Annotated Bibliography: Immigration

Janet Vanheck

Abrego, L, & Gonzales, R. (2010). Blocked Paths, Uncertain Futures: the

Postsecondary Education and Labor Market Prospects of Undocumented Latino

Youth. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR). 15 (1): 144-

157. doi: 10.1080/10824661003635168.

This article suggests that as undocumented immigrants finish high school, they

will need access to higher education and employment. The focus of this article is

a shift to postsecondary outcomes, what happens as students transition out of high

school. Presently, these students are at risk for poverty and hardship. The authors

suggest that the next line of research come out of large scale comparative projects,

although finding adequate sampling frames of undocumented student respondents

will require a great deal of field work

Contreras, A. (2002). The Impact of Education Policy on Education Reform:

Implications for the New Millennium. Education and Urban Society. 34(2): 134

– 155. doi: 10.1177/0013124502034002002.

This article focuses on how public policy shapes the current approach to

developing curricula and maintaining a school climate that includes children of

immigrants. It suggests that there is a massive enrollment of such students,

resulting in school restructuring. This article acknowledges the presence of the

high numbers of immigrant students and sheds light on how schools deal with

them. The authors note that completion of high school and attendance in college

programs is of crucial importance to the success of immigrant students and their

families, particularly from a socioeconomic perspective.

New, W. & Petronicolos, L. (1999). Anti-Immigrant Legislation, Social Justice, and the

Right to Equal Educational Opportunity. American Educational Research

Journal. 36 (3): 373 – 408.

Although this article was published in 1999, it remains among the best resources

on this topic. It shows how public policy has been shaped to include and exclude

immigrant students and their families from free public education. It emphasizes

that public education should not be influenced by citizenship or socioeconomic

status. They suggest that discrimination is bound to change in the future.