- Learning a New Land: Immigrant Students in American Society (Hardcover)

Suarez-Orozco et. al set out with a distinct goal for the Longitudinal Immigration Student Adaptation study, and they met this goal through a robust, mixed-methodologies study of recently arrived immigrant students in the United States. The mix of ethnographic, psychological, and educational metrics used are artfully described in the introduction, contextualizing the resultant data in meaningful ways. The outward purpose of Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study, and by extension Learning in a New Land, is to "gain a more complete understanding of the experience of immigration," (p.6). More specifically, the book seeks to illuminate the academic progress of recently arrived immigrant children over five years. The authors successfully achieve this, reporting the statistically significant and case study-based findings for how elements of immigrant children's lives interact to affect academic achievement.
Overall, the book does an excellent job in presenting the results of a large-scale study in a relevant, nuanced form that is easily read by educational professionals of varying orientations. The policy implications are clearly advocated. However, the book's treatment of micro-issues, such as how educators can mitigate the effects gender has on educational achievement, lacks concrete suggestions. The field can pick up where the authors left off by discussing such issues that were raised in the research.