Barriers to Success: How U.S. Newspapers Frame the Challenges of Immigrant Students in Public Education

Kerri Evans (), Jiyoon Lee, Josue Rodriguez and Sarah Gawens
Additional contact information
Kerri Evans: School of Social Work, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA
Jiyoon Lee: Department of Education, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA
Josue Rodriguez: School of Social Work, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA
Sarah Gawens: Department of Education, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA

Social Sciences, 2025, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-26

Abstract: One in four students in the United States is part of an immigrant family. The purpose of this study is to enhance our understanding of the barriers that immigrant students experience in US public schools by critically analyzing how newspapers portray barriers to success, as the goals and processes used in media differ from those of peer-reviewed research. The authors used a document analysis, a qualitative research methodology, and reviewed 67 newspaper articles on immigrant children struggling in US schools. The results show that immigrant students struggle with language barriers, discrimination, mental health, financial stress associated with higher education in the US, lack of preparedness and resources to provide education, lack of familiarity with policy, lack of cultural knowledge about the US, lack of parent involvement, and work and familial obligations. Results also indicate that newspapers published more articles about immigrant struggles during certain time periods, such as Spring 2015 through Winter 2016 and again Summer 2020 through Spring 2021. The paper provides implications for (1) research, suggesting a need for more qualitative primary data collection, (2) practice, including enhanced training, improved mental health referrals and collaborations, and (3) policy, which could include welcoming policies at the school level and advocacy efforts for immigrant student rights under the incoming presidential administration.

Keywords: education; immigrant; United States; struggles; inclusion; social and emotional well-being (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/6/358/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/6/358/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:14:y:2025:i:6:p:358-:d:1671899

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

More articles in Social Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().