Accountability Without Accounting: Exclusion and Under-identification of Refugee and Asylee Students in State-level Datasets

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 3:35 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Beyond the Numbers: Understanding Certification, Identity, and Inclusion in Educational Policy (Table 10)

Abstract

Since 1980, the US has resettled more than 3.5 million refugees under the Refugee Act of 1980. Roughly 40% of those resettled are estimated to be children under the age of 17, hence must be enrolling in US schools as part of their resettlement process. Little is known about the long-term educational integration of these children as state accountability datasets do not identify these students consistently or accurately. By using the case of Texas and three of its state accountability datasets, we highlight the issue of inconsistent and imprecise labelling of refugee and asylee students that results in under- and inconsistent- labelling of these students. Recommendations for policy are provided.

Authors

• Fiza Mairaj, University of Houston

• Toni Templeton, University of Houston