In this blog post, I am going to reflect on how I changed my mindset about SLIFE, or Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education. But first, I need to recap a bit about the demographic SLIFE. I want to explain what is meant by the acronym and a bit more about these learners.
Our classrooms are becoming more and more diverse. While this is a beautiful thing, it creates challenges for educators serving children who are new to the language of instruction (Wheeler, 2020). Thankfully, many of our language learners arrive with previous formal schooling. Others, however, arrive with limited or interrupted formal education, and these are the learners referred to as SLIFE. While the U.S. Department of Education tracks a great deal of data on ELs (English Learners), they do not require that state education agencies record the number of students with interrupted or limited formal education (Browder, 2014). That said, there is growing evidence that SLIFE may make up 10 percent (Zehr, 2009), 15% (Walsh, 1999), or even 20 percent (Ruiz-de-Valasco & Fix, 2000) of all English Learners in the United States. If you have missed years of education, the chances are high that you have experienced something difficult. Many of these students have lived through traumatic circumstances. This is a hard reality for the students and creates a level of complexity for teachers who seek to meet the social-emotional needs of their students (DeCapua & Marshall, 2015).
So yes, when we consider those challenges, along with the challenges faced by all emergent bilingual learners, it can paint a picture that may seem discouraging to you as an educator. It was definitely discouraging for me when I began teaching SLIFE nine years ago. But what I am here to offer you is that their biggest challenge in my classroom, without question, was my low expectations for what these students were capable of doing. We have spent years studying what has the biggest impact on their success. What I have learned is that their academic achievement and their ability to persist through to graduation are in direct alignment with how we make them feel. This goes beyond offering a welcoming tone and supporting their sense of belonging. Those are critical, but if we want to support the success of students who have missed years of schooling, we also need them to feel genuinely valued in our learning spaces.
Let me be vulnerable and offer you an exchange I had with an old friend of mine. Dr. Jonathan Lohse is an archeologist, an alumni of our district, and my co-founder of the San Felipe de Austin Heritage Learning Project. This project was exciting work, and we partnered with the Texas Historical Commission to include students in local excavations. Then, everything changed for me when I took over a class of 32 middle school refugee students. These young people were new to the United States, and many were new to formal education. We did not have time to lay out a plan for these students, so this large group of SLIFE began to get frustrated. They acted out regularly when I took over, and the whole situation was overwhelming to me. I phoned Dr. Lohse to explain that I would not be able to participate in the learning project for a while.
Me: I don’t think I can do it this year, Jon. I have so many students who are not yet literate. They have so many challenges. I’m not sure how to help them. They are fighting all the time. We are all frustrated, and I just don’t think I will be able to find the time to locate classes who can participate in the project this year. I am so sorry.
(About 10 seconds of silence)
Dr. Lohse: You know what? You’re going to settle them down. And when you do, we need them. Not another class. We need them, Carol. Multiple perspectives are important for our work.
Okay, I thought. This guy does not know my kids. But his words gave me pause. I knew there were many issues to address…but what if these students felt as valuable as Jon described them?
It is difficult to find time to reflect while you are teaching, but my district soon offered me some time in my day to research and learn more about what was working for newcomers in our own district and beyond our system. While I felt like our situation may be hopeless, plenty of districts created conditions where this demographic thrived. As I interviewed teachers and students and visited other programs, it was clear to me that the learners who were thriving had a sense of pride and were held to high standards. This should be no surprise as there is a great deal of research on the positive impact when educators possess the mindset that newcomers are assets to the learning community (Echevarría et al., 2024; Gonzalez & Miller, 2020; Snyder & Fenner, 2021).
Other folks in my sphere of influence kept reminding me of the effect of a growth mindset (Dweck, 2010). So I began to focus my energy on building the self-esteem, confidence, and mindsets of these learners. It had to start with me. I learned more about the foundations of literacy and routines for a positive classroom culture. But my mission was to make sure we were all constantly reminded of the gifts these students bring to our community. I wanted them to be very clear about their own assets and the benefits our school enjoys as a result of our diversity.
The very interesting thing is that Dr. Lohse was 100 percent correct. We did settle them down. They started reading, writing, and gaining English, and by the end of the school year, these students were not frustrated but had success in my ESL class and also in content classrooms.
Here is another fun anecdote from that year:
I did end up including my class in the San Felipe de Austin Heritage Learning Project. Most of the work was remote. We checked in with the historians and archeologists, and we all learned about an event in Texas History known as “The Runaway Scrape.” This was a time in the 1800s when many towns east of the Alamo were ordered to burn their own homes to the ground and leave. General Sam Houston knew that Santa Ana and his troops were marching across Texas, and he did not want the Mexican army to find support, shelter, or supplies along the way. We saw pictures of the field, but there were no structures. It was an erased landscape where the town of San Felipe de Austin used to be. There had once stood a thriving town until the residents were forced to flee…to run away.
At the end of the school year, our class took a trip to the excavation site and had a chance to visit with Dr. Lohse and Bryan McAuley of the Texas Historical Commission. The students were engaged, respectful, and thoughtful about their questions. A highlight of the day for all of us was when one of our SLIFE students remarked that the people who lived there had become refugees. I had to think about that for a moment, but he insisted:
“Yes, Miss. These people were not soldiers. They were living their lives like us. Then they had to run away from their homes because of the war.”
That was a different, but accurate, take on what happened on that site. Everyone on the project appreciated that insight. Dr. Lohse was again correct. He summed it up that day by reminding us all that “Language learners and international students are valuable members to our project. They bring perspectives we do not have. They add value and contribute in ways that are important for a global view.” This was so true. They were absolutely valuable members of our project.
This is more than a feel-good story for me. It marks the year that I flipped my thinking about SLIFE. I stopped focusing on what they could not (yet) do and began focusing on what they could do. I recently finished my doctoral research on the persistence of SLIFE (or their ability to persist through high school despite challenges). The findings suggest that this view of SLIFE, the asset lens of the teacher, is critical to their success. The strongest themes in my study suggest that teachers can have a significant impact when they treat SLIFE with kindness and patience, and hold them in high regard.
To help me with my mindset I remind myself of the following things:
- SLIFE should learn quickly in the right conditions. A gap in formal education does not equal an inability to learn quickly or think critically.
- If a student has been out of school, it is likely that they have had to persist through difficult circumstances. They have the grit and ability to persist.
- We can immediately honor the bravery it must take to be new in our schools, even before learning about a newcomer’s gifts, interests, or talents.
- Newcomers — like all students — bring a unique perspective that can enhance our learning environments.
- It is not equitable to expect SLIFE just to persist and work hard. Our job is to accommodate so it is not so difficult to get through school.
- There are several SLIFE in the world who had difficulty in school but are now thriving. Remind your students of these people.
- Foundational skills are critical, but remember that all students have different backgrounds and may know more than we think.
- If they have been out of school, they have been somewhere and learned many things.
- If they were without schooling, they may have been without technology. Some research suggests that there are cognitive advantages to the absence of technology (Healy, 1999).
We know that low expectations from educators can negatively affect student achievement (Echevarría et al., 2023), as can the student’s own perceptions about their academic abilities (Dweck, 2010). I offer you these reflections and research in hopes that it will support you in your efforts to support our students who may have missed years of formal schooling. Let’s keep in mind that they come hopeful. A big part of our job is to support them so that they feel as valued as they should feel. It should make all the difference.
Want More from Dr. Carol Salva?
- Positive Acculturation for Newcomer Success, with Dr. Carol Salva and Dr. Marie Heath. January 18, online. Register here.
- What’s Working for English Learners. Attendees at our annual conference will be the first to receive copies of the revised second edition of Dr. Salva’s bestselling book, Boosting Achievement. Register here.
Sources
Browder, C. T. (2014). English learners with limited or interrupted formal education: Risk and resilience in educational outcomes. University of Maryland.
DeCapua, A., & Marshall, H. W. (2015). Reframing the conversation about students with limited or interrupted formal education: From achievement gap to cultural dissonance. NASSP Bulletin, 99(4), 356-370.
Dweck, C. S. (2010). Mind-sets and equitable education. Principal leadership, 10(5), 26-29.
Echevarría, J., et al., (2023). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP® model (6th ed.). Pearson Education.
Healy, J.M. (1999). Endangered minds: Why children don’t think – and what we can do about it Simon & Schuster
Ruiz-de-Valasco, J., & Fix, M. (2000). Overlooked and underserved: Immigrant students in U.S. secondary schools. Urban Institute.
Walsh, C. E. (1999). Enabling academic success for secondary students with limited
formal schooling: A study of the Haitian literacy program at Hyde Park High
School in Boston.
Wheeler, D. A. (2020). Teacher perceptions of the challenges of teaching English
language learners in bilingual education versus English immersion (Publication No. 2020. 27960269) [Doctoral dissertation, Concordia University (Oregon)].Zehr, M. A. (2009). Yes, students with interrupted formal education can catch up. Education Week.
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