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“What’s Going to Happen to Us?” Cultivating Partnerships with Immigrant Families in an Adverse Political Climate
Harvard Educational Review (2021)
  • Adriana Villavicencio
  • Chandler Miranda, Molloy University
  • Jia-Lin Liu
  • Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng
Abstract
With the increasing numbers of immigrant and refugee students across the US K–12 system, the xenophobia of the current political climate, and the effects of COVID-19 on the immigrant community, it is critical to examine schools that serve immigrant students and their families. Drawing on case studies of two public high schools that exclusively serve immigrant students, authors Adriana Villavicencio, Chandler Patton Miranda, Jia-Lin Liu, and Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng examine how educators frame the current political context and how this frame informs their collective approach to engaging with and supporting families. The study finds that these schools shifted norms of parental engagement by proactively forging relationships with families, cultivating alliances with community partners, and mediating within families around challenges related to work and higher education to benefit the communities they serve. In so doing, these school actors have shifted the norms of parental engagement to center the perspectives, voices, and experiences of immigrant families.
Keywords
  • immigrant students,
  • multilingual students,
  • families and parents,
  • secondary schools
Disciplines
Publication Date
Fall 2021
DOI
10.17763/1943-5045-91.3.293
Citation Information
Adriana Villavicencio, Chandler Miranda, Jia-Lin Liu and Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng. "“What’s Going to Happen to Us?” Cultivating Partnerships with Immigrant Families in an Adverse Political Climate" Harvard Educational Review Vol. 91 Iss. 3 (2021) p. 293 - 318
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/chandler-miranda/2/