Building Relationships of Trust to Effectively Lead Refugee Students and Their Families

• In Event: Educational Leadership Geographies: Considerations of Space, Place, and Context

Abstract

Children who come to the United States as refugees often face many struggles in the U.S. educational system, including language barriers, previous trauma, a lack of prior education, navigating a new culture, and discrimination. As such, there is a need to promote the school success of students who are refugees. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the practices eight school and district leaders have found to be most effective in meeting the needs of refugee students and families. The educational leaders in this study reported that building relationships of trust with refugee families was the most crucial tool to improving their children’s U.S. educational experience and detailed specific ways they were able to do so.

Author

• Amanda Taggart, Utah State University
  Presenting Author