Newcomer Education

Newcomer students—immigrant students in their first years at U.S. schools—have long been an underserved group in California’s school systems. Newcomers require specialized curricula and instruction to succeed in school as well as access to social services to meet even their basic needs. Unfortunately, most newcomers have not experienced schooling that adequately addresses their unique needs and drop out at a disproportionately high rate. There are thus significant opportunities to improve education for newcomers in California through policies, data systems, curricula, programs development, and collaborations.

In 2021 PACE launched a Research-Practice-Policy Partnership on Newcomer Education in California that brought together a group of leading experts from across research, policy, and practice to develop new knowledge about and better approaches to addressing the holistic needs of immigrant and refugee students.

The results are detailed in six publications that shed light on opportunities for supporting newcomer students in California and improving their education experiences.