Humanizing Education for Immigrant and Refugee Youth

“This book is equally valuable for teachers, school staff, and parents.” —Comparative Education Review

“An essential resource for anyone working with immigrant and refugee youth.” —Journal of Human Rights

This important book offers strategies, models, and concrete ideas for better serving newcomer immigrant and refugee youth in U.S. schools, with a focus on grades 6–12.

The authors present 20 strategies grouped under three categories: (1) classroom and instructional design, (2) school design, and (3) extracurricular, community, and alumni partnerships. Each chapter provides research-based information, classroom examples, tips for implementing each strategy, and additional resources. Readers will find engaging profiles of schools, students, and alumni interspersed throughout the book, offering both varied perspectives and practical advice.

Humanizing Education for Immigrant and Refugee Youth will assist today’s educators, school leaders, policymakers, and scholars interested in the holistic success and well-being of immigrant and refugee students.

Book Features:

• Practical strategies for educators and school leaders are rooted in empirical research and classroom narratives from across the United States.
• Multiple, real-life examples are used to illustrate each strategy.
• Each chapter concludes with a brief summary and recommended resources.
• School and student profiles demonstrate what the strategies look like in practice, as well as their benefits for students.
• Diverse perspectives are presented by researchers, classroom teachers, school leaders, and newcomer students.
• A companion website at https://www.monishabajaj.net/immigrefugeeed

Monisha Bajaj is professor of International and Multicultural Education at the University of San Francisco and visiting professor at Nelson Mandela University, South Africa. Daniel Walsh is faculty associate in Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Lesley Bartlett is professor and department chair of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Gabriela Martínez is a recent graduate of the Masters in Migration Studies Program at the University of San Francisco.

“This book is equally valuable for teachers, school staff, and parents. The authors include researchers and practitioners of immigrant and refugee education. The book draws on our perspectives on immigrants or children of migrants/refugees, educators, school leaders, and researchers. Based on a sound theoretical framework of the school community approach in the first section, the book gets into strategies on how to translate the theory into practice.”

—Comparative Education Review

“In the face of dehumanizing systems, institutions, and relations that further stigmatize and marginalize immigrant and refugee populations, this book offers interrelated strategies that advance social justice through education.”

—Teachers College Record

“The editors and contributors have provided a blueprint for how to best meet the educational, social, emotional, and community needs of immigrant and refugee youth and, by extension, their families. Moreover, I believe they have provided us with a blueprint for how we can and should advance education more broadly and how schooling can and should work for all students.”

—Journal of Human Rights

“Based on years of experience and extensive fieldwork, Humanizing Education for Immigrant and Refugee Youth articulates compassionate and pragmatic strategies for serving these students in exemplary ways. Taking an ecological framework, including classroom, school-wide, and community levels, the authors lay out strategies every school can and should implement. A must-read for all who care for immigrant-origin students.”
—Carola Suárez-Orozco, Harvard Graduate School of Education

“The gift that Bajaj, Walsh, Bartlett, and Martínez gives us through this book is a systems approach to welcoming and teaching refugee and immigrant students. The authors move beyond individual teachers in individual classrooms to address how to build welcoming programs and schools that reach out into the community and create a village working together to serve newcomers. This book is a must-read for teachers and education leaders committed to honoring, celebrating, and serving every student.”
—Mandy Manning, 2018 National Teacher of the Year

Contents

Preface  ix

Acknowledgments  xiii

Introduction: Dimensions of Success for Immigrant and Refugee Students  1

Profile of Ana  17
As Told to Gabriela Martínez

School Profile 1: Lincoln High School, Nebraska  19
Edmund T. Hamann With Lesley Bartlett

Profile of Ko  23
As Told to Gabriela Martínez

Category I: Strategies for Classroom and Instructional Design

School Profile 2: The International High School at Prospect Heights in Brooklyn, New York  26
Nedda de Castro and Daniel Walsh

Strategy 1: Utilize Translanguaging in English Language Development  31
Lesley Bartlett and Esther Bettney

Strategy 2: Honor Histories and Heritages  37
Monisha Bajaj

Strategy 3: Practice Purposeful Grouping  44
Lesley Bartlett

Strategy 4: Incorporate Differentiated Instruction and Universal Design for Learning  49
Lesley Bartlett and Monisha Bajaj

Strategy 5: Support Students With Limited and Interrupted Formal Education  55
Lisa Auslander With Daniel Walsh

Strategy 6: Undertake Holistic and Continuous Assessment  63
Monisha Bajaj

Strategy 7: Include Advisory Periods  70
Monisha Bajaj

Profile of Asmaa  76
As Told to Gabriela Martínez

Category II: Strategies for School Design

School Profile 3: Wellstone International High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota  80
Laura Wangsness Willemsen and Lesley Bartlett

Strategy 8: Enact Democratic School Governance  85
Alexandra Anormaliza With Daniel Walsh

Strategy 9: Adopt Intentional Staffing  91
Daniel Walsh, Kathleen Rucker, Orubba Almansouri, and David Etienne

Strategy 10: Integrate Coaching for Culturally Responsive Teaching  97
Joanna Yip With Daniel Walsh

Strategy 11: Address School Language Policies  104
Esther Bettney and Lesley Bartlett

Strategy 12: Promote a Positive School Climate and Culture  111
Lesley Bartlett and Ariel Borns

Strategy 13: Emphasize Students’ Health and Wellness  119
Monisha Bajaj and Sailaja Suresh

Strategy 14: Establish Dual Enrollment and Early College Programs  125
Daniel Walsh, Yvonne Ndiaye, and Asmaa Amadou

Profile of Miguel  132
As Told to Gabriela Martínez

Category III: Strategies for Extracurricular Programs, and Community and ALUM Partnerships

School Profile 4: Rudsdale Newcomer High School in Oakland, California  136
Monisha Bajaj and Emma Batten-Bowman

Strategy 15: Provide After-School and Summer Programming  141
Lesley Bartlett and Mary Mendenhall

Strategy 16: Involve Families  147
Monisha Bajaj

Strategy 17: Offer Legal Services  154
Monisha Bajaj

Strategy 18: Develop Community Partnerships for Social Support and Civic Engagement  160
Lesley Bartlett and Claudia M. Triana

Strategy 19: Implement Internships and Career Preparation Programs  167
Dariana Castro With Daniel Walsh

Strategy 20: Engage Alum in Schools and Community Building  174
Monisha Bajaj and Gabriela Martínez

Profile of Shaheen  179
As Told to Gabriela Martínez

Conclusion  181

Appendix: Additional Resources and Video Playlist  183

Glossary of Key Terms  184

Notes  188

References  190

Index  213

About the Authors and the Contributors  221