Large numbers of refugees enter into U.S. public schools each year, and school leaders are held accountable for their achievement. School leaders must find ways to support the needs of all of their students despite their race, socioeconomic status, proficiency in English, ability levels, and nationality. The purpose of this study was to examine what refugee parents, teachers of refugee students, and administrators who have refugee students in their schools perceived as factors affecting the performance of refugee students. School leaders need this information regarding these perceived factors to be able to make sound decisions regarding instructional practices with refugee students that assist them in being successful in school. This phenomenological, qualitative study was designed to use focus group interviews with refugee parents, teachers, and administrators to learn more about and engage in meaningful dialog about this increasingly present population of students in order to investigate academic strategies and programs that parents, teachers, and administrators feel would help refugee students achieve at higher rates. The setting for this study was a school division in central Virginia with approximately 50,000 students—approximately 2,900 of them as English language learners. The researcher used purposeful sampling to select participants for focus groups. Each focus group—a group of refugee parents who had children in various levels, groups of teachers of refugee students separated by level (elementary and secondary), and a group of administrators with refugees in their school (a combined group of elementary and secondary administrators)—was comprised of five to seven members. The following were areas noted by seven out of seven (100%) parents as affecting the performance of refugee students: communication, communication with parents, cultural differences, parental involvement, homework, and resources and materials. Six out of seven (86%) parents noted the following as affecting the performance of refugee students: language barrier, previous schooling, relationships, peer relationships, and translated documents. The following were noted by six out of six (100%) elementary teachers as possible factors affecting the performance of refugee students: community support, cultural differences, parental involvement, past experiences, relationships, resources and materials, and staff development. Five out of six (83%) elementary teachers perceived the following as affecting the performance of refugee students: communication with parents and peer relationships. Four out of six (67%) elementary teachers perceived the following as affecting the performance of refugee students: communication, previous schooling, politics, and student to teacher relationships. The following were noted by five out of five (100%) secondary teachers as possible factors affecting the performance of refugee students: cultural differences, past experiences, and resources and materials. Four out of five (80%) secondary teachers perceived the following as affecting the performance of refugee students: community support, politics, relationships, staff development, being informed of when students were arriving, and teacher strategies. Three out of five (60%) secondary teachers perceived the following as affecting the performance of refugee students: language barrier, PTSD, peers relationships, student to teacher relationships, and sensitivity training. Five out of five (100%) administrators perceived parental involvement to be a factor that affects the performance of refugee students. Four out of five (80%) administrators perceived the following as affecting the performance of refugee students: communication, communication with parents, community support, cultural differences, language barrier, past experiences, and resources and materials. Three out of five (60%) administrators perceived the following as affecting the performance of refugee students: communication with students, visiting school, interpreters, translated documents, and staff development. These data suggest that school leaders have work to do regarding meeting the needs of refugee students so that they can be successful in public schools. / Ed. D.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/73212 |
| Date | 22 April 2015 |
| Creators | Otey, Katina Wright |
| Contributors | Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Cash, Carol S., Brinkmann, Jodie Lynn, Price, Ted S., Twiford, Travis W. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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