The increasing diversity of American students presents both resources and challenges, especially to secondary schools seeking to meet students' linguistic, cultural, and educational needs. An increasing number of these students are immigrants with limited prior schooling. They face the double challenge of acquiring English language and literacy while also compensating for years of lost schooling. Neither traditional English as a Second Language programs nor reading programs for English-speaking students are adequate to help these students develop the social, academic, and cognitive skills to function in English-medium classrooms. This article provides a brief profile of these "underschooled" students, describes current educational and policy contexts, discusses potential alternative educational programs and policies for these students, and identifies needed policy development.
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