What is Immersion Programs

The United States has a long history of providing assimilationist, English-only schooling for American Indian (AI) students that failed to prepare them for higher education. Efforts were made in the 1960s and 1970s by the U.S. government to provide more culturally appropriate schooling and to provide pathways for AI students into higher education; however, with the passage of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, these early efforts faltered as efforts focused on raising student test scores and largely ignored the inputs needed to interest and support AI students in higher education. Unfortunately, the NCLB approach also did little to close the racial and socioeconomic achievement gap. This chapter examines what researchers have found that can improve the chances for AI success in higher education, such as establishing programs like Upward Bound to better prepare AI students for college and implementing culturally based education.