How Immigrant Students Deal with Education in Omaha

Maysaa Khalaf, Jessica, Nirmala Rai, & Shabita Gurung 


Immigrant education is considered as a political issue and can be a challenge meeting overburdened school systems. The kind of schooling that immigrants earn depends on the size of the cities in which they relocated, and many have poor resources. Immigrant students have unmet needs that are different to their newcomer situation. Omaha, Nebraska has Migrant Education Program tries to give assistance and supplies to help immigrant students succeed in school. They can receive a diploma, enhance their skills, and increase their opportunities for the future.


The group looked at different websites to find programs in Omaha that support immigrant students. Some of them have common elements but in different ways, and some deal with specific age groups. However, the main goal is making sure immigrant students are learning English, and will succeed in college or workforce. Here are some programs that some of the group members actually were part of them in high school, and they helped them with schooling and learning English. The following programs were analyzed

English Language Learners (ELL), Upward Bound Programs, Migrant Education Program, Migrant Education, Refugee Education, Refugee EducationRefugee Education, & College possible.” The group researched different programs for immigrant education in Omaha. They compared the programs and divide them into a table that could show what each group does. Some programs had in common ways of helping students. For example, ELL and Upward Bound have teaching English and they focused on high school students only.  



All the programs provide education to the immigration students. Immigrant students have different programs to start their education than other students. First, they start with English as a second language program which helps the immigrant students with speaking, reading and writing the English language. Some of the program goals are to help the first generation student at least get a high school diploma and to help get them to college. English as a Second Language programs are provided from middle school to high school. 


  Programs vary by age but tend to focus on young people. As it shows to the websites in the programs. Help high school immigrant students to achieve. There are high school students mostly for junior and senior students the program helps them. They help with immigrant students who are in high schools and ready to go to college. As long as you’re students the program help. In the Migrant Education program, they help children and youth younger than 22nd haven’t earned a high school degree. In Upward Bound program they help high school students from low-income families. Also, help senior students and admission to a four-year university. 


Most of the programs are receiving funding from the federal government. Funding is used for teaching immigrants to learn English such as English Learning Language Program (ELL). They also fund students by providing them school supplies such as Chromebooks, books, etc… They also fund immigrant students by providing them free food and there is a program called free and reduced for immigrant high schoolers. Without funding the immigrant students, they would have to face a lack of supplies which makes it harder to learn in schools, and they could be looked at less than by United States born students. The funding is clearly supporting students so that they do not struggle with school, and it helps them adjust to learning English and graduating high school rather than worrying about working for what they need. Overall, any kind of funding is surely assisting students to get a step closer to be successful in their lives.  


The common goal was for immigrants to have the help to achieve their personal goals. Most of the goal was to continue their education through these programs by helping them to understand the process of bettering their education by finishing high school with their diplomas, applying or completing college, or even to learn another language. By providing services along with the tools, they help immigrants overcome obstacles. 

By learning English, the most commonly used in daily life, they now form part of the community which is important because it will open the doors for them. in schools, churches, community gatherings, or even in the workforce. 

Helping students apply for scholarships means a lot because most of those students do not know where else the money would come because they live paycheck to paycheck. Getting their high school diploma is a huge accomplishment to a future start in becoming a first-generation graduate in the family. It is important to have these programs to be more widely known to immigrants because of the prosperity it brings to them.

Knowing the process of applying to college and meeting deadlines is essential Without the support of others those students would not consider to go on with a better education. Children from immigrants would much rather work and stay in the same education that their parents received. The small amount of encouragement can go a long way into what will shape a person’s future.


In the articles that were examined, there was a great deal of them having a focus more on work than education from the parent’s point of view. Latino parent has more value in the job than on finding what is best for their children. This is because of the value that is in the jobs to have a good income. And income is necessary to keep up with the bills. This is also a reason why they do not have the support to go into college and get pressured into the workforce to meet their needs. There are also other things that Latinos specifically take more value into which is housework, church classes, and family events. Motivating immigrants to complete college and higher education as much as possible to continue the phase of the American Dream. In these programs, it was also necessary to conquer the baby steps to learn English which then will open doors for education and workforce in the long run as communication is necessary. 

The articles mainly talk about immigrants students drop out because they did not have a program to support their education. Immigrant parents move to different countries for better education for their children and also the situation of their home country forces them to leave their country. In the article of Educational response to newly-arrived student in Sweden, say that undocumented children don’t have any legal right to attend school. In Omaha, the individual coding table research shows that immigrant students have so many programs to support their education and also some of the programs help immigrant students on academic skills. In Omaha education is provided to all the immigrant students. When they first arrived in the united states they are required to go to school until the age of 21. All the programs that founded in Omaha help students especially for the immigrant to learn speaking, reading, writing, help to apply for college. The goal of the Omaha education is to provide all immigrant students education that can help to succeed in the class and also make sure they graduate from high school. Most of the programs get their refunds from the federal government which helps immigrant students to not need any school supplies, and they do not have to worry about working so they can focus mainly on school. Refunding helped students to learn more English with the use of books, Chromebooks, etc that are used on a daily basis in schools. In the article, they talk about how Italians governments in the liberal age and in the United States the Italians through programs addressed to bring up the Italians language overseas as a way to preserve the Italians. In Italian rather than preferring that they dropout from schools to their work a supplemental income necessary to face the daily essential requirement of immigrants families. Helping Immigrants to complete their education. In Omaha, Nebraska what were found is that there are a lot of programs like (ESL), college possible, etc that help immigrant students who are in high school to get a diploma. 


In conclusion, these programs are really helping Immigrant students to improve their English and helping students to avoid struggles in schools. Having these programs are definitely making students look forward to further education in their future or even in their workforce. However, there is little information about the accomplishment that is coming from these programs especially because it is just based on low-income people. I recommend to all immigrant students to apply to these programs. They help students for their further education and also, help them to apply for colleges.  


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