Building Bridges Between School and Home: Teacher, Parents, and Students Examining Latinx Immigrant Experiences

Introduction

A great deal of attention has been placed on the growing multicultural demographics of our public schools. Students of color currently make up 51% of the prekindergarten through 12th-grade public student population and are predicted to increase to 55% by 2027 (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2019). Of that percent, Latinx students make up 24% of the public school student population and are expected to increase to 30% by 2023. In 2009, immigrant youth made up 25% of the nation’s children and Mexico was listed as the fourth top leading country from where 27% of lawful permanent residents (LPR) originated. The southern region of the U.S. has had the largest public student population increase in terms of Latinx student enrollment increasing by 8% (Kena et al., 2014). In 2016, the majority of English Language Learners (ELLs)/emergent bilinguals lived in California (20.2%), Texas (17.2%), Nevada (15.9%), New Mexico (13.4%), Colorado (11.7%), Washington (11.1%), Kansas (11.1%), Alaska (11%), and Florida (10.3%) (McFarland et al., 2019). Although students learning English are identified as English learners (EL), English language learners (ELL), limited English Proficient (LEP) students, English as a second language (ESL) learners, or long-term English learners (LTEL) in this study, as a way of acknowledging and valuing the linguistic and literacy knowledge students possess in their first language, we refer to them as “emergent bilinguals”. Emergent bilinguals are students who continue to develop their first language while learning English (García, 2009).

Academically, in terms of national statistics, the emergent bilingual vs. English monolingual gap for reading scores in 4^th and 8^th grade for 2017 remained largely unchanged when compared to that of 2013 and 1992 (McFarland et al., 2019). As these young emergent bilinguals continue to progress through elementary and middle school, they consistently perform lower than their non-ELL peers and the gap in their academic performance continues to be a greater gap in 8th grade reading scores than in 4th grade. Latinx students continue to have the highest dropout rate at 8.2% in 2017 when compared to their Black peers at 6.5% and white peers at 4.3% (McFarland et al., 2019).

Irvine claims that in order to address the gap in standardized test scores we must also concentrate on “closing the other gaps that prevent culturally diverse students from experiencing school success” (2010, p. vii). Other scholars working with teachers in several different states (Texas, Colorado, Illinois) suggest that disruption of majoritarian tales (Fránquiz et al., 2011) can also become instrumental for teacher and student curricular innovations that address opportunity gaps. Curriculum that is culturally responsive to the students’ identity is one factor that plays a role in the gap (Sleeter, 2012). There is little research that documents the necessity for critical discussions of complex social issues (DeNicolo & Fránquiz, 2006) and how parents can support the teaching of sensitive topics. More specifically, Ball et al. (2011) suggest a need for more empirical studies that deliberately examine ways teachers effectively leverage Latinx students’ cultural and linguistic resources to teach the language arts. Additionally, many educators and school districts are not fully prepared to serve undocumented students and their families (Crawford, 2018; Davidson & Burson, 2016). Therefore, the purpose of the study is to examine the following research question: How does a bilingual first-generation Mexican teacher, in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, draw from first and second-generation Latinx students’ and their families’ lived experiential knowledge in regards to immigration throughout a classroom literacy project?

The chapter aims to first, briefly provide an overview of programs for emerging bilinguals, the impact of anti-immigration legislations and polices on the literacy development of immigrant Latinx families, and Latinx family engagement in schools. Secondly, the chapter discusses the theoretical framework and methods utilized in the qualitative study. Next, an outline of how the teacher structured an Immigration Literacy Project is provided. Finally, the chapter concludes with the implications for discussing immigration and engaging families.