Recommends strategies and outlines challenges and research findings for integrating immigrant populations into schools by addressing specific issues of foreign students’ school enrollment, class instruction, family and community outreach, student assessments, early childhood education, specific programs for middle- and high-school students, and family literacy initiatives. Present-day demographic shifts afford state school systems new ideas, energy, and vitality, but they introduce new difficulties, such as communication barriers and cultural misunderstandings about how different ethnic group members express themselves and how they interact with family, friends, and the larger community. In recent years, communities across Colorado have worked to bridge these gaps and integrate the diverse immigrant populations into their schools. When successful, these efforts lead to immigrant parents more actively engaging in the school system and participating in community forums such as school board meetings and parent-teacher conferences. These efforts may also benefit the school system in the long term by increasing student success.
