What role may U.S. school leaders take in helping refugee students?
How U.S. School Leaders can Help Refugee Students.
The following is an excerpt from an article Dr. Mark Kabban published with the Institute for Educational Leadership:
Here are three recommendations from innovative school districts from California and New York:
Refugee Parent Engagement
Research on parent engagement suggests that when parents are active in school, their children become more motivated learners, get good grades, and experience a sense of belonging.1 In U.S. schools, however, refugee parents face significant language, cultural, and educational barriers.2 Recently, San Diego has been at the forefront of refugee education with one district in particular receiving attention for its inclusive practices. Cajon Valley Union School District, located east of San Diego, has one of the largest refugee student populations in the country, and they are making progress on parent engagement. One initiative is called “Parent University.” CVUSD is doing something that may appear counterintuitive for building English literacy. They encourage refugee parents to read to their children and strengthen their native language, thus making it easier for schools to not only teach English but also include high-level content. Eyal Bergman, who leads the Family and Community Engagement Office, explains that the “research on English acquisition is clear; if the foundation in their primary language is strong, they can better access English. When the kids are learning English, and they have the Arabic-equivalent vocabulary, they can make that bridge.”
Design Newcomer Classes or International Schools for Refugees
Educators continue to debate whether district English Learner (EL) supports should be centralized or offered at multiple sites. International schools, which have resulted in higher graduation rates compared to their peers, does the former by exclusively serving newcomer students for two years before transferring them to regular high schools. Faculty teach both content and English simultaneously. They are “specifically designed to serve refugee and immigrant newcomers and engage in ‘translanguaging’ practices by which they encourage students to use multiple languages toward both content mastery and social belonging.”3Osama, a sophomore refugee from Iraq, tells a story that illustrates this contrasting approach. When he came to the U.S. as a fifth-grader, his neighborhood school had newcomer programs, but they were at capacity. He had to attend a different school with only mainstream classes. He says, “It was the hardest time of my life because I was put in regular classes. As a kid coming from a new country, I was excited and wanted to get better. But it was frustrating; I was trying my best and couldn’t understand anything, so I began to give up.” One month later, Osama was able to return to a centralized support school where he learned quickly and is now an honor-roll high school student.
The Push for a Four-Year Path to Graduation
During my visit to DC, I met with a senior policy analyst from the Migration Policy Institute who authored a report which described how some states are creating pathways to graduation. The report explains how New York schools are increasingly finding ways for refugee students to receive course credit to fulfill graduation requirements during their 9th and 10th grade courses. For example, in New York, EL specialists team with content certified teachers to offer students credit that counts toward graduation. “In this system, students are able to take as many credit-bearing courses as their non-EL peers and are supported in at least one of those courses with integrated EL instruction.”4 Arizona’s policy serves as a contrast, requiring a year of EL status courses with limited opportunities to take credit-bearing classes. As a result, students “increasingly fell behind in their core academic content.”5
Despite our tense atmosphere, the U.S. is home to one-fifth of the world’s migrants and, although having recently slipped, remains a top 10 best country in which to be an immigrant. Getting involved in your local schools can be a critical lifeline for refugee youth under the Trump administration.
