Critical Choices in Post-Recession California: Investing in the Educational and Career success of Immigrant Youth

California hosts one-quarter of the nation's immigrants and one-third of the entire population of English Language Learners (ELLs). As such, the state's education system must be both robust and malleable in helping immigrant children achieve academic and career success. However, in this report funded by the Gates Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York, the authors find cause for alarm. California ranks 46th in the nation in its rate of high school completion, and immigrant students lag behind their non-immigrant peers at all levels of the educational system, which suffered a severe shock during the recession as funding cuts weakened the state's educational infrastructure. In interviews with educators and community leaders as well as analysis of Census data, the authors find that, despite emerging from the recession, the state is not yet on track to produce a sufficient number of college graduates to meet the projected needs of its economy. The report provides many examples of ways in which some California school districts, adult education providers, community colleges, and community-based organizations "have kept immigrant youth and ELLs at the center of their innovative education reform efforts..." To improve college enrollment and retention rates among immigrant young adults, the authors recommend the state education system expand the learning time for ELL high school students by expanding the school day and restoring summer school opportunities; improve teaching training, especially for content area teachers; and increase capacity in the adult education system, which must respond to the needs of the 29 percent of immigrant young adults between the ages of 21 and 26 without a high school diploma. (Denzil Mohammed, The Immigrant Learning Center, Public Education Institute)

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