Poster #121 - Navigating Educational Success for their Young Children in the U.S.: Refugee Families Draw from their Experiences

• In Event: Poster Session 06

Abstract

Background
The United States has resettled around 3 million refugees since 1975, and over half are families with children. For families with children entering the US school systems, the differing policies and practices can make the acculturation process difficult, as transitioning to a new culture with an entirely new set of societal guidelines can be incredibly challenging for families with young children (Fix et al., 2017). The Funds of Knowledge (Gonzalez, Moll & Amanti, 2009) and Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth frameworks help us contextualize the stories of how five Burmese and five Arabic refugee families use their knowledge gained from their past experiences and navigational capital to support their children’s educational process.
Participants and activities
Eleven refugee mothers with preschool-aged children participated in this study. The mothers were from a larger study on book reading practices. Interpreters were utilized for communication with five Burmese and five Arabic-speaking mothers. One mother who spoke Amharic was fluent in English and did not need an interpreter. Semi-structured interviews lasting between 25-45 minutes were conducted with each mother. All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed for analysis.
Analysis
Data analysis was completed using the Sort and Sift, Think and Shift framework for qualitative analysis (Maietta, 2006). First, each researcher read the transcripts, coded the interviews, identified key quotes and themes, wrote memos with key takeaways from each mother, then read all the memos to identify thematic codes. Next, all the researchers re-read the interviews and compared the common themes across all the mothers. Finally, as a collective, we created overall profiles for each mother. The team established credibility and trustworthiness through this iterative process of diving into the data and bridging the memos to capture the common themes.
Findings
Both Funds of Knowledge and Navigational Capital frameworks helped us to understand how these refugees' educational backgrounds and experiences supported their current experiences navigating the U.S. school system. Findings identified strengths influencing how families navigate support systems while helping their children successfully adjust to school. Themes uncovered included ability to access schooling, differences in educational experiences, understanding US schools, navigating multiple languages, creating a new language environment, family support, and community support (Table 1). While some families had challenges balancing the use of their native language and English and understanding the school systems, their navigational capital, and the knowledge they possess from their lived experiences played an essential role in the way they supported their children's preparedness for school and adjustment to their new communities.
The study highlights immense strengths among these parents and children while identifying clear barriers impeding their navigation of the United States school systems. Recognizing and understanding the depths of parents' perspectives and experiences can enable early childhood and elementary school educators to empower and support families in pursuing their children's educational success. These refugee families have a wealth of knowledge that educators and all those working with these families can leverage as they support them in the adjustment process.

Authors

• Rachel Boit, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Presenting Author

• Savannah Bayer, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• Joy Catherine Birabwa, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• Linda Hestenes, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• Michele Kamau, University Of North Carolina Greensboro