K-12 Education-A Refugee's Experience by Christine

Potential Research Topic

cmvega0711 — 2015-02-01 18:17:41 UTC

Each year Texas receives about 4, 500 refugees (Texas Health and Human Services Commission, n.d). As of 2012 Texas was the number one destination for refugees with Dallas, TX placing as the second largest hub for resettlement (Minora, 2012). Most of the refugees who resettle in Dallas, TX are from Burma, Bhutan and Iraq. My potential research topic is to examine educational opportunities and experiences for K-12 Refugee students. I would research what Dallas County schools are doing to assist refugee students in assimilating to a new schooling environment and examine the actual K-12 educational experience for refugee students. The research would also examine if parents and community partners (i.e. International Rescue Committee of Dallas, Catholic Charities of Dallas Refugee Resettlement Services, etc.) felt that parents and students were getting the support they needed from the schools for the students to be successful and if not, what and how could it improve.

Research Questions

cmvega0711 — 2015-02-01 18:18:00 UTC

1) What policies or practices, if any, do Texas schools, specifically Dallas, have for assisting refugee students?

2) What challenges and barriers do refugee students and their parents face with schooling?

3) Do refugee students, their parents, and community partners feel there is adequate support for refugee students to excel in their new educational setting?

4) What types of programs or support is needed to assist and facilitate refugee students in assimilating and obtaining an equal opportunity education?

Research Approach

cmvega0711 — 2015-02-01 18:18:29 UTC

Through a critical theorist approach and advocacy/participatory knowledge claim, qualitative methods would be the main approach for data. However a mixed method approach would be utilized to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data. It would be important to not further marginalize the participants as part of the inquiry and also equally important to advocate an action agenda for reform if the research identified critical obstacles for refugee students within the school district (Creswell, 2003).

Data Collection & Data Analysis

cmvega0711 — 2015-02-01 18:19:05 UTC

Methods of obtaining date would range from interviews, surveys, and focus groups:

-Interviews with refugee students and parents

-Identify any barriers and challenges in current schooling practices

-Identify refugee student and parents perceived school climate towards refugee students

-Identify what refugee students and parents feel is a benefit, if any, in current school practicies

-Identify if refugee students and parents feel they have adequate support in schooling

-Interviews with community partners

-Identify if they feel refugee students and parents receive adequate support from schools

-Identify if schools utilize the community partners to maximize efforts to support refugee students

-Identify what improvements, if any, schools should make to assist refugee students

-Open ended and close ended surveys to refugee students and parents

-How the feel about current school practices and policies

-Whether refugee students and parents feel they have the support needed for student suuccess

-Whether refugee students and parents feel schools provide equal importance to their education

-Focus groups with refugee students from the main represented populations in Dallas, TX.

-Allow each group to voice the concerns specific to their culture and assimilating process

-Examine if each population has similiar or differing obstacles in regards to schooling

Potential Resources

cmvega0711 — 2015-02-01 18:19:31 UTC

Bal, A. and Arzubiga, E. (2014). Ahiska Refugee Families’ Configuration of Resettlement and Academic Success in U.S. Schools. Urban Education, 49 (6), pp. 635-665. doi: 10.1177/0042085913481363.

Creswell, J. (2003). A Framework for Design.Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 2^ndEdition.London: Sage

Denzin, N. and Lincoln, Y. (2011). Introduction: The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative Research. In Denzin and Lincoln, Eds. The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. London: Sage.

Fisher, D., Sax, C. and Grove, K. (2000). The Resilience of Changes Promoting Inclusiveness in an Urban Elementary School. The Elementary School Journal, 100 (3), pp. 213-227.

Glesne, C. (2011). Meeting Qualitative Inquiry. Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Introduction, 4th Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson

McBrien, L. (2005). Education Needs and Barriers for Refugee Students in the United States: A Review of the Literature. Review of Educational Research, 75 (3), pp.329-364.

Minora, L. (2012). Refugees Are Flooding to Texas. Dallas Observer. Retrieved from: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2012/06/texas_is_top_spot_for_refugee.php

Rah, Y. (2013). Leadership Stretched Over School and Community for Refugee Newcomers. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 16 (3), pp. 62-76. doi:10.1177/1555458913498479

Roxas, K. and Roy, L. (2012). “That’s How We Roll”: A Case Study of a Recently Arrived Refugee Student in and Urban High School. Urban Review, 44, pp. 468-486. doi:10.1007/s11256-012-0203-8.

Texas Health and Human Services Commission. (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.hhsc.state.tx.us/programs/refugee/

Feedback from Prof Edwards

dbrente — 2015-02-08 00:34:54 UTC

- Very interesting topic, and great work so far.

- For RQ2, what do you mean by "with schooling"?

- More generally, it may be difficult to answer these questions for all refugees in the context of Dallas. (That is, the questions are currently framed in such a way that you would be trying to answer on behalf of all refugees in Dallas.) Is there a particular school (or a few schools) where you could try to answer/investigate these questions? That is, once you identify what the policies are for Dallas, one option is to look at how they are working (or not) in specific cases? ... Would you be able to access a school site to do this?

- RQ3 should probably be modified. We probably have a pretty good idea what the general answer would be. Is there a more specific question you would like to ask?

- Another suggestion: Is there a particular program or service or office that has been established to help refugee students in Dallas? If so, you could research various aspects of how it works.

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2017-05-03 03:40:15 UTC