New Resources

The New Demography of America's Schools: Immigration and the No Child Left Behind Act, from the Urban Institute, describes the “changing demographics of U.S. elementary and secondary schools as a result of record-high immigration. These demographic shifts are occurring alongside implementation of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the landmark 2002 federal law that holds schools accountable for the academic performance of limited English speaking children and other groups that include many children of immigrants. This report explores how immigration is changing the profile of the nation's elementary and secondary student population during this era of reform.” [description found on the Urban Institute web site]

Meeting the Needs of Immigrant Students, from the North West Regional Educational Laboratory, provides teaching strategies and techniques for working with foreign-born students. This guide suggests strategies to assist teachers and administrators to more effectively educate refugee and immigrant students, while helping prepare all students to function effectively in a multicultural society, and includes such concrete tools as a checklist to measure the immigrant-friendliness of the classroom and school.

Educating English Language Learners: Implementing Instructional Practices, from the National Council of La Raza, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and The Education Alliance at Brown University, provides instructional strategies, techniques, and guidelines helpful for
engaging English language learners from diverse backgrounds.

Cooperation, Conflict Resolution, And School Violence: A Systems Approach, from the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution, Teachers College, Columbia University, presents the assumptions that schools can create caring, cooperative school communities characterized by a culture of peace and, in doing so, they will prevent much violence within the school and the surrounding community. [description excerpted from the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution web site] This report provides specific strategies that schools can use to implement their recommendations.

  New Research

Understanding and Addressing Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality in the Front End of the Child Welfare System, from the Center for Social Services Research (CSSR) in the School of Social Welfare at the University of California at Berkeley, examines the nature of disproportionality in the front-end of the child welfare system. This article is composed of three sections: the first outlines the problem; the second describes and assesses interventions that have developed to address the problem and concludes with a section on the implications of the study’s findings for research and practice.

Hmong Early Childhood Education Needs Assessment, from Ready 4K (Minnesota’s School Readiness Campaign), provides a first look at early care and education in the growing Hmong population in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, and shows that a language barrier and limited parental education are the two leading challenges for many Hmong parents and their children. This study explores other issues related to early childhood education in the Hmong community, such as perceptions of school readiness, challenges parents face, and what Hmong parents can do for their children to prepare them for kindergarten. [Description excerpted from the latest edition of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees]

The National Center for Education Statistics Web site, from the US Dept of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences, is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education. The site offers several resources: publications, surveys and tools to retrieve information on U.S. Public Schools.

Health Resource
Faith-Based and Community Organizations Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Checklist, from pandemicflu.gov, identifies actions faith-based social service agencies and community organizations can take to prepare for a pandemic. This checklist was prepared by the Centers for Disease Control.

  Funding News

Parental Information and Resource Centers (CFDA #84.310A), an upcoming grant from the US Department of Education, supports school-based and school-linked parental information and resource centers that improve student learning, through coordination and integration of Federal, State, and local services and programs. The US Department of Education is conducting regional workshops to provide assistance for the PIRC grant, click on the link to register for a workshop in your area.

Supporting English Language Acquisition: Opportunities for Foundations to Strengthen Immigrant Families, from the Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR) and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, explores how philanthropy can strengthen immigrant families through strategic investments in language acquisition programs. The report highlights some of the best practices from literacy programs designed for immigrant families, where both adults and pre-school children can develop English and literacy skills. The report concludes with a set of recommendations on how foundations can effectively support English language acquisition in these areas, including gaps in programming and research where strategic philanthropic investment can make a critical difference. [excerpt taken from the GCIR publications web site]

COMING SOON: 

March tutorial: In order to enhance users' ability to navigate the BRYCS Web site, we present a request from the field, then take you on a step-by-step search of the BRYCS Clearinghouse. Look for our tutorial feature to appear in streaming video format this spring.

April 2006 Feature on Child Abuse/Neglect and Foster Care: Our Spotlight Article, Featured Resources, and Side Bar on Promising Practices will address issues in child abuse/neglect and foster care for refugee youth and children.