In Increasing Opportunities for Immigrant Students: Community College Strategies for Success, (2011, reviewed on the LINCS website at http://lincs.ed.gov/professional-development/resource-collections/profile-711; full text at http://www.cccie.org/images/stories/Increasing_Opportunities_for_Immigrant_Students_2011.pdf ) , the following 11 factors and promising practices are listed:
1 Executive-level Commitment and Follow-Through
2 Proactive Outreach and a Welcoming Campus Environment
3 A Community-Wide Needs Analysis
4 The Redesign of ESL Programs
5 Comprehensive and Culturally Sensitive Assessment of Immigrant Student Needs
6 A Holistic, Integrated Approach to Student Support Service
7 A Focus on Outcomes, Evaluation, and Sharing Data
8 ESL Faculty Professional Development and Participation In Curriculum Design
9 Development of Immigrant Student Leadership Skills
10 Meaningful, Multi-Sector Partnerships
11 Emphasis on Program Replication and Bringing Best Models To Scale.
I find number 5, the culturally sensitive assessment of immigrant student needs, especially interesting. This section of the paper describes community college programs where students are interviewed bilingually, if possible, to find their needs and standardized assessment is only part of the picture when counseling and advising students.
Differences in assessment procedures and processes are certainly important. I wonder though, about the bigger picture.
How should we address the larger issue of instructional practices and expectations in the outside (beyond the ESL/adult education classroom?)
How we remain culturally responsive to our students’ backgrounds, cultures, and ways of knowing, while preparing them for success in the world of a country where about 80% of the population speak only English and have limited understanding of the other cultures and ways of viewing the world?
Thoughts?
Miriam Burt