Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2020

DOI

10.17763/1943-5045-90.4.525

Publication Title

Harvard Educational Review

Volume

90

Issue

4

Pages

525-549

Abstract

Although education scholars have recently focused greater attention on the experiences of undocumented youth in schools, few studies have examined educators' perceptions of their roles and responsibilities with regards to this population. Since the 1982 Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe guaranteed education to this group and barred schools from inquiring about immigration status, little additional policy has offered guidance on how schools can support this group while also refraining from identifying it's members. Policies are particularly lacking in new destination areas where there are fewer resources and less infrastructure for new immigrant populations. As increasingly harsh immigration enforcement policies amplify fear and anxiety among families, educators and other service providers are more in need of support than perhaps ever before. Some teachers in new destination areas, however, have found ways to create safe and empowering spaces for undocumented students. We conducted a qualitative case study to explore how such educators understand their roles amidst both this policy void and a political climate in which immigration has become an especially contentious and divisive issue. We interviewed 18 teachers of immigrant students in one new destination area in Virginia, a state experiencing an increase in the undocumented population. We found that teachers took actions to enhance students' feelings of security and normalcy through curricular decisions, emotional support, and even the provision of basic needs. Teacher's actions, which were often spontaneous, adaptive, and resourceful, could be described as agile advocacy. These actions ranged from providing information to families to pushing for school and district policy changes. However, the teachers also encountered many barriers and few supports in these efforts. They felt largely alone and frustrated by the incomprehensibility of the immigration system and the absence of building-and district-level leadership in support of undocumented students.

Comments

© 2020 Harvard Education Publishing Group.

This is the author's pre-print of the article:

Parkhouse, H., Massaro, V. R., Cuba, M. J., & Waters, C. N. (2020). Teachers' efforts to support undocumented students within ambiguous policy contexts. Harvard Educational Review, 90(4), 525-549. https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-90.4.525

This copy is intended for non-commercial research and educational use, including for instruction at the author’s institution and sharing with colleagues, as well as for archiving purposes. All other uses, such as reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to third party websites, are prohibited.

For further information, or for permission to reprint or to purchase copies of the final published version of the article, please contact Harvard Education Publishing Group (HEPG) at hepg@harvard.edu, or 617-495-3432.

ORCID

0000-0001-5349-4030 (Massaro)

Original Publication Citation

Parkhouse, H., Massaro, V. R., Cuba, M. J., & Waters, C. N. (2020). Teachers' efforts to support undocumented students within ambiguous policy contexts. Harvard Educational Review, 90(4), 525-549. https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-90.4.525

Download

Share

COinS