Prejudices and Obstacles Immigrant Students Face in the Los Angeles Unified School District

Author(s): Yousef, Natalie | Abstract: California law states that “all children in the United States are entitled to equal access to a public elementary and secondary education without regard to their or their parents’ actual or perceived national origin, citizenship, or immigration status,” (U.S. Department of Education). If the previously stated law is true, why are immigrant students isolated in English Learner Development (ELD) classrooms? Why is it difficult to reclassify English learner students as English proficient? Why are teachers not properly trained to teach immigrant students? Why do foreign-born students perform poorly and drop out of school? My goal is to answer these questions as well as elucidate the prejudices, injustices, and corrupt enforcements that are inflicted upon immigrant students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The presence of these unjust principles is exemplified by my internship experience during the fall of 2017 at a LAUSD high school located in the San Fernando Valley; the school has asked to remain anonymous for legal reasons. Despite this anonymity, the obstacles and situations these immigrant students face should be known and addressed by the public.