The Intersection of Teachers’ and Highly Educated Asian Immigrant Parents’ Schemas About Elementary School Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 19
  In Roundtable Session: Research on the Education of Asian and Pacific Americans: Roundtable Session on Immigrant Education

Abstract

The United States is a nation of racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, and linguistic diversity, and the ways that teachers, students, and caregivers define and conceptualize “education” can vary widely. The goal of this study was to analyze the education-related schemas guiding teachers and highly educated immigrant parents in a small southern California elementary school district, and to describe how facets of these schemas converged or diverged as parents and teachers drew upon their social and cultural backgrounds during interactions with one another. This study’s disentanglement of culture as a variable separate from SES and education illuminated key areas where educators can engage and ease the transition of immigrant students and parents into a new context, regardless of their demographics.

Author

• Jennifer Goldston, University of California - San Diego