It Takes a Community to "Raise" Immigrant High-School Graduates: An Ecological Prespective to Understand Strategies to Enhance Equity of Opportunities

Background and Purpose

Children/adolescents of immigrants represent approximately 20% of those attending US schools.  Many face poor academic outcomes and higher dropout rates.  Identifying strategies to address these issues can ensure equity in opportunities for adolescents from immigrant families to successfully transition into adult roles/responsibilities.  Recent federal executive orders aimed at undocumented immigrants have worsened the lives of many immigrants.  Fears and uncertainty abound and have had deleterious effects on the life of immigrant parents, students, and school officials, which heightens the importance of this study.

Research has noted the positive impact of parent involvement in school on adolescent academic outcomes.  However, working with schools can be difficult for immigrant parents.  There is little understanding about the perspectives of high-school students from immigrant families.  Finally, there has been little research on the collaboration of parents, students, and school personnel, focusing specifically on immigrant populations.  Effective strategies for teachers and social workers incorporating culturally-sensitive approaches are critical to the promotion of successful academic performance.

School personnel must have culturally sensitive strategies that reflect an understanding of multiple ecological systems to (1)effectively engage with immigrant communities, (2)integrate multiple perspectives, and (3)facilitate/advocate for the collaborative work that supports positive transitions for immigrant adolescents.  These systems do not exist in isolation; ecological theory offers a framework to understand the complexities within and across systems and identify strategies to address challenges.

 

Methods

A community-based participation research model was employed, using a “co-learning” approach, shifting expertise to a shared position.  Study participants included students(n=24), parents(n=18), and teachers(n=21) from a high-school in a large northeastern urban city where most students were from immigrant families.  Research aims were to: (1)understand the perspectives and needs of immigrant adolescents, parents, teachers and (2)identify collaborative efforts that can support adolescent academic success and transition after high school.  Participants were recruited through flyers posted in school and follow-up e-mails.  Focus groups were conducted with adolescents, parents, and teachers.   Transcriptions were coded thematically using NVivo; analyses were informed by grounded theory principles.

Results

Parents did not understand the educational system, their rights as parents, and expressed concerns about the future of their children, given the hostile anti-immigrant climate.  Teachers were less aware of immigrant culture, finding it challenging to work with parents due to language, work-related time constraints, and parents’ unfamiliarity with the educational system, describing parents’ “culture-mismatch” with US culture/norms.  Teachers highlighted the importance of support networks for students and parents.  Adolescents noted teachers did not have an understanding of their culture, their immigrant experience and challenges in adjusting to the US.  They pointed to the importance of peer-to-peer activities to address isolation and stigma.  They were concerned about uncertainties that lay ahead for immigrant families.

Conclusions & Implications

Findings underscore employing an ecological systems approach that integrates understandings across systems and perspectives.  Implications highlight social workers’ roles, particularly within the context of recent federal executive orders aimed at undocumented immigrants.  This approach provides a ‘scaffolding’ for further research on collaborations between immigrant families and teachers to support adolescent transitions post high-school.