Staff attend professional development workshops that address specific needs for the newcomer student population, like developing literacy skills, so they can improve their curricula and instructional delivery. At a number of sites, native language instruction in the content areas is provided by bilingual paraprofessionals. Eighty-eight percent of the programs provide courses in cultural orientation to the United States. Many of the programs supplement their classroom curricula with field trips, cultural activities, and special events. Some provide career orientation as well.
All programs view parental involvement and communication with parents as high priorities.
Some sites have a home-school liaison, and others maintain a community outreach component to share information about the program and to arrange partnerships with community organizations. Many either have social workers on site or provide assistance in helping students and their families access medical and social services in the community. Many of the programs that are one year in length automatically exit students at the end of the school year. However, most programs allow some degree of flexibility for individual students. In some programs, students who make fast progress can exit before the end of the program.