Three questions are explored in this dissertation. The first is whether the executive functions of Head Start participants are improved in comparison to those of children who did not attend center-based care before attending kindergarten. By matching and comparing the outcomes of a nationally representative cohort of kindergarten children (ECLS-K:2011) grouped by the type of childcare they received in the year preceding school entry, I find that Head Start participants exhibit slightly higher cognitive flexibility scores (as well as reading and math outcomes) in comparison to highly similar children who did not experience center-based care before starting school. Children who participated in Head Start demonstrate working memory skills that are not significantly different from those of closely-matched children who experienced no center-based care, but their skills in this area are slightly weaker than those of similar children who attended school-based public pre-k or other center-based care. The second question is how math content level during kindergarten affects children with different early care experiences, with focus on Head Start participants. The use of piece-wise linear growth curves to analyze children’s development in working memory, cognitive flexibility, reading and math reveals that advanced math content in kindergarten does have a positive relationship with math and reading achievement for Head Start participants, but these students do not gain as much on average from this instructional approach as more advantaged groups do. More basic math content, such as counting has a negative association with growth in math for more advantaged groups of children. Finally, any increases in kindergarten growth rates resulting from math content do not appear to persist through first and second grades. The third question asks whether there are significant differences in the trajectories of Head Start participants according to parent nativity. In analysis using piece-wise linear growth curve models to analyze Head Start (HS) participants’ development in working memory, cognitive flexibility, reading and math, results indicate that HS participants with immigrant parents exhibit an additional surge in EF development in the period between the spring of kindergarten and the spring of second grade, later than the average kindergarten increase for all HS participants. Additionally, HS participants with immigrant parents exhibit slightly higher average growth rates in reading during kindergarten when compared to HS participants with non-immigrant parents.

Latinos are the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority group in the United States. Academically, they are significantly trailing their non-Latino peers in graduation and overall educational attainment. Among many socioeconomic factors, parent engagement has been identified as being a defining indicator of student success. Reflective of racial and class disparities, this study explored with the use of critical race and intersectionality theory, that low Latino parent engagement is a result of the historical devaluing and omission of Latino culture, history and language from formal academic settings, and compounding social factors that make engagement complex for Latino immigrants in America today. In search of programmatic designs that better engage Latino families, this study explored a culturally specific program in San Francisco and its impact on engaging Latino immigrant parents. Using ethnographic methodologies, this study found via direct observation, a parent focus group, nine parent interviews and seven school personnel interviews that culturally specific programs can successful build relationships, create inclusive spaces, counter ideas of deficit thinking, interrupt systems of oppression, and strengthen community engagement. Implications of this study on social work education, practice, and policy will be discussed.

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published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

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This study explores the relationships between the integration experiences of adolescent newcomers in one francophone secondary school in Montreal and the current policies and programs related to educational integration. The research draws on observations and participants' descriptions and insights to address three principal questions: How is integration experienced by adolescent newcomers in a francophone school in Montreal? How do these students' experiences inform our understanding of the relationships among host (second) language learning/teaching, integration, and identity construction? What are the implications of these newcomer students' integration experiences for educational theories, policies and programs/practices that target such newcomers? These questions emerge from a consideration of theories of identity construction current in a variety of disciplines. / The study offers an overview of Quebec's past and present immigration and integration policies and programs. It considers those policies in light of identity theory and, more specifically, focuses on the relationships between language learning, integration, and identity in the experience of adolescent immigrants within a francophone secondary school in Montreal. Based on interviews and participant observation conducted over 15 months, the study describes the ways in which the participants' integration and identity are shaped by school discourses and the standardizing imperative of most North American educational institutions. Findings suggest that the participants resist the school's discourses in order to assert themselves dialogically and relocate their sense of identity in their host society. However, the dialogic relationships that the students are able to establish with and within the school discourses are imbalanced, leaving several students to feel dislocated both physically and psychically throughout the study. The study indicates that a distributed notion of the Self might improve theory, policy, and pedagogy related to newcomer integration. Finally, specific suggestions are made for building on current educational-integration research and practice.

Chinese immigrant women constitute a wealth of untapped potential for Canadian society. Unfortunately their talents have not resulted in self-actualization after immigration. This is because they are among the most disadvantaged groups, being discriminated against on the basis of race, class and gender. Chinese women encounter difficulties in integrating into Canadian society. The two major barriers are: the immigration policies towards Chinese, especially in previous generations, and the women's inadequate language skills, even today. / In the preparation of this thesis, an appreciation of the obstacles faced by Chinese immigrant women was gained by reviewing the relevant literature and government documents. The concerns of Chinese-Canadian women were placed in context by reviewing the history of women's status in China and their gradual influx into Canada. Participant observation of groups and case studies of individual women revealed that immigrant Chinese women are a heterogeneous group in terms of their backgrounds but homogeneous in terms of their tenacity and their aspirations and hopes for the future. The present study is the first attempt at recognizing Chinese immigrant women in Montreal. The conclusion was reached that through education, hard work and persistence in learning the official languages of Canada, they can triumph in face of societal barriers.

The last ten years has witnessed the inflow of a large number of new immigrant and refugee children, many from Africa, into Canada. These new immigrants and displaced persons (refugees) undergo a cycle of adaptation in a new society; a process that takes much longer time than the host society allows them. Most children of refugees and new immigrants enter the school system few months after their arrival in Canada when they have barely had the time to adapt to their new socio-cultural environment. However, little research has been done on the cultural adaptation of African immigrant and refugee youth in the Canadian educational system. / This study examined the social integration and educational experiences of teenage immigrant and refugee youth mainly from minority backgrounds in their first few years of contacts with the Quebec educational system. Using a qualitative methodology, interviews were conducted with ten youth, eight parents, four community leaders, two social service reception center workers and a school administrator together with information from focus group discussions with a number of youth and parents from the same backgrounds. The cultural and acculturating patterns that emerged in the context of school, family, peers, and community as well as the way in which the respondents negotiate, create, and maintain their identities were examined. / The findings showed that culture and cultural adaptation play very significant roles in the social and educational integration of immigrant and refugee children in Canadian society. They further pointed to how acculturation difficulties have led to many of these children feeling less motivated to study, losing interest in education, or dropping out of the school system altogether. / Implications of this research for curriculum development in education and social work practice with this population group are offered. These include the need for social service professionals and educators working with refugee youth to have an understanding of the different needs and history or cultural context of the country of origin of the refugees. Others are the need for teachers to be culturally responsive and competent as they deal with increasingly diverse student populations. Also of equal importance for policy formulators in the educational field is the need for curriculum that is designed to address the distinctive challenges of acculturation that these new arrivals face especially at the High School levels in Quebec. / Recommendations are made for directions for future research in the social work and education fields including structuring a longitudinal study to follow these youth participants over a period of time to examine the evolution of their ethnic identity, bicultural development, cultural values, their educational attainment and the challenges they face as adults. Furthermore, a nationwide or an inter-provincial study with similar population groups (with language as a significant variable) would provide a broader understanding of the integration issues associated with this population group.

In this dissertation, I examined the lived experiences of eight first-generation Iranian immigrants (six women and two men) enrolled as full-time undergraduate students in predominantly English institutions of higher education in Montreal. Using the key principles of phenomenology and critical ethnography, and through a series of open-ended, in-depth interviews, I explored the situated meanings of education in the lives of these men and women. The findings of my study show that the participants' perceptions of higher education seemed to be greatly influenced by their cultural values and beliefs. They perceived "education'' as social and cultural capital which secures their status and prestige within their families and communities. They also identified economic advancement, upward social mobility, personal fulfillment and easier access to Canadian higher education as factors that significantly influenced their decisions to pursue their undergraduate degrees. The study revealed that the women emphasized the crucial role of education in securing their financial and intellectual independence from the men in the household. They held the belief that being an "educated woman" contributed to having a stronger voice and a more authoritative space within the family. / The results of my study suggest that the voices of these men and women were linked to the issues of "agency", "critical thinking", and "belonging". The participants talked about their lives as "immigrants" and members of a marginalized minority group. While some openly talked about the existence of "covert" or "hidden" racism in Canadian society, they all expressed contentment with their lives in Canada when compared to Iran. They articulated their awareness of the conflicting concepts of gender roles existent in the traditional Iranian culture and the culture of the host country, and viewed western values of women's education and career development as a positive factor in pursuing their academic aspirations. / Highlighting the significance of individual narratives and lived experiences of first-generation immigrant students, this study may contribute to broadening our understanding of issues faced by immigrant students in institutions of higher education. Furthermore, the insights from the lives of these men and women may have important implications for educators, administrators, and faculty staff in order to create more accepting and culturally sensitive campuses.