Each year over half of the refugees resettled by the IRC in San Diego are children; in 2016 56% of new arrivals were under 18 years old. Having reached the US, their futures are brighter than the uncertainty, conflict and violence they left behind but as they enter the American education system, refugee youth face a unique set of barriers to academic success.
Gaps in education set students back
As a result of the chaos that defined their early years, many refugee youth have experienced significant interruption in their formal education. Upon arrival in the US, they are placed in or around a grade based on age, not aptitude. For newcomers who arrive in elementary or even middle school, there is time to adjust, catch up and meet graduation requirements with relative ease. But research shows that it takes students with little or no formal schooling 7-10 years to reach grade level norms in English language literacy and unfortunately for older, high school age youth who fall in that category our education system does not afford them the time to truly reach literacy. Some are forced to exit high school due to their age and enroll in alternative education where there is even less support.
While there are systems in place to help alleviate some of these significant education gaps such as International Centers, English Language Development Coaches, after school support and other programs, the pressure from school districts for high graduation rates and the push for subject requirements often force these youth into mainstream classes before they are ready, adding stress and trauma to a situation where much already exists.
Additional Barriers to Success
Beyond the stress of learning a new language and culture, refugee youth often deal with family responsibilities not experienced by their American peers. Because they are younger and are being exposed to English and American culture at a much greater rate than their parents they often become the translator and sometimes the conduit for their family to the outside world.
Imagine that you need to need to practice and study your English every day for two hours after school to just give yourself a chance to graduate high school on time, but you can’t. Your parents need you to help translate for the doctor or at your sibling’s school. This puts a great deal of responsibility and burden on youth who, after all, are just teenagers. This also creates what we call intergenerational-tension as the power shifts from the parents to the youth. This can cause additional stress to the whole family. Finally, as youth acculturate quickly, many of the new customs they adopt form their new home can be confusing or upsetting to their parents. There is always pressure from the family and community they are a part of to stay true to their culture and practices while simultaneously feeling immense pressure from peers and media to acculturate even quicker and completely.
In addition, youth are required to either pass a Language other the English (LOTE) assessment or take a third language. The LOTE assessment is a great alternative for someone who is literate in their native language and in recent years, the Office of Language Acquisition has worked hard to include major refugee languages such a Karen, Swahili, and Somali as options. Unfortunately, some youth can only speak their language, or more likely languages, and are not literate due to lack of formal education. In these cases, students are asked to take Spanish or French while they are still learning English. As you can imagine, many youth in this situation struggle and end up failing. It is our hope that sometime in the future English Language Development classes will count to meet the second language requirement.
IRC Support for Refugee Youth
For the past two decades, the IRC in San Diego has worked closely with San Diego Unified School District. Beginning in 1996, the IRC began to offer on-site programming at Crawford High School in City Heights. This programming consisted of ESL classes, academic tutoring in all subjects, California High School Exit Exam and college preparation classes, and a wide range of youth development activities such as a community garden, Girls Group, a Peacemakers club, recreational sports activities, and more. Because of these real academic skill deficits mentioned above, struggling students simply need more support to succeed.
The IRC in San Diego offers after school tutoring five days a week, Tuesday through Saturday. A New Arrival Tutoring Program is fundamentally rooted in improving English Language proficiency and the GPAs of students through a 4-day a week, 2 and a half hour after-school class where youth receive formal ESL instruction and homework completion assistance. By assisting with homework as well as English language acquisition, students are able to maintain their grades while continuing to improve their English. Working in conjunction with the International Center teachers and coaches, new arrival tutoring helps fill the gap left by the expectation from the American education system that parents will play a substantive role in helping their children complete their homework.
Motivated to Succeed
Despite the significant hurdles they face, refugee youth are thrilled to have the opportunity to complete their education after years of inconsistent or nonexistent schooling. Others who were able to attend school consistently at home are anxious to pick up where they left off. To a large extent, refugee youth work hard, put in the extra hours, and go on to succeed in higher education or vocational pursuits.