For the purpose of securing aid, the City Board of Education takes an annual Federal Emergency Immigrant Education Census, counting children attending a school for three years or less whose total immigrant enrollment is at least three percent of its total enrollment. These students represent only a portion of the total number of immigrants in New York City schools. In fact, using statistics from the 1990 U.S. Census of the Population, it is estimated that about 320,000 immigrant children attended City schools in 1995-96. In addition, LEP students in schools where there are 20 or more students in the same grade with the same language are assigned to bilingual education programs, which include ESL and also native language communication arts instruction. For example, in 1992, only 13 percent of LEP students, compared with 56 percent of all students, achieved at the 50th percentile or higher on the standardized Degrees of Reading Power test.
More advantaged students have educational supports such as encyclopedias and personal computers.
They are also likely to have better educated parents who can help them with homework, and can set an example of academic achievement. Immigrant students in general have higher dropout rates than the native-born. Here, again, English language proficiency plays an important role. There are two major hypotheses for the discrepancy. A random survey in four heavily immigrant schools, covering students' desire to be in school, interest and attentiveness in class, and belief that they were learning a lot, indicated that immigrants are more motivated than other students.