Additional Information
Book Details
Abstract
This book offers an innovative look at the pre- and post-migration educational experiences of immigrant young adults with a particular focus on members of the Latino community. Combining quantitative data with original interviews, this book provides an engaging and nuanced look at a population that is both ubiquitous and overlooked, challenging existing assumptions about those categorized as ‘dropouts’ and closely examining the historical contexts for educational interruption in the chosen subgroup. The combination of accessible prose and compelling new statistical data appeals to a wide audience, particularly academic professionals, education practitioners and policy-makers.
Wise and compassionate, Lukes provides unique insights into the dreams, aspirations, and resiliency of young adult Latinos who attempt to persevere through the US educational system despite all odds. A stellar contribution to the field!
Carola Suarez-Orozco, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
In this important new book Marguerite Lukes focuses on the educational needs and challenges faced by a population that is nearly invisible to the American mainstream: disenfranchised immigrant youth. Through her detailed analysis Lukes helps her readers to see beyond the one dimensional characterizations that typically appear in the media so that they can appreciate the grit and agency that many of them rely upon to survive. She also makes it clear why it is so important to their future and ours to address their educational needs.
Pedro Noguera, New York University, USA
This book about Latino immigrant youth and interrupted schooling is both clear and scholarly, providing a broad overview of issues influencing this specific population of students—about whom we still know very little. Policymakers, K–12 school administrators, adult education administrators, nonprofits, faculty, students, and community leaders will find the substance of this book inspirational and insightful, and will be motivated to act on behalf of these valued young adults and the academic institutions that they attend.
Frank Hernandez
Latino Immigrant Youth and Interrupted Schooling accomplishes the purpose of interrogating about current educational status of Latino young immigrants with interrupted schooling. Moreover it fills a gap in the literature of completions, dropouts, and discontinued education within migrant population. Lukes offers an enjoyable reading that describes individuals’ educational trajectories from their countries of origin to the US. In a simple and direct style, she achieves the goal of thickening the problematic issue of Latino young students who do not complete secondary school. Professional and lay readers will appreciate the up-dated information of a less explored subset of immigrants, adding voices and faces to the sheer numbers.
Laura Dubcovsky, University of California, Davis, USA
Marguerite Lukes is the Director of National Initiatives for the Internationals Network for Public Schools and Assistant Professor at City University of New York's LaGuardia Community College. She is also Co-Chair of the Adult Literacy and Adult Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association and an Executive Board Member for the New York State Association for Bilingual Education. With almost thirty years of experience in the field, the primary focus of her research is education policy, particularly concerning the experiences of immigrant language learners from high school level and beyond.
Lukes offers compelling evidence that the barriers that Latino immigrant youth face in the United States have nothing to do with cultural deficiencies and everything to do with institutional neglect. She then offers a comprehensive blueprint for addressing this institutional neglect that is a must-read for anybody who is serious about improving the educational outcomes of Latino immigrant youth.
Nelson Flores, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contents | v | ||
| Figures | vii | ||
| Tables | ix | ||
| Acknowledgments | xi | ||
| 1 Introduction | 1 | ||
| 2 Understanding Dropouts: Math and History | 22 | ||
| 3 Pre-Migration Educational ‘Choices’: Interrupted Education in Context | 47 | ||
| 4 Immigrant Youth Entering the US | 72 | ||
| 5 Pushouts, Shutouts and Holdouts: Entering, Exiting and Evading High School in the US | 91 | ||
| 6 Hard and Soft Skills: Academic Skills, English and Social Capital Among Migrant Youth | 116 | ||
| 7 The Road Ahead for Young Adult Migrants: Institutional Dilemmas, Nagging Questions and Open Doors | 142 | ||
| Appendix | 169 | ||
| Bibliography | 186 | ||
| Index | 204 | ||
| Figure 1.1 Educational attainment of Mexicans in New York City, 2010 | 8 | ||
| Figure 1.2 Educational attainment of Dominicans in New York City, 2010 | 8 | ||
| Figure 2.1 Percentage of 18- to 26-year-olds with incomplete high school education | 32 | ||
| Figure 2.2 US status dropout rates of 16–24-year-olds, by racial background | 35 | ||
| Figure 2.3 Percentage of New York City freshman cohort receiving three diploma types, 2003–06 | 38 | ||
| Figure 2.4 Percentage dropout rate, by age at arrival | 39 | ||
| Figure 3.1 Average number of years of schooling in different regions | 57 | ||
| Figure 3.2 Secondary education completion in Latin America, 2011, by persons aged 20–24, by income, sex and rural location | 60 | ||
| Figure 3.3 Upper secondary completion rates (percentage of population), by country in Latin America, 2011 | 62 | ||
| Figure 3.4 Reasons given by study participants for interrupting school in country of origin | 65 | ||
| Figure 4.1 Age of recently arrived foreign-born immigrants, 2005 | 74 | ||
| Figure 4.2 Stated educational goals of study participants (JD = juris doctor, a legal qualification) | 78 | ||
| Figure 4.3 Study participants’ educational goals, by level of education completed before entering the US | 79 | ||
| Figure 6.1 Graduation rates of English language learners compared with those of non-English language learners, New York, 2013 | 119 | ||
| Figure 6.2 Participants’ self-reported English proficiency | 120 | ||
| Figure 6.3 Two writing samples from different study participants responding to the question (in Spanish, left) ‘What neighborhood do you live in?’ | 123 | ||
| Figure 6.4 A writing sample from a study participant responding to the question (in Spanish, above) ‘How has attending school here helped you? | 123 | ||
| Figure 6.5 A writing sample from a study participant responding to the survey prompt ‘Other comments’ | 124 | ||
| Figure 6.6 Sources of referral to the educational programs attended by study participants | 134 | ||
| Figure 6.7 Reasons given for choice of program by study participants | 135 | ||
| Figure 6.8 Participants’ educational goals and mother’s educational attainment | 136 | ||
| Table 1.1 Place of birth of all foreign-born residents of the US | 4 | ||
| Table 1.2 Country of origin of all foreign-born Latinos in New York City, 2010 | 6 | ||
| Table 1.3 Educational attainment of major Latino subgroups in New York City, 2010 | 7 | ||
| Table 2.1 Earnings differential based on high school completion | 26 | ||
| Table 3.1 Average annual net out-migration, 1995–2000 | 51 | ||
| Table 3.2 Country of origin of study participants | 52 | ||
| Table 3.3 Comparison of compulsory schooling (shaded areas) in Latin America and the Caribbean and the US | 58 | ||
| Table 3.4 School participation rates in major Latin American sender nations, 2011 | 59 | ||
| Table 3.5 Number of years of schooling completed by research participants prior to migration | 64 | ||
| Table 3.6 Mother’s highest level of education completed among study participants | 68 | ||
| Table 4.1 Age at arrival in the US of the research participants | 73 | ||
| Table 4.2 Comparison of US-born and foreign-born 16–24-year-old Latino workers in 2011 | 75 | ||
| Table 4.3 Employment sector of immigrants in this study | 76 | ||
| Table 4.4 Immigrants in the New York City workforce, 2008 | 76 | ||
| Table 4.5 Hours worked per week by study participants | 77 | ||
| Table 4.6 Participants’ responses to the survey item ‘What advice about education would you give to an immigrant like yourself?’ | 85 | ||
| Table 5.1 National enrollment in adult education, program year 2010–11 | 98 | ||
| Table A1 Study sites | 170 | ||
| Table A2 Differences in educational goals by age | 183 | ||
| Table A3 Differences in educational goals by region of origin | 183 | ||
| Table A4 Differences in educational goals by prior education in home country | 184 | ||
| Table A5 Subgroup differences in educational goals | 185 |