The Void They Leave Behind: Lessons From High School Educators About Working With Undocumented Students

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Teacher Leadership for Equity-Oriented Practices

Abstract

As a nontraditional destination site for immigrants (DeJonckheere, Vaughn, Jacquez, 2017), Cincinnati (Ohio) has seen a steady rise in the number of immigrant families, including unaccompanied youth from the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA). Schools and educators may be deeply affected by this evolving policy situation, and largely in ways the scholarly literature has not fully explored and addressed. Accordingly, this study elucidates the voices of high school educators, working at a school with a growing number of undocumented immigrant youth from the NTCA, about the dynamics between schooling and education during this time of heightened anti-immigrant rhetoric, policy, and enforcement. Their invaluable first-hand accounts expose how their own experiences are influenced by the political climate of the times.

Authors

• Esther Maria Claros Berlioz, Miami University - Oxford

• Joel R Malin, Miami University - Oxford