A Decade of Change in NYC Schools

Elizabeth Debraggio, Lila Nazar de Jaucourt, Emilyn Ruble, Amy Ellen Schwartz, Leanna Stiefel, Meryle Weinstein
IESP Policy Brief #02-11 

Schools are not static entities – reforms are enacted, curriculums change, new principals and teachers arrive and others leave, and, importantly, students exit and enter the school system. These students may be graduating or reaching a terminal grade, beginning school, entering from local private or parochial schools, moving from another district, or emigrating from another country. This brief focuses on the latter group: the immigrant students in New York City (NYC) public elementary and middle schools over the past decade.

Findings include:

• In 2009, 13 percent of NYC’s public elementary and middle school students were foreign-born.
• The majority of immigrant students in NYC come from Latin America; however, the share from Asian and African countries has increased over the past decade.
• Relative to their native-born peers, higher shares of immigrant students are Asian, LEP, and poor.
• Differences in performance on standardized exams are related to socioeconomic and demographic differences, not simply nativity.

To download the full brief click here.