Chapter 3: Educational Policies for Teaching Young Immigrant Children

The United States has been one of the largest immigration destinations where immigrants have influenced the population profile, labor market and future of the country. The young immigrant children’s successful experiences and their families’ involvement in early childhood education establishes the groundwork for their education in their later years (United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, 2014). Presently one in four children live with one immigrant family member, expanding to more than 25% of young children whose ages ranged from birth through eight years of age in the United States. Since 1990 the quantity of young immigrant children has multiplied (Fortuny et al., 2010). During the last two decades, the increase in the young children’s population in early childhood education settings are from immigrant families (Fortuny et al., 2010). One out of five children in public schools are immigrants. The statistical data of the immigrant children in the public schools have been fluctuating quickly due to a record-high immigration. This population increase appeared together with the enactment of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2002) Act, the milestone 2002 federal law that has schools accountable for the academic achievement of all children including immigrants (Capps et al., 2005). For America to flourish and prosper, policies that promote all of the children’s well-being need to be established.