Tongue-tied and trying
How language barriers prevent immigrant students in the U.S. from getting better education California is home to Silicon Valley and to Stanford and the UCs -- the top universities in the nation and the world. Who would think that California’s K-12 education would be performing so poorly? And yet statistics show that students in the state are struggling to learn. Home to thousands of immigrant students, California has yet to improve how they involve families and communities in educating immigrant students. Language barriers and the opportunity gap Language barriers do exactly as the name suggests: it prevents us from connecting, effectively creating gaps between people -- a reality for many immigrant students in the United States. Wealth disparity and language barriers lead to education gaps, which in turn result in poor school performance and in opportunity gaps. And it’s not hard to imagine why. When you find yourself lost in an unfamiliar place, the gut reaction is p