Helping Teachers Support America’s Newest Students

The youngest newcomers to the United States are often the most overlooked, including the nearly 1 million students enrolled in U.S schools who are immigrants and more than 4.6 million English learners trying their best to succeed in their new environment. 

When Franshesca Chaterpaul, an upper elementary teacher at Brighter Choice Community School in Brooklyn, New York, saw the rise in the number of students who are immigrants in her classroom in recent years — “new New Yorkers,” as she calls them — she wanted to make their experience as nurturing and inclusive as possible. But with an underfunded school and district, she faced a gap in what these students needed and what she could provide, despite spending her own money on supplies and basic needs. 

So Chaterpaul turned to DonorsChoose, the nation’s leading tech platform and funding site for U.S. public school teachers. She created a page on the platform where she posts her latest needs. Teachers in over 88 percent of U.S. public schools use the nonprofit’s website to post requests for classroom supplies and experiences. At Chaterpaul’s school, some 156 projects were funded this way. When a project is fully funded, the requested items are shipped directly to the teachers.

New campaign supports students who are new to America

DonorsChoose recently launched a campaign to directly support students new to America, with the help of two anonymous donors who are matching up to $1 million for classroom projects submitted by teachers supporting students who’ve recently immigrated to the U.S. To date, the organization has raised $1.5 million. 

Their classroom needs are multiple and varied. Some need learning materials to help newcomer students from El Salvador and Mexico reinforce their Spanish and English language skills. Others need underwear, undershirts, socks, and uniforms for students who cannot afford them or warm coats for their first winter. And others are funding translation devices to help Spanish-speaking students learn English. 

Teachers spent an average of $610 out of pocket on their classrooms during the 2023 to 2024 school year, according to DonorsChoose. The organization was founded in 2000 by Bronx public high school teacher Charles Best who figured that people would want to help if they could see where their money was going.

“We are laser-focused as an organization on how we can channel our support towards the teachers, classrooms and schools that are serving the most underserved students in America today,” said Kristina “Steen” Joye Lyles, senior vice president for equity and impact at DonorsChoose. 

Equity-focused support 

Racial and socio-economic factors continue to impact students' access to an equitable education, Lyles told TriplePundit. More than half of the teachers who use DonorsChoose work in what the organization calls Equity Focus Schools, where at least 50 percent of students come from low-income households and at least 50 percent of students are Black, Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander or multiracial. 

School districts that serve mostly students of color receive over $2,200 less state and local funding per student than those with mostly white students, according to DonorsChoose. As a result, teachers at those schools spend about 31 percent more of their own money on classroom materials.

“The increase in the number of immigrant children in the United States brings beautiful diversity but also presents some challenges for educators,” Lyles said. “Some students arrive to their classroom with little to no English proficiency. Some may be experiencing trauma that makes it difficult for them to adjust in these new settings. Teachers are taking on the responsibility of making newcomers feel safe and comfortable and seen, while also needing to provide all the resources and tools their classroom needs … And then teachers have an additional challenge, which is ensuring the classroom environment is truly inclusive.”

Teachers know what students need most 

Lightening teachers’ load by filling resource gaps through donations is one way that DonorsChoose can help, Lyles said. 

When a teacher has a funded classroom project on DonorsChoose, they are 22 percent more likely to stay in that classroom, according to research from the University of Michigan. 

While there are several factors that go into play affecting students’ ability to thrive, “We do know that you cannot have an excellent educational experiences experience if you don't have the tools and the resources you need to learn,” Lyles said. 

Beyond notebooks, pencils, technology and language learning supports, sometimes basic needs can also stymie a child’s ability to learn, particularly in Equity Focus schools like Chaterpaul’s. Some 60 percent of students at Brighter Choice Community School receive free or reduced-price lunch, which is a standard measure for school economic need, and 79 percent of students are Black, Latino, Native American and Asian. 

A young boy in Chaterpaul’s class confided to her one day that he had no shoes except the ones he was wearing. 

“These were the shoes he had crossed with, and they were stinky, and he was really embarrassed by it,” she said. “He knew I had a young son who is a toddler and asked if my son had any shoes he no longer needed.”

Working with the school social worker, Chaterpaul was able to get the student a pair of new sneakers. Then, she arranged to get his family free meals through a food pantry at the local church, delivering them herself.

Teachers like Chaterpaul are rallying around their students every day, trying to meet whatever needs they may have, Lyles said.

“What does the child need? Who is most proximate to those needs? And what can we do about it? We take that and multiply it by tens of thousands of educators, so we can tap into their wisdom to support the newcomer experience,” Lyles said. “We champion teachers because we believe they are absolutely the best innovators for us to learn from.”