GLOSSARY
 Aboriginal—The first of a kind or the original people present in a region as contrasted with an invading or colonizing people.
Access—Providing equal opportunity to participate in all aspects of the educational process for every student. Refers to both physical and institutional access to learning facilities, resources, and curricular programs. To meet the diverse needs of all students, some of whom require specific skills to access the school curriculum, compensatory policies and practices are necessary to ensure equal participation in school programs by all groups.
Acculturation—Refers to the long-term process of adapting to new cultural behaviors that are different from one’s primary learned culture and includes physical, biological, and social changes. Acculturation generally follows culture shock. Two considerations that result in differing acculturation outcomes are whether it is considered important to maintain one’s cultural identity and to display its characteristics, and whether people believe it is important to maintain relationships with other groups. Outcomes include assimilation, integration, separation, segregation, seclusion, and marginalization (also defined in this glossary).
Adaptation—The adjustment process one goes through in order to feel comfortable and function in new cultural situations. The person learns the language and the gestures, and attempts to understand and empathize with the perspectives of the second culture, but may resist the encroachment of the second culture on his or her own culture.
Alien—The immigration law uses this term to mean anyone who is a foreign citizen and not a citizen of the United States. A resident alien is a legal resident of the United States, but still an alien, and therefore subject to what is called exclusion (being kept out of the United States upon arriving or returning from abroad), and deportation (being sent back home once here). The only way to be immune from exclusion and deportation is to stop being an alien and become a naturalized U.S. citizen. "Foreign citizen" may be a preferable term, since some foreign citizens find the technical term "alien" offensive.
Assimilation—One form of adaptation to a culturally new environment. In the assimilation process, retaining one’s original cultural identity is deemed relatively unimportant and the focus is on taking on the new culture’s beliefs, values, and norms.
Asylee—Someone who has been granted asylum is called an asylee. One must remain an asylee for a year before becoming eligible to file for an adjustment of status to become a legal resident. Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, take time, and are usually expensive. A person who has applied for asylum may obtain a work authorization while the case is pending. A limit of 10,000 noncitizens are granted asylee status each year.
Asylum/Refugee Status—In 1980 the U.S. Congress passed the Refugee Act, which allows a person who is outside of the home country and unable to safely return to that country either because they have been persecuted or have a well-founded fear of persecution in the future—to apply for asylum in the United States. The Refugee Act lists five reasons for being persecuted: race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
Bicultural—Developing the ability to understand and function in two different cultural situations. In some cases, a person takes on the cultural characteristics of both cultures, while in other cases, a person may "role-play" in their second culture rather than internalize the culture that may have been oppressive.
Bilingual Education—An educational program involving instruction in two languages, with the goal being to promote bilingualism (proficiency in both languages).
Citizen—A person born in the United States or born abroad with one or both parents U.S. citizens; a foreign-born person who has completed the process of naturalization. After five years, a legal immigrant is eligible to apply for citizenship.
Culture Shock—Occurs when people must deal with a barrage of new experiences that are difficult to interpret because the cultural context has changed. Actions performed automatically at home may require effort and concentration. A loss of predictability, coupled with the fatigue that results from the need to stay consciously focused on what would normally be taken for granted, produces the negative responses associated with culture shock.
Cold War—A conflict over ideological differences carried on by methods short of sustained overt military action and usually without breaking off diplomatic relations. This term has usually referred to the Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union.
Diversity—Refers to the growing cultural, ethnic, and linguistic variation in the U.S. population.
Discrimination—The differential treatment of individuals considered to belong to a particular group, including the denial of opportunity, privilege, role, or reward on the basis of sex, race, national origin, or other factors. Prejudice is an attitude; discrimination is its manifestation.
Educational Equity—The elimination of discrimination in educational institutions, programs, and curricula on the basis of race, national origin, or sex and of those elements of role stereotyping and role socialization that prevent full and fair participation by all students in educational programs. Educational equity is concerned with the elimination of bias or stereotyping to enable all students to freely choose among and benefit from opportunities in educational institutions and programs, with limitations determined only by each individual’s interests and abilities.
Emergency Immigrant Education Program—Provides grants to state education agencies to assist local school districts that experience large increases in their immigrant student populations. Administered by the federal Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs (OBEMLA) in Washington, DC.
Emigration—Departing or having departed from a country to settle elsewhere.
English Only—A movement on state or national levels that promotes enactment of legislation to restrict or prohibit government agencies, and in some cases private businesses, from using languages other than English.
Equality—Sameness of status or competency. Of the same measure, quantity, amount, or number as another, like for each member of a group, class, or society.
ESL (English as a Second Language)—Students are taught English as a second language, with limited emphasis on maintaining or developing proficiency in their first language.
Ethnocentrism—Belief in the superiority of one’s own culture; judging another culture by the norms and values of one’s own culture.
First-Generation Immigrant—An immigrant who has not been preceded to the United States by parents or other family members.
Green Card—A nickname for the plastic card that signifies that the holder is a lawful permanent resident of the United States. The official name for the card is Alien Registration Receipt Card.
Immigrant—A foreign-born individual who has been admitted to reside permanently in the United States as a lawful permanent resident (LPR).
Immigrant Children—Children from birth to 18 years who came to the United States with their parents or other family members, and U.S.-born children of parents who immigrated to the United States before the children were born.
Immigration—The process by which foreign citizens, technically known as "aliens," enter the United States, legally or illegally, usually with the intention of taking up permanent residence.
Indentured Servant—A person who binds himself or herself by a contract to work for another for a specified time, often in return for payment of travel expenses and maintenance.
INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service)—Its mission: "The U. S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), an agency of the Department of Justice, is responsible for enforcing the laws regulating the admission of foreign-born persons (i.e., aliens) to the United States and for administering various immigration benefits, including the naturalization of resident aliens. The INS also works with the Department of State, the United Nations, and the Department of Health and Human Services in the admission and resettlement of refugees. The INS is headed by a Commissioner who reports to the Attorney General."
Lau v. Nichols—The U.S. Supreme Court decision which ruled that the San Francisco school system violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by denying non-English-speaking students of Chinese ancestry a meaningful opportunity to participate in the public educational program. If English is the mainstream language of instruction, then measures have to be taken to ensure that English is taught to students who do not speak English or are limited-English proficient to provide equal access to educational opportunities.
Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR)—Foreign-born individuals who have been admitted to reside permanently in the United States.
LEP (Limited English Proficiency)—Individuals whose native language is a language other than English, and who may be either born in the United States or in another nation and have acquired only an initial ability to understand and speak English.
Migrant Worker—A person who moves regularly to find work, most often in harvesting crops. Many people who originally worked as seasonal migrant workers, returning to their home country after the work was completed, eventually became U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)—Adopted in 1993, NAFTA reduces trade restrictions among the three member countries of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, facilitating the movement of capital to Mexico and the movement of commodities to Canada and the United States.
Nativism—Nativism is an attitude held by people who want to restrict U.S. residence or citizenship to people they label "native." They often express intense opposition to people they consider "strange" or "foreign." A nativistic attitude results in the desire of some Americans to restrict, exclude, or attack immigrants. Nativism has taken many forms, ranging from harassing behaviors such as verbal epithets against "foreigners" to restrictive legislation and hate crimes such as vandalism of property and even murder.
Naturalization—Lawful permanent residents are eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship through a process called naturalization. In order to naturalize, applicants must reside in the U.S. for five years (three if they are married to a United States citizen), demonstrate a knowledge of U.S. history and government, show they have paid taxes, have committed no serious crimes, be of "good moral character," and demonstrate that they understand, speak, and write English.
National Origin—Refers to an individual’s cultural or ethnic origin, acquired by birth in a country outside the United States; by being a direct descendant of an individual born in the United States, such as a American Indian or Alaska Native; or from immigrants born outside the United States.
Naturalized Citizen—An individual who applies for U.S. citizenship and meets all the qualifications of the naturalization process.
Newcomer—Refers to one recently arrived in the United States.
Nonimmigrant—Individuals who are permitted to enter the United States for a limited period of time and are given temporary visas. Non-immigrant (temporary) visas are given to: students, tourists, temporary workers, business executives, and diplomats.
Prejudice/Bias—Attitudes that predispose an individual to make either negative or positive judgments about persons, objects, concepts, or groups prior to objective evaluation; preconceived judgment or opinion; an adverse opinion or learning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge; an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics.
Quota System—A national system that determined the percentage of foreigners allowed to immigrate on the basis of their country of origin. By 1924, British residents were allotted 50 percent of the allowable number of slots; Asian immigration, in contrast, was prohibited almost entirely by this system. This system of national quotas continued until it was dismantled in 1965, when each country—regardless of race or ethnicity—was allotted an annual quota of 20,000 under a ceiling total of 170,000.
Racism—Any attitude, action, or institutional structure that subordinates a person or group because of their color. Racism is not just a matter of attitudes; actions and institutional structures can also be racist.
Refugee—Someone who is outside of the home country and unable to safely return to that country, either because they have been persecuted or have a well-founded fear of persecution in the future. (See "asylum.")
Sanctuary—A place of refuge and protection. A concept that describes individuals taking refuge within a religious community.
Second-Generation Immigrant—U.S.-born children of a first-generation immigrant. These children are U.S. citizens by birth whether their parents are in the United States legally or illegally.
Stereotype—An oversimplified perception in which individuals are ascribed certain traits merely because of their membership in a specific group, race, or sex.
Title I, Improving America’s School Act (IASA)—addresses helping disadvantaged children to meet high standards and improving basic programs operated by local educational agencies. Passed by Congress in 1994, IASA re-authorizes programs funded under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—Prohibits discrimination against students on the basis of race, color, or national origin in programs receiving federal funds. Title VI covers student admissions, student access to courses and programs, and student policies and their application, to name a few.
Undocumented immigrant—A foreign citizen who enters or tries to enter the United States without a visa from the U.S. Consulate in the home country, or someone who entered legally without needing a visa or with a valid short-term visa, but then stayed longer than permitted by the INS. Eighty-five percent of immigrants are here legally. Those who are here without proper papers are estimated at about 1.25 percent of the total U.S. population.
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Date of Last Update: 9/6/01 
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