ABSTRACT

This chapter draws mainly on U.S.-based immigration to examine the intersections between immigration and education conceptualized both as a social institution and as lived experience. It first positions the education of immigrants in historical context and then in the context of assimilation and integration theories, emphasizing the relationship between education and aspects of inequality and social reproduction. After a brief overview of the historical development in this area of inquiry, the chapter highlights major directions in the field, focusing on immigrant education along several relevant dimensions, such as race, class, gender, generational and legal status and geographic location. The chapter also offers an overview of existing critiques of theoretical interpretations such as segmented assimilation and second-generation decline among immigrant youth, and then concludes by highlighting areas for future investigation. These include a focus on areas of investigation that would nuance understanding of immigrant experiences with education, including location in rural areas, long-term trajectories of refugees, policy shifts affecting the educational attainment of undocumented youth, the patterns of return migration and their impact on education, as well as evaluations of best practices in responding to immigrants in and through educational institutions.