immigrantchildren.ca

The US-based Harvard Educational Review (HER) has issued a call for papers for a special issue on “Diverse Experiences of Immigrant Children and Youth In Education”.

Diverse Experiences of Immigrant Children and Youth in Education is seeking to publish an issue on experiences of immigrant children and youth in the formal educational arena. From the call (Source: nameorg.org listerv):

“In order to extend and reframe the dialogue on immigration issues in the United States by bringing multiple voices and perspectives of researchers, practitioners, families, and students in conversation. We envision a vigorous generation of unconventional intellectual exchange that will illuminate rich portraits of diverse immigrant children?

“In PreK-12 pipeline, who are too often characterized as “disadvantaged” and even culturally deprived. We further hope that a collection of these voices will celebrate the strengths, resilience, contributions, and humanity of a population often characterized as a threatening nuisance in U.S. society.

“While the topic of immigration is always relevant, the recent enactment of new immigration laws in Arizona and the surrounding protests, debates, and legal battles, have once again thrust this ongoing theme into the forefront of our collective consciousness. Unfortunately, the discourses surrounding this and other immigration-related news stories tend towards simplified understandings of immigration and the immigrant experience, and often portray immigrants and their children as a national crisis, or burden that must be managed, rather than as a complex, rich, and growing part of our national fabric. Contrary to such ideological approaches, we as the editorial board of HER summon other immigrant stories left untold, and at times, silenced.

“As the tenth anniversary of our 2001 special issue on immigration and education, the scope of this new issue will encompass the complexities of navigation pathways and social processes within and across multiple linguistic and cultural contexts that shape the lived experiences of immigrant children and adolescents. Within this framework, we aim to explore multiple contexts of immigrant childhood and adolescence, parents, families, schools, neighborhoods, ethnic community centers, weekend language schools, churches, and civic institutions that collectively present support and challenges and how these students draw upon their experiences in these complex environments to thrive in the current education system.

“We encourage authors to consider, when relevant, cross-cultural perspectives across immigrant groups and highlight processes and mechanisms by which different authors to consider, when relevant, cross-cultural perspectives across immigrant groups and highlight processes and mechanisms by which different immigrant groups build bridges across cultural contexts. In particular, we encourage proposals for manuscript that address one or more of these following contextual themes”:

1. Children in Immigrant Homes (e.g., family dynamic, parenting role, documentation status, family literacy practice, concept of home, role of siblings)
2. Children in Ethnic Communities or Immigrant Neighborhoods (e.g., language schools, cultural education centers, informal childcare, relative support, housing, playground, park)
3. Children of Immigrants in Schools, Community-Based, Religious, and/or Civic Institutions (e.g., youth culture, peer relationships, ESL tracking, faith-based institutions and community organizing institutions serving immigrant groups, health care centers, workplace).

“HER invites authors to submit proposals for manuscripts that address the educational experiences of immigrant children and youth, from early childhood through late adolescence, Pre-K through 12th grade.

“HER has historically defined “education” broadly, as education takes place in many locations other than schools.We are looking for three types of manuscripts:

1. Scholarly articles from researchers including, but not limited to, original research, theoretical manuscripts, and essays.
2. Reflective essays and narratives from practitioners (teachers, teacher educators, school leaders, program directors, community organizers, religious leaders, coaches, etc.).
3. Stories from children, and youth who are growing up in immigrant homes and communities. (We have a separate process for this type of manuscript. If you know young people who might be interested, please contact us).

For information about the types of manuscripts accepted by HER, please visit the Guidelines for Authors page or contact 617-495-3432.

Proposals due by Sept 15, 2010 to the following email address: her_si_submissions@gse.harvard.edu

The 2nd call from the Harvard Educational Review, HER (see above), is specifically made to immigrant children and youth (Source nameorg.org listserv):

How has my family, school, and/or communities impacted my educational goals and experiences in the United States? To All Children & Youth Growing Up in Immigrant Homes and Communities

“Dear teachers and students, The Harvard Educational Review (HER) is planning to publish a special issue on Diverse Experiences of Immigrant Children and Youth in Education in order to extend and reframe the dialogue on immigration issues in the United States by bringing multiple voices and perspectives of researchers, practitioners, families, and students in conversation.

“As part of this project, we are looking for personal essays, stories, and visual art from children and youth who have been directly shaped by immigration experience.

“Student writers could be a child of immigrant parents or have immigrated to the U.S. with or without their families. We are interested in publishing stories related to children and youths’ educational experiences, and in particular, how these experiences are shaped by their families, communities, religious institutions, community organizations, or society at large.

“While the topic of immigration is always relevant, the recent enactment of new immigration laws in Arizona and the surrounding protests, debates, and legal battles, have once again thrust this ongoing theme into the forefront of our collective consciousness. Unfortunately, the discussions surrounding this and other immigration-related news stories tend towards simplified understandings of immigration and the immigrant experience, and often portray immigrants and their children as a national crisis, or burden that must be managed, rather than as a complex, rich, and growing part of our national fabric. Equally important, the voices of immigrants, and immigrant youth especially, are too often excluded from mainstream media, policy, and academic outlets even in discussions of education, where youth experience is central. Contrary to such approaches, we as the editorial board of HER summon other immigrant stories left untold, and at times, silenced by seeking the direct involvement of young people as authors and experts on their lives and
educations”.

Proposal submission information:

“We are accepting submissions from PreK-12 students whose lives have been touched and shaped by immigration experience anywhere in the U.S. We are particularly interested in stories related to educational experience, but we realize that “educational experiences” can occur in many locations besides schools.  We are open to receiving multiple types of personal stories about growing up in immigrant homes and communities. However, we are not looking for an overall generic essay about your entire life. Rather, we are looking for specific in-depth stories you choose to tell with illuminating details and rich descriptions”.

For submissions and questions, e-mail HER at the following address: HER_youth_submissions@gse.harvard.edu

Proposal Submission Deadline: December 15, 2010.

The International Human Rights Law Clinic, the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity (UC, Berkeley) and the Immigration Law Clinic (UC, Davis) have recently released a policy brief entitled “In The Child’s Best Interest? The Consequences of Losing a  Lawful Immigrant Parent to Deportation”.

The brief reviews the current state of immigration law in the United States and the impact of the deportation of “lawful permanent resident parents” of more than 100,000 children (of which, more than 80,000 are US citizens).  A harrowing look at the impact of such deportations on children’s lives, education and relationships.

The theme for the 2010 NAME (National Association for Multicultural Education) conference is “Empowering Children and Youth: Equity, Multiculturally Responsive Teaching and Achievement Gaps”. The international conference runs from Nov 4-6, 2010 in Las Vegas NV.

Deadline is April 17, 2010. For more information and to access the online submission form, see the conference website.

Among the showings at Toronto’s annual Hot Docs film festival, running from April 29-May 9, 2010 are:

In the Name of the Family ~ about Aqsa Parvez and her so-called honour killing

Listen to This ~ Pianist Thompson Egbo-Egbo starts a music program at his former school in Toronto’s Jane-Finch community

Babies ~ just babies in settings around the world (also see film website)

Grace, Milly, Lucy … Child Soldiers ~ the lives of Ugandan child soldiers

The Day I Will Never Forget ~ about female genital mutilation in Kenya

Made in India ~ about tourist surrogacy and the reproductive industry in developing countries.

In response to community-level needs for empirical data on special populations and on small populations, Dr. Magdalena Janus and her colleagues at the Canadian Council on Learning presents “Patterns of school readiness among selected subgroups of Canadian children: Children with special needs and children with diverse language backgrounds”.

School readiness between children without special needs and whose first language was either English or French was compared to the school readiness of children with special needs whose first language was neither English/French.

From the folks at Early Ed Watch, a US-based blog and part of the New America group (a public policy think tank dedicated to advancing ideas to advance the US), comes news of a 4-part series on dual language learners and what early childhood practitioners need to know in order to best support 2nd (and subsequent) language learning, while maintaining home language(s).

Looks like a useful and interesting series that came out of several key questions; questions worth looking at from a Canadian perspective too:

What to call children who arrive on new shores speaking a language or languages other than English? Early Ed Watch is using “dual language learners”, but “English or French language learners” is used in Ontario/Canada and because programs used to deliver language training are called English or French as Second Language courses, some children are referred to as ESL or FSL children. What do we think? Should we adopt “dual language learner” in place of the awkward E/FSL?

Are dual language learners at risk of performing more poorly than their peers who speak the dominant language of the school community? In the US, there is evidence to suggest this is true. Do people know of any Canadian research in this area?

What is the best way to teach another language? Are there best practices known in Canada? Is immersion the best way? Comments and resources are welcomed.

immigrantchildren.ca will be following the Early Ed Watch series.

The Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Services Agencies of BC (AMSSA) has launched a new website to provide information related to newcomer children. The site Newcomer Children Information Exchange includes information, resources and other items of interest in several areas:

• Early Childhood Education
• English as a Second Language
• Family Dynamics
• Health and Wellness
• Multiculturalism and Identity
• Adaptation and Integration
• Schooling
• Socio-Economics

immigrantchildren.ca welcomes this new presence in cyberspace that addresses the specific and unique needs of immigrant, refugee – all newcomer – children.

The site also features:
• A searchable database of useful research reports, educational materials, and web links
• Theme pages that provide a general overview of key issues affecting newcomer children
• The eventual home (and archive) of the ANCIE e-newsletter.

The 12th annual Metropolis conference will be held March 18-20, 2010 in Montreal. The theme this year is Immigration and Diversity: Crossroads of Culture, Engine of Economic Development. immigrantchildren.ca is pleased to see so many workshops and roundtables addressing issues related to newcomer families and young children, including:

Transnational Families: Where race, culture and adoption intersect, by Susan Crawford, lead for the Halton Multicultural Council project “Transracial Parenting Initiative”. From the abstract: “This workshop presents research on transracial and transnational families created through adoption across Canada. Presentations examine cultural enrichment through adoption, gaps in delivering pre- and post-adoption services and the needsof transracial familites; and adult adoptees’ complex experiences and understandings of ethno-racial identity”.

Conflict and Violence in Immigrant Families, by Madine VanderPlaat, St. Mary’s University. From the abstract: “This workshop will examine issues related to gender, conflict and violence within immigrant families. Participants will discuss the factors that contribute to stressors as well as the challenges and opportunities for culturally competent social responses”.

Health and Access to it for Migrants after Birth, by Anita Gagnon, Denise Bradshaw, Marlo Turner-Ritchie. From the abstract: “Tri-city (Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal) data on the health and service needs of refugee, asylum-seeking, non-refugee immigrant and Canadian-born women and their infants during pregnancy, at birth and during the first four months after birth will be presented in conjunction with potential policy responses to these date”.

School, Community and Collaborative Practice: Fostering the Integration of Immigrant and Refguee Youth in the Canadian School Context, by Sophie Yohani, N. Ernest Khalema. From the abstract: “Creating welcoming communities in educational settings is vital for newcomer students who may have a history that hinders adaptation. This workshop brings together academic researchers, non-profit practitioners, a government program officer, and a graduate student who share expertise in community-based collaborative practice to address the adaptation of refugee and immigrant students in the Canadian school context”.

Taking Care into Consideration: Local and Transnational Implications for Families, Children and Youth, by Alexandra Dobrowolsky and Evangelia Tastsoglou. From the abstract: “Familial networks, local and transnational, are critical to immigrants’ decision-making processes. The accommodation of care concerns (care of children, elderly parents, etc). also becomes a key consideration for migrants, especially for women. This workshop explores the repercussions of familial networks, and the complex negotiation of care concerns vis-a-vis attraction and retention”.

For more details on the above, see the conference program page.

New research on young children of immigrants, publication date: Nov 2009. In an edited collection, entitled Immigration, Diversity, and Education, editors Elena Grigorenko and Ruby Takanishi present the first wave of studies about what is happening to young children from birth to age 10 living in immigrant families in the U.S.

The contributors offer interdisciplinary perspectives on recent developments and research findings on children of immigrants. … this collection lays the foundation for changes in child and youth policies associated with the shifting ethnic, cultural and linguistic profile of the US population (Source: NAME Listserv, Sept 23/09).

Table of Contents

Preface, Elena L. Grigorenko

Introduction, Ruby Takanishi

1. Children of Immigrants and the Future of America, Donald J.Hernandez, Nancy A. Denton, and Suzanne E. Macartney.

2. Differences in Social Transfer Support and Poverty for Immigrant Families with Children: Lessons from the LIS, Timothy Smeeding, Coady Wing, and Karen Robson.

3. Disentangling Nativity Status, Race/Ethnicity, and Country of Origin in Predicting the School Readiness of Young Immigrant Children, Jessica Johnson De Feyter and Adam Winsler.

4. Preparing the Way: Early Head Start and the Socio-Emotional Health of Latino Infants and Toddlers, Krista M. Perreira, Linda Beeber, Todd Schwartz, Diane Holditch-Davis, India Ornelas and Lauren Maxwell.

5. Latinos and Early Education: Immigrant Generational Differences and Family Involvement, Eugene E. Garcia, Kent Scribner, and Delis Cullar.

6. Diversity in Academic Achievement: Children of Immigrants in US Schools, Jennifer E. Glick and Littisha Bates.

7. Latino/a Immigrant Parents? Voices in Mathematics Education, Marta Civil and Naria Planas.

8. Cultural Incongruence Between Teachers and Families: Implications for Immigrant Students, Selcuk R. Sirin and Patrice Ryce.

9. Special Educational Needs of Children in Immigrant Families, Dylan Conger and Elena L. Grigorenko.

10. Two Generations of Educational Progress in Latin American Immigrant Families in the U.S: A Conceptual Framework for a New Policy Context, Ariel Kalil and Robert Crosnoe.

11. Does It Begin At School Or Home? Institutional Origins Of Overweight Among Young Children In Immigrant Families, Jennifer Van Hook, Elizabeth Baker and Claire Altman.

12. Parenting of Young Immigrant Chinese Children: Challenges Facing their Social Emotional and Intellectual Development, Charissa S. L. Cheah and Jin Li.

13. More than the A-B-C’s and 1-2-3′s: The importance of family cultural socialization and ethnic identity development for children of immigrants’ early school success, Amy Kerivan Marks, Flannery Patton
and Cynthia Garcia Coll.

14. Emergent Literacy in Immigrant Children: Home and School Environment Interface, Iliana Reyes and Yuuko Uchikoshi.

15. Development of Tolerance and Respect for Diversity in Children in the context of Immigration, Oscar Barbarin, Micaela Mercado and Dari Jigjidsuren.

Conclusion: Commenting On What We Know and What We Need to Learn, Elena L. Grigorenko.

There have been a number of initiatives in the last ten years (and previously) to  address the patchwork of services and supports for families with young children in Ontario.

In the Harris/Eves government, the Ontario Early Years Centres were an attempt to respond to the Mustard/McCain report, The Early Years Study which called for an early child development and parenting model of service, to serve as Tier 1 entry to the formal school system. (See Ontario Early Years: A Very Brief History, at the Health Nexus Sante blog).

The Best Start initiative was launched by the next government, Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals, and saw communities collaborating in Best Start Networks, working to bring services and supports together in ‘hubs’ for children from birth to age six.

This summer, The Premier’s early learning advisor, Dr Charles Pascal was asked to look at how to best prepare young children to succeed in school and released With Our Best Future in Mind. Pascals’ report calls for many of the same options of previous investigations but with clear – and implementable – steps.

For immigrant children and families, the system proposed by Pascal are especially important. Pascal envisions a system of child- and family-centred schools, with access to information, resources, supports and services for parents and caregivers and full-day kindergarten and early learning and child care for children. Pascal’s system builds upon the work – and success of both the Ontario Early Years Centres and the Best Start Networks.

As the province with the largest number of immigrant families with young children, Premier McGuinty would serve immigrant families very well in adopting the plan. I cannot think of a better way to welcome newcomer children and families to their new communities than by having a school act as the central point of entry into the myriad of social, health and educational services. Such community-based school centres (staffed by kindergarten teachers and Early Childhood Educators and other family support workers) will have expertise to assist the integration of newcomer families with young children into their communities.

For parents with existing resources (time, funds, language skills and peer support and/or extended family members to help), it is difficult enough to navigate the system. Imagine not having the language, the networks, or knowing where to go to get this kind of information. That is the reality for immigrant families.  The school - an institution universally recognized as the centre of a community - is the best place to act as a central (and a multiple-) point of entry to the world of health, educational and support services for immigrant families with young children.

{see June 16/09 post for more on how the Pascal plan addresses early child diversity}

From the Toronto District School Board, “Research shows that children who have a strong foundation in their home language acheive greater success at school.  Click to watch a film that will suggest different activities that parents, guardians, and caregivers can enjoy together wtih children to encourage development of the home language and ultimately greater success at school”.

Visit mylanguage.ca for many useful resources and information on this important issue.