Learning From Community-Based Latinx Immigrant Teachers in Latinx Immigrant Communities

• In Event: Educating the World in Our Classrooms: Preparing Teachers for Immigrant Students

Abstract

Objectives
In 2015-2016, North Carolina’s public school student population became “majority-minority” for the first time as the number of students of color exceeded the number of white students. Particularly, NC’s Latinx population between 2010 and 2018 grew by 197,000 new residents, an increase of 24.6%, higher than the nationwide growth (18.6%) (NC Demography, 2019). 2018-2019 data later indicated that while 53% of N.C. students are non-white, only 22 percent of educators are educators of color (Rash, 2019). In response to this low percentage, Governor Roy Cooper of NC implemented the DRIVE (Developing a Representative & Inclusive Vision for Education) Task Force to recruit and retain educators of color; specifically, those who can meet immigrant students’ needs are of top priority (Rash, 2019). However, while schools are rapidly trying to recruit educators of color who can teach immigrant students, community-based organizations’ (CBOs) immigrant educators have already developed culturally responsive practices within Latinx immigrant populations.

Theoretical Framework
Research has shown that CBOs are already filling the gaps for currently underserved and immigrant students that schools have been unable to meet (Brooks & Smith, 2013; Lee, 2018; McMillon, 2016). This study draws upon a critical theoretical framework to examine how community-based immigrant teachers are leading communities in meeting the needs of immigrant students (Campano et al., 2016; Gast et al., 2017; Morrell, 2015; Ngo, 2017).

Methods and Data Sources
This qualitative case study examines 4 Latinx immigrant educators who work with Latinx immigrants (age 14-18) in a CBO called Juntos NC in North Carolina. Juntos NC works to unite community partners to provide Latinx 8-12th grade students and parents with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed for high school and college preparation. The case study is situated in a larger three-year ethnographic study that examined literacy practices of Latinx immigrant youth through ethnographic observations, interviews, and student writing.

Drawing from individual semi-structured interviews, this case study examined what CBO Latinx educators can teach teachers about working with Latinx and/or immigrant youth. The data were inductively and deductively coded in an iterative process, and codes were collapsed into three themes.

Findings
All four educators, Delimar, Maria, Sofia, and Lucia, emphasized how their teaching was structured around how to prepare students to both be academically successful and to be leaders in their community. In addition, each educator emphasized how their own immigrant background informed their pedagogical and community-based practices. Their lived experiences informed their attunement to what immigrant students need, and how to bridge students’ lives at home with their lives at school. Three themes emerged across the interviews: 1) fostering critical empathy; 2) developing school, family, and community relations; and 3) inspiring student activism for transformational change.

Significance
The study has implications for how to teach immigrant youth, how to work with immigrant families, and how to cultivate the strengths of immigrant students in public schools. The study is significant for how policy makers and educators can learn to draw on immigrant youth’s strengths through community-based practices.

Author

• Crystal Chen Lee, North Carolina State University