Immigrant Educators in the US

About 8 percent of American teachers were born abroad. In 1950, shortly after the end of World War II, about 4 percent of teachers were foreign born. The fraction dropped to 2 percent by 1960. Since then, the foreign-born fraction has increased steadily, having just topped 8 percent in the most recent data. The fraction of foreign-born teachers is lower than the fraction of immigrants in the general population. Immigrant teachers are not spread evenly across the United States. If we didn’t have teachers from abroad, Alabama and Vermont would not be much affected. On the other hand, California and Florida would have teacher supply disasters if there were no foreign-born teachers. The next picture shows the distribution of foreign-born teachers across the U.S.

U.S. map indicating each state's percentage of immigrant teachers. (Source: Dick Startz/IPUMS USA)

To a considerable extent, there are high numbers of foreign-born teachers in states that have high numbers of foreign-born residents. (Interestingly, Alaska has an unusually high number of foreign-born teachers relative to its overall immigrant population.)

The quick summary is that teachers who have migrated to the U.S. are a vital source of teachers. That’s especially true in the parts of the country that have a large immigrant population. None of the proposed changes to immigration policy is likely to cause any short-run crises because few of the changes would affect legal immigrants who are already teachers.

Challenges Facing Immigrant teachers in the U.S 

Immigration has long been contributed by the growth of globalization. The movement of people across global borders in search of greener pastures is visible and forms a significant element of globalization. It has been viewed as problematic, though migration has been equally rewarding since it leads to viable development. For instance, families in marginalized areas acquire improved security from the remittances through the support of suitable policies that lead to exponential economic growth. 

Teachers are part of the rising statistics of immigrants despite the dynamic and stringent immigration measure controls. In the last 20 years, U.S accommodated approximately  1.1 million African immigrants. Owing to the increasing migration patterns, students in different educational facilities have similarly become socially diversified, prompting an urgent need for an effective teaching force to deeply explore within the broad-based student fraternity in the U.S education structure, which sums up the essence of immigrant teachers. 

 The 21st-century modern advancements have been featured with insufficient educators to offer the corresponding aptitudes. Enrolling teacher immigrants is therefore the only option left to fill the widening gaps. As the enrollment of immigrant teachers continues in the U.S, the adjustment process is hard enough once the immigrant teachers get deployed in the new setting. Worse off, the native school managers, guardians, and policymakers have no idea of the difficulties, challenges they face in the course of their duty. Consequently, oppression gaps widen between the two social divides.

Immigration History and Demographics of Teachers

Since time immemorial, America has been known to host the largest number of migrants and refugees. Since 1600, before the 1775 revolutionary war, the first wave of immigrants found their way. The second wave occurred in 1820-1870, while the third migration pattern existed from 1880- 1920. The fourth pattern, which is also the current migration pattern begun in 1965 after the establishment of the law reformations on immigration policies in the U.S. 

Among some of the reasons why people migrate to the U.S according to Schmeidi (2001) is:

The aging population and reduced fertility rates call for an additional workforce to support the rapidly growing labor market jobs.

Immigrants are attracted to the substantial stipends with additional benefits of insurance cover, and other social benefits while working in the U.S compared to their own home countries. 

Teachers, just like other professionals who migrate to the U.S acquire the H-1B visa. The annual limit for the professionals' intake is usually 40,000 according to the ((USCIS, 2010). Once the verification process is done, instructors get an interim visa to give them access to the public schools. 

Normally, there is a deficiency of teachers in special education, science, math, and bilingual education as confirmed by the America Federation of Teachers (2009). Some regions within the rural areas also lack sufficient financial capacity for hiring qualified teachers in these subject areas. 

The decentralized nature of the education system prompts the issues of teacher shortage to be solved at the earliest stages. The global teacher recruitment policy offers the educational administrators within the locality to find viable strategies for settling such concerns to get a solution. (Kumek, 2012).

According to the educators, increasing teachers from socially and ethnic diversified origins is a benefit to the students with the same backgrounds because:

The teachers easily tolerate their language acquisition process in the classroom setting.   These teachers become ethnic instructors and offer varied discernments on the best ways to handle such learners.

According to Quiocho & Rios (2000), immigrant teachers habitually adopt a compassionate personality, having passed through different experiences, and are therefore in the right capacity to handle multicultural learners in class.

Immigrant teachers portray an optimistic outlook and even their color creates an open and integrative social diversified setting in the classroom, which promotes justifiable racial tolerance and understanding.

Having said that, there are many challenges that immigrant teachers face during their recruitment phase.  The immigrant teachers’ pay the hiring organizations some calculated fees which are usually collected from the school district. There are however some instances in which the recruiting agencies pressurize the teach s to sign for additional liabilities like affecting contracts which affect their pay as they subject them to covetous lenders (AFT, 2009). For instance, in the year 2009, according to records, a fraudulent company was held charge of swindling teachers' funds. 200 Filipino teachers funds who had been deployed in Lousiana. Each teacher offered $15,000 to the company to be hired with an additional 10% deduction of the monthly salary for two consecutive years. Since most of the recruitment agencies are unregulated, there is no open monitoring framework for public scrutiny concerning the rising cases of abuse  for immigrant teachers. The recruitment protocols are therefore unbound and make it insecure for the immigrant teachers' rights. With this in view, there is a need for the application of ethics that should govern the international employment of teachers to guard the teacher's welfare in foreign countries.  Additionally, these teachers should go through a comprehensive orientation during the probation and interviewing process to get acquainted with the American education style. This brings us to the next point of discussion:

Acclimatization and integration challenges facing immigrant teachers in the U.S

Acclimatization is the method of adapting to a new environment; in this context, it also connects to the teacher's professional image. Integration entails the adopting of a new culture and social life within the new working environment and residential space. In comparison to their White colleagues, the distinctive dissimilar feature in terms of classroom management exercise is the approach of awarding and punishing. According to the immigrant teachers, students' way of conduct and discipline in U.S classrooms is worse compared to their home countries (Manswell, 2001). When teachers have successfully adjusted to the new working surroundings, it also becomes easier for them to manage the students; though the assimilation phase is significant irrespective of the teachers' prior years of experience. 

Owing to variations of teaching philosophies, the immigrant teachers who are raised within stringent school settings in their home countries find it challenging to managing the new classroom in the U.S. Many of these teachers' home countries classrooms are featured with sheer attributes of respect and obedience from their students unlike the US students who not only use vulgar language but they are also accustomed to absenteeism, apathy, narcissism, and disrespect for their teachers.

Learning for the second time to acquire a new constructional culture is challenging and leads to identity loss according to Subedi (2007). They are not considered "competent" teachers and they have to endure the loud obstinate learners. Whenever they opt to reinforce discipline, their authority is disputed. Moreover, the teachers are termed as "assistants" and students intimidate them by scorning their accent. The lady teachers' intellectual power is questioned as they are less esteemed.

 Additionally, classroom management becomes a challenge to immigrant teachers particularly when parents become unresponsive in handling their kids' behavior problems. It doesn't stop here; some parents develop a brash attitude towards teachers as they assume they are not qualified to teach their children because of their altered accents. Despite, their many years of teaching experience in their home countries, this factor is disregarded in their pursuit of a teaching permit. The cultural and language obstacles also limit their success of being deployed in the U.S. According to Schmidt (2010). Generally, migrant teachers struggle on their own to fit in the new system as there is no structured program for orientation courses. 

Racial prejudice and legitimacy are also key challenges. There are significant traces of immigrant racism in the education regions based on linguistic similarities, academic qualifications, and religion. Basing on such a teacher can be grouped as either authentic or not. Immigrant teachers also experience cultural shock: This is a detrimental mental and functional response,they encounter through relationships, social perceptions, unfamiliar symbols, and culture (Oberg, 1960). They have to deal with the new social standards and have to find all ways to be assimilated in the host country. In the process of assimilation, some lose their own identity, while others still feel marginalized and discriminated against because of their skin color and accented English speech.

 Two theories explain the patterns of teachers' immigration patterns in the U. S. According to Berry's theory of acculturation, (Berry (1980), there are four approaches of acculturation patterns for migrant teachers. In the first case, they lose their identity and adjust to the new culture through the process of assimilation. The second wave of immigrants sticks on their own and resist the new culture; they are said to be separated. Some neither keep their original culture nor adopt the new one; and are known to be marginalized. While the final group of immigrants keep their culture and adopt specific cultural elements from the mainstream culture, and such are said to be integrated. While the U curve theory of adjustment goes through some categorical stages of adjustment. In the honeymoon stage, the immigrants are normally happy to be associated with the new culture. The next phase of culture shock is featured with frustrations since the immigrants become hostile against the mainstream culture. After this, immigrants move to the adjustment stage in which the gradual process of integration begins. Finally, the mastery stage occurs after 24 months. At this level, immigrants have habituated to the system, values, and standards of the new culture.

The challenges revealed after the Data collection processes

According to Berry's theory of Acculturation (Berry, 1980) which is divided into four main categories, the immigrant teachers can either be integrated, assimilated, separated, or marginalized within the United States system depending on the way they are absorbed in the system. Lysgaard's Theory of Adjustment, on the other hand, depicts the immigrant teachers as being overwhelmed as the first step in the foreign country. However, they later go through cultural shock and this in effect reduces their efficiency and productivity in their working environment as they take time to adjust. Here are the systematic stages the immigrant teachers follow during their transition and the specific challenges they undergo for each phase about the research questions of the study:

The pathway challenges as they move to teach in metropolitan schools in the United States

The teachers follow a four-way fold channel while getting to teach in the United States. The stages are certification, recruitment and interviews, the aspiration to teach in America, and work approval. One of the main challenges experienced is the need for an extra certification along with what they already had( The degree certificate) for them to get approval in the US schools. This was a new order in contrast with their home teaching requirements. Furthermore, getting the Praxis I and II certification was not a guarantee for the job offer as they needed to engage in more "networking". The training process to become a competent teacher in the U.S is also laborious as it combined coursework and probation with a mentor tutor at school.

The testing materials were also unfamiliar compared to those in their home countries and they had to pay more, to secure good grades for certification. The advanced technology used for the online assessment restricted some immigrant teachers to score the best as they were not used to the system.

Recruitment and interview challenges

 The American school arrangement approves the new teaching occupations as assistant teachers to allow them to build hands-on experience before getting hired on permanent grounds. Unfortunately, some teachers can wait for this opportunity for too long.  The recruitment process is not as open as it seems; it needs more networking for a teacher to be confirmed. The three prerequisites before employment as a teacher include; a degree in the content area, a pass in Praxis test, and good experience in teaching. The discipline issues in the U.S classrooms that were unresolved by the school management prompted qualified high school teachers to prefer shifting to elementary schools.

Work Approval

Getting a visa to the United States is a holdup for any immigrant as the entire process shows differences between the United States and immigrants native countries regarding the social and legal structures. The participants migrated to the United States using different visas not because they had been hired to be instructors in the United States while still at home. The immigrant teachers confessed to expensive and strenuous visa processing. Furthermore, the fixed costs, conventions, and protocols are static and they have no control over it. The paperwork processing and work authorization process was also expensive and time-consuming depending on the visa status. Some teachers have to involve lawyers, or incur more expenses for the green card processing and pay for a work permit too.

Lacking the work authorization permit restricted the immigrant teachers from getting a job in another school as they needed the H-1B visas. Again, the Human resource department in the U.S. public school organizations recognized specific visas like citizenship,  permanent residency, or work visa (H-1B), which can only be approved and delivered by the U.S. administration. This aspect sidelines the immigrant teachers as they have to endure the process of varying their visa status to fulfill the necessities of the human resource department currently governing the U.S. municipal school structures.

The challenges in Teaching Experiences

Getting work approval and the certification process is a major hurdle. Some immigrant teachers are forced to retake the same degree as what they already have from their home countries is disregarded. For the teachers who lack the green card and are already working at school, the filing process can be long enough especially if the principal hesitates to file. As some teachers are forced to undergo the undergraduate course, they meet tutors with a wrong attitude, who are not willing to support which leads to poor scores, the cost for the course is also very expensive. For the teachers in the  DCPS, the principals require them to take an extra credit which again incurs a lot of cost on examination. The Praxis test is costly and difficult; any teacher who fails to attain the minimum score is supposed to repeat which calls for more costs.

Marginalization

Most of the immigrant teachers barely received support from the administration, especially in handling discipline-related cases. Since there was a lack of orientation, the teachers were not well acquainted with the new culture and most of the time they were just more of 'strangers'. Parents were not supportive either, in case of any disciplinary issue; they preferred reporting straight to the office rather than engaging with the teacher concerned.  Unfortunately, parents trust everything from their kids and fail to listen from the side of the teacher. It ends up causing more conflicts and in most cases, the immigrant teachers are subjected to the humiliation of having to go through "teacher jail" suspended from teaching and a case is filed against them. 

Owing to their accent and training from another country, most of the parents lacked the trust to view them as competent teachers.   The learners were also rude and teachers have no control over them as they cannot discipline them using the African approaches.

The mastering process

 Teaching in American classrooms demands the teachers to acquire a new way of teaching. The teachers also need to master new lessons every day. The learners imitate the teachers' accent which is more humiliating.  It takes a lot of time for the teachers to develop a student-centered lesson plan, integrate technology in lessons, and manage stubborn conduct without reporting the students to the principal.

Separation

The culture shock and the slow integration process make the teachers feel separated and disconnected from the system. Being few black teachers within the mainstream culture school setting comes with many challenges. The cultural differences between the immigrant and mainstream culture teachers bred mistrust, and the immigrant teachers cannot be given any school responsibilities as they are perceived to be "incompetent". 

Hostile Working environment

There are cases of racial prejudice right from the principal to the mentor teachers that should assess the immigrant teachers. At one instance, the assessing mentor to one of the immigrant teachers refused to guide and integrate the teacher into the system on the basis that she was an African, and ended up giving her low scores instead. Managing the rude and loud students is also an issue given that little is done to check on the learners' discipline. At some point, the intimidation from the parents was too much, though even after being proved "innocent", there are no apologies whatsoever. The parents always carry the bad approach towards the migrant teachers and rely on every "lie" from the students who are out to defend their "mischievous conduct".  Parents dare to curse the teachers severally in front of the students.  The principal tends to side with the parents even when any reported case seems to be "crafted" by the learners. Some teachers are innocently reported to the child protection service, at this time, their certifications and occupation is put on hold and it takes longer to have the issue settled. 

Many parents are a bit disconnected from school-related issues; many times they only side with their children if they report on anything but for poor grades, the blame is always on the teacher. 

The process of Acclimatization and Integration

Given that immigrant teachers were not willingly accepted, the integration process took long. Having a foreign accent and not mastering the content leads to frustrations in class. The teachers also lacked professional development on intercultural related matters issues or diversity to assist the new teachers acclimatizes to teaching the students in the US. During the orientation processes, the key issues like dealing with American learners are left out, and it becomes a problem when the teachers are having shocking experiences with the learners. The teachers were left with the option of inventing their workable solutions for the problems at hand. Furthermore, referring the learners to the principal from time to time would mean incompetency on the teacher's side.   The teacher's competence is evaluated depending on the learners' performance on the standardized test, yet these learners are below average. If the teachers fail to meet the expectations, they lose their jobs. 

 Relationship with parents

Many parents sided with their children when wrong. Some feel offended when told their children have not done homework. Many parents held high expectations from the teachers yet they were no cooperative in assisting their kids to work hard.

Classroom management

The learners were disruptive, and the teacher has to come up with strategies to contain them instead of sending them to the principal's office throughout. Discipline is an issue, and some cases are outrageous, yet the learner remains the king and always wins the favor, and nothing is done to help reclaim the dignity of the offended teacher.

Teacher Student Relationship

According to the views of the immigrant teachers who were interviewed, students mocked and ridiculed their foreign accents while teaching. This would interrupt the entire lesson as other learners would join in laughing and getting fun from the disruption. Another group of learners would not settle down to learn as they were rude and disrespectful. The students don't expect teachers to be hard on them when they fail to do their work, they take it as a way of harassment and will get home and lie of being hit, pinched, or mistreated. When given group work activities, students would rather prefer discussion on the latest movies or do something else altogether. Apart from booing, jeering, and imitating the accent of the immigrant teachers, the students lack respect for them and appreciation of education.

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