Bridging Immigration and Education through a State Initiative

• In Event: From Remedy to Reality: The Intersections of Immigration and Education Over 40 Years After Plyler

Abstract

Objectives: This paper explores the significance of a project that focuses on the intersection of two fields that have typically been separated when it comes to academic research: immigration and education. Geo-political fissures across the globe continue to push people to move within and across borders. As a result, U.S. public schools continue to enroll immigrant students that speak many languages whose families experienced a range of immigration experiences resulting in mixed immigration statuses. Yet, school systems tend to focus solely on these students’ English acquisition rather than their holistic identities and immigration experiences (Wall & Musetti, 2018).

Perspectives: We take an asset-based approach toward immigrant-origin students, families and educators, centering the wealth of knowledge, experiences and resources they bring to U.S. schools (Flint & Jaggers, 2021). Our work is guided by a set of critically conscious grounding principles (Related Author, n.d.) that address the violent colonial past of the U.S. as a nation founded on the displacement of Native People and the institution of slavery, we acknowledge that immigration goes beyond the Latinx narrative and disproportionately impacts Black immigrants (Morgan-Trostle et al. 2022), may include trauma, and exists within a system of xenophobia that requires us to move from being allies to accomplices (Love, 2019).

Methods and Results: This theoretical paper lays the foundation for the panel by exploring three intersecting areas central to Division G, Section 4, and to this symposium session: “policies,” “mattering,” and “praxis.” We review relevant scholarly literature and integrate the lessons we have learned into two recent book projects focused on mixed-status Latinx families (Author, 2024) and an immigrant-serving dual-language bilingual school (Author, 2024) as well as our PI and co-PI roles in a five-year, state-based initiative in our home state. In the area of “policy” we focus on a critical analysis of the 1982 Supreme Court ruling in Plyler v. Doe; for “mattering” we turn to a discussion of the anthropological and sociological literature that offers a lifespan perspective on when and how students come to know about the impact of their immigration status on their schooling, and we take a Frierian approach to considering “praxis” (Freire, 1972) as an ongoing practice of action and reflection by analyzing examples from our work with educators, students and community members in schools, districts, and governmental and community-based organizations.

Significance: The three-part framework on policies, mattering, and praxis will be significant for researchers working to integrate an analysis of top-down and bottom-up approaches to educational equity, specifically those working at the intersections of immigration and education. Our paper will conclude with specific areas in which educators and educational researchers can partner with stakeholders to 1) change state requirements for teacher, administrator and counselor education programs, 2) analyze how K-12 schools welcome, support, and connect immigrant families and the resources they require and 3) ensure that undocumented educators have the information they need to enter and complete education preparation programs as well as access to be part of public, private and community educational spaces.

Authors

• Tatyana Kleyn, City College of New York - CUNY

• Ariana Mangual Figueroa, Graduate Center - CUNY