School choice research tends to focus on parent management of decisions, but this brief recognizes the critical role of students in managing the high school application process, particularly for adolescents from immigrant families whose parents are not familiar with the American educational system, do not speak English, and/or have limited education. School districts do not have records on students’ immigrant or generational status, so immigrant children and children of immigrants can be an ‘invisible’ to schools. Race/ethnicity and English-language-learner (ELL) status are inadequate proxies for immigrant status, but this brief illustrates that students from immigrant families are a group that requires researchers’, policy makers’, and educators’ attention.This brief draws on interviews conducted with 47 eighth grade students and 27 parents during the 2008-09 school year, including 25 students from immigrant families and 16 immigrant parents. It also draws on interviews conducted with 10 counselors in elementary and middle schools about the high school application process.The immigrant students interviewed for this study seemed to fare well in the high school application process, but their continued success requires independence and the support of institutional agents such as counselors and teachers in navigating their education.
![](https://www.researchforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/1970/01/Haxton_Bridging_the_Gap-cover-540x540-1.jpg)
Bridging the Gap: How Students from Immigrant Families Navigate Philadelphia’s High School Application Process
Date: August 2011
Related Publications
![](https://www.researchforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/for-the-good-of-the-city-catto-evaluation2.jpg)
Publication
“For the Good of the City” An Early Evaluation of the Catto Scholarship
Kri Burkander, Karin Gegenheimer, Alita Robinson
![revisiting-research-on-school-closings-cover-image](https://www.researchforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/revisiting-research-on-school-closings-cover-image2.jpg)
Publication
Revisiting Research on School Closings: Key Learnings for District and Community Leaders
Mary Eddins, Maja Pehrson, Kevin Burgess
![Responding, Reimagining, Realizing: Out-of-School Coordination in a New Era](https://www.researchforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/how-ostis-responded-pandemic-racial-reckoning.jpg)
Publication
Responding, Reimagining, Realizing: Out-of-School Coordination in a New Era
Tracey A. Hartmann, Wendy McClanahan, Mark Duffy, Leana Cabral, Carolyn Barnes, Ph.D, Brian Christens, Ph.D
![Personalized, Competency-Based Learning in Arizona: A Case Study of Implementation in Yuma Union High School District](https://www.researchforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/yuma-case-study-pbcl-az.jpg)
Publication
Personalized, Competency-Based Learning in Arizona: A Case Study of Implementation in Yuma Union High School District
Kevin Burgess, Julia Ransom, Mark Duffy
![Personalized, Competency-Based Learning in Arizona: A Case Study of Implementation in an Elementary School in Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District 35](https://www.researchforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/pcbl-az-santa-cruz-case-study.jpg)
Publication
Personalized, Competency-Based Learning in Arizona: A Case Study of Implementation in an Elementary School in Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District 35
Julia Ransom, Kevin Burgess, Mark Duffy
![Personalized, Competency-Based Learning in Arizona: A Preliminary Report on Implementation and Student Outcomes](https://www.researchforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/pcbl-az-implementation-outcomes-web.jpg)
Publication
Personalized, Competency-Based Learning in Arizona: A Preliminary Report on Implementation and Student Outcomes
Karin Gegenheimer, Dae Y. Kim, Mark Duffy
![](https://www.researchforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/examining-the-impact-implementation-cost-effectiveness-completion-coaching-promise.jpg)
Publication
Examining the Impact, Implementation, and Cost Effectiveness of Completion Coaching in a Statewide College Promise Program
Dae Y. Kim, Karin Gegenheimer
![](https://www.researchforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cli-blueprint-for-early-learning-evaluation-report-img2.jpg)
Publication
Children’s Literacy Initiative’s Blueprint for Early Learning: Evaluation Report
Alyn Turner, Jill Pierce, Kendall LaParo
![Virtual Approaches Hold Promise for Expanding After- school Art Programming](https://www.researchforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/virtual-approaches-web-feature-image.jpg)
Publication
Virtual Approaches Hold Promise for Expanding Afterschool Art Programming
Wendy McClanahan, Tracey A. Hartmann
![Small but Mighty](https://www.researchforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/small-but-mighty-landing-page-img.jpg)
Publication
Small but Mighty: Lessons from Black Teachers’ Experiences in Allegheny County
Siettah Parks, Kevin Burgess, Leana Cabral, Mary Eddins, Alita Robinson
![Allegheny County Student and Teacher Race and Ethnicity, 2022-23](https://www.researchforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/quant-supp-hero2.png)
Publication
Allegheny County Teacher and Student Demographics: 2022-23 Update
Mary Eddins, David Lapp, Anna Shaw-Amoah
![Top 5 Insights from RFA's Community Research Partnership](https://www.researchforaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/becoming-a-community-engaged-research-organization-top-five-insights-report-from-rfa-community-partnership_Page_01-720x720.jpg)
Publication
Top 5 Insights from RFA’s Community Research Partnership: Becoming a Community-Engaged Research Organization
Kate Callahan, Saxon Nelson