities in the US

Molly Dondero, University of Texas at Austin

Over the past two decades, the United States has witnessed a surge in immigration from Latin America and Asia, along with an unprecedented movement of immigrants into rural and small town communities in new destinations in the South and Midwest. As a result, schools in communities that have little previous experience accommodating the unique academic, linguistic, and social needs of immigrant students now provide the primary source of education for these students. This study assesses how schools in new immigrant-receiving communities around the country are responding to this demographic change. We employ data from the 2007-2008 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) to create a nationally representative profile of district, school, and educator characteristics in new immigrant-receiving communities in the U.S. We then compare the attributes of schools in new immigrant-receiving communities to those of schools in established immigrant-receiving communities.