Originally posted at Language Magazine, July 2023 at https://www.languagemagazine.com/ 

by Sarah B. Ottow

With the end of Title 42 comes new legal pathways for asylum-seekers to enter the United States. With newcomer students and their families coming to communities comes big changes to schools, particularly for those who haven’t worked with this population before. This article will present the critical role that instructional leaders have to set the tone for welcoming newcomers, responding positively to increasing diversity in their schools. Note: This article is designed not just for leaders within the ELL/MLL space but all instructional leaders, including, but not limited to, superintendents, assistant superintendents, directors, principals and assistant principals. In my work as a coach, speaker and author of the newly published 2nd edition of The Language Lens for Content Classrooms: A Guidebook for Teachers, Coaches & Leaders, my approach is inclusive and Tier 1-driven for district-wide and school-wide supports for our language learners.

Migration Unites Us in the US

First things first: terminology. New-to-the-US students and their families are referred to as newcomers. Newcomers may be classified as migrants, immigrants or refugees. A migrant is someone who moves from one country to another and an immigrant is someone who settles in a new country permanently. A refugee is someone who has been forced to leave their country and has met specific requirements under US Immigration Law for asylum. Furthermore, our newcomers can come to our schools with interrupted or limited formal education and would then be classified as SIFE or SLIFE students, depending on what term your local context uses. The glossary from the US Department of Homeland Security is a useful guide for terminology (https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/reporting-terminology-definitions) as well as the US Department of Education’s Newcomer Tool Kit (https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oela/newcomers-toolkit/index.html).

The United States has always been a nation of people connected by being from somewhere else, unless one has pre-colonial indigenous heritage, and, even then, people in one’s family likely were on the move at some point in time. For example, I am a third-generation Irish American on one side of my family and, on the other side, fifth generation from Germany. In fact, my great-grandmother and namesake, Sarah, was what would be classified as an unaccompanied minor today, which is to say that she came to the US alone at age 16 without a parent or guardian and had to find her own way. Looking at the present state of my family, including spouses, we have two first generation immigrants and four languages other than English in the mix. Those of us who have further distance back to our immigrant roots are still connected to each other by the unifying force of migration. In thinking about the current state of newcomers in our schools, we can keep in mind that the state of migration in this country has always been in flux and is critical to our evolution as the nation that was, in fact, built by people from somewhere else.

Three Moves for Leaders

Schools providing a welcoming environment is not only a legal requirement but a precursor to learning. Newcomers may have experienced major trauma along the way, plus they are figuring out how to adapt to the visible and invisible norms and rules that come with moving to a new place, a new country, a new culture and language. Figuring out how to adapt to a new school should not fall on the shoulders of newcomers alone. Leaders can do so much to make sure that newcomers feel like they belong in their new country, their new community and, for many, their new language.

Leadership Move #1: Look at the Big Picture of Migration

When dealing with an influx of newcomers in one’s community, leaders can back up and look at this bigger picture of how migration affects us all. Leaders can, first and foremost, start with empathy, modeling how to do this for staff members. While no one can ever actually walk in someone else’s shoes, we can try to put ourselves in the mind space and heart space of someone who needed to leave their country. Leaders can convey this perspective-taking with staff so that all educators come from a place of empathy-building. As I modeled for you earlier in this article, migration unifies us and we can all go back to stories within our own families. Share stories. Normalize migration. Newcomers bring change to our communities, and even though we may not be prepared to support them fully in our schools and larger community, we can model a mindful approach to receive all people compassionately. In my view, leaders are social agents who enact change, either disrupting the status quo or perpetuating it. Leaders are people who others watch to see what we say and what we do. If we embrace change versus resist it, we set the tone for the whole community.

Leadership Move #2: Use Clear Messaging in Line with the School or District Vision

In my work coaching leaders through situations like this, I recommend that messaging start at the very top—superintendent, directors, principals—to announce that the arrival of newcomers is definitely not to be perceived as a problem but an opportunity to live our mission, vision and values as a global community. In the second edition of my book, I discuss how, for instructional leaders, your greatest power is in “choosing the narrative” for your school community where trust is evident and students can become their own teachers (p. 73, Hattie, 2023 as quoted in Ottow, 2023). Part of shaping the narrative to welcome and support all students is making sure we adhere to our mission. For example, if your mission is “to support all students to reach their highest potential” then all means all and you likely need to connect that mission publicly so that no one has to guess if newcomers are, in fact, welcome in your school community. We do not want to assume that people can put the pieces together. Our job as leaders is to connect the dots and assure everyone we lead that we are all moving in the same direction, together. Another part of shaping the narrative, especially in times of change, is being vulnerable ourselves. It’s ok to say that you don’t have all the answers, it’s ok to admit that it’s messy to find enough desks as class sizes surge, and it’s ok to ask the entire community for support. After all, it takes a village.

Leadership Move #3: Be Proactive, Not Reactive

Leaders can be proactive, or as proactive as possible, when welcoming newcomers. When a community experiences a sudden influx of new-to-the-US students and families, it is the job of leaders to name the change, not ignore it or leave it to solely the ELL/MLL Department only to address this group of students. Address the change together from the top so that educators see leaders united across departments that may be siloed. Leaders can and should proactively address the elephant in the room. If we don’t name the change head-on and message how we view this change, we allow others to shape the narrative.

In the districts I support, I see two ends of the spectrum and everything in between. On one end of the spectrum, I see newcomers families getting bused in to live in hotels from across the country with no idea of where they are being sent to and a superintendent not saying anything about this major change affecting the entire school community. This response can lead to confusion, a sense of reactivity and even fear of the unknown for all involved.

On the other end of the spectrum, I see the opposite response, like a leader I coach who told me, “If people want to get negative or political with me, I don’t entertain those conversations. I simply say, ‘We are here to teach all children.’” Leaders can be honest, courageous and transparent to be the change they wish to see in the community. Leaders can share how everyone involved is figuring out ways—as hectic as they can be in real time—to respond with dignity to the physical needs, emotional needs and instructional needs of the students we are charged to serve. Addressing a major change in student demographics is not just the role of the ELL/MLL Department; it is a general education issue. Leaders can model what democratic schooling can look like. After all, in a democratic society, everyone should belong.