What Can Teachers Learn From Hmong and Latina/o Parents and Youth? Cultural Historical Change Informing Inclusive Education

• In Event: 47.051 - Sociocultural Traditions to Study Teaching and Teacher Education for the Inclusive Classroom

Abstract

Objective
Though many teachers and schools are committed to creating more inclusive school for historically marginalized youth, including students with disabilities and students of color, many of these efforts perpetuate Eurocentric conceptualizations of inclusive schools and classrooms (Artiles & Kozleski, 2007). Traditional and formal approaches to inclusive education are inadequate in that they ignore the productive ways immigrant parents and families can inform non-dominant more inclusive policies and practices. This qualitative study looks to better understand inclusive education through the perspectives on Hmong and Latino/a K-12 parents and high school youth, two ethnolinguistic groups with distinct and unique backgrounds, histories, and experiences.

Theoretical Framework
We use sociocultural theory to emphasize Hmong and Latino youths’ socio-historically situated experiences across transnational contexts and borders. Learning and development are understood as shaped and affected by their lived and material experiences, which have long social and geopolitical histories that transcend borders (Gutiérrez, 2008; Nasir & Hand, 2006).

Methods
The study was conducted in a predominantly White former immigrant gateway state, affording us an ideal opportunity to study non-White immigrants’ collective responses to marginalization and educational inequities within public schools. We recruited Latino/a and Hmong families through community-based organizations and data were collected in a metropolitan Midwestern US city.

Data Sources and Analysis
We conducted Latino/a and Hmong focus groups and one-on-one follow up interviews to collect data. There were approximately 6-12 participants in each focus group, and a total of 8 focus groups (half Latino/a and half Hmong) followed by 16 individual interviews with parents and youth. Two research team members then coded all transcripts using Nvivo software. We used inductive approaches to analyze the data (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007; Strauss & Corbin, 1994).

Results
Our study results indicate that the Hmong and Latino/a parents’ experiences with the educational system and their children’s schooling shared many similarities. They were articulated their perception of how racism and racist thinking stifle inclusivity in their children’s experiences, and the extent to which their social standing as immigrants and Latinos/Hmong (i.e., “minorities”) shapes their children’s access to educational opportunities. Latino/a parents of children with disabilities also expressed a need for reconceptualizing their special needs as “necidades diversas” as a means to more inclusive classrooms.

Latino and Hmong youth felt their social status affected their teachers’ perceptions of them and their opportunity to learn. They viewed educators’ perceptions of and actions towards them as “racist” such that they felt limited in terms of how they might respond to this particular challenge.

Significance
This study can have an impact on teacher education efforts to create policies and practices more inclusive to non-dominant families.

Authors

• Taucia Gonzalez, University of Arizona

• Mariana Pacheco, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Yang Sao Xiong