Kanguka (Wake Up): Codeveloping Educational Supports for Children With Refugee Status

• In Event: 73.060 - Roundtable Session 31
  In Roundtable Session: 73.060-1 - Bilingual Students with Special Needs

Abstract

Objectives
Children with refugee status face a myriad of challenges as they transition to US public schools, as they are charged with learning a new language and mastering a new set of school-based norms and practices. Children from African countries encounter unique difficulties as they learn to navigate the racial hierarchies embedded within the US education and economic system (Awokoya, 2012; Olsen, 2000).

In this paper, we report findings from a four-year ethnography of Burundian families with refugee status living in southern Appalachia. Since 2007, over 200 Burundian families have resettled in Riverhill – a monolingual and predominately White community. The local schools in Riverhill reported being “under-prepared,” with many of the Burundian children tracked into special education services due to “language deficiencies” (Authors, 2013). We highlight here the community resources that were developed with the Burundian families to support them as their children were learning English and being considered for special education.

Theoretical Framework
This study is framed with post-critical perspective (Noblit, Flores & Murillo, 2004), which emphasizes positionality, offers critiques of objectification, and questions representation and power. Steeped in ethnographic methods, a post-critical approach is critical and post-structural, combining the commitments of critical and social theory with those of interpretative ethnography.

Methods and Data Sources
This ethnographic study included multiple data sources: (1) six focus groups with Burundian adults; (2) interviews with eight staff members, the directors and 10 co-sponsors at the resettlement agency in Riverhill; (3) multiple interviews with classroom teachers and administrators at the elementary school where the Burundian children were enrolled; (4) 1,500 hours of English tutoring with Burudian children; and, (5) over 100 hours of participant-observations at community events. This paper focuses on the family meetings and community forums wherein we co-developed resources with the Burundian parents.

Results
As an increasing number of Burundian children were being tracked into special education, the Burundian parents asked us to organize meetings and community forums to discuss “education” in U.S. public schools. In these meetings, the parents reported three areas of concern: (1) special education placement; (2) access to education and employment for older children; and (3) learning English. In collaboration with the families who attended these meetings, we developed educational DVDs in Kirindi (the Burundians’ first language) focused on special education law, the process of learning a new language, and the history of public schools in the US. The findings illustrate the ways in which the Burundian community disseminated this information and generated an action plan to assist children being considered for special services due to “language problems.” The Burundian families named this project, “Kanguka,” which in English means “Wake Up.”

Scholarly Significance
With increasing numbers of children with refugee status resettling in the US, the findings from this study provide a first-hand account of the parents’ and children’s experiences with the special education system. Further, the findings illustrate how researchers and participants can work collaboratively to address the unique educational needs of these children.

Authors

• Jessica Nina Lester, Indiana University

• Allison Daniel Anders, University of South Carolina