Researchers concerned with educational disparities have demonstrated the importance of connecting teaching practices to students’ cultures as a way to improve academic engagement and achievement. Youth programs, particularly high-quality arts programs, offer additional opportunities to examine how teaching and learning practices that incorporate ethnic, youth, and popular cultures can support youth development. The investigator wants to identify the practices of arts programs that incorporate immigrant youth culture, position immigrant youth as resources, and foster sociopolitical consciousness within immigrant youth. Three ethnic and three non-ethnic community-based organizations with high-quality arts programs serving primarily immigrant youth from Hmong, Latino, and Somali ethnic groups are included. Participants will include Hmong, Latino, and Somali adolescents and staff in the programs.
In what ways can youth programs include the cultures of immigrant youth?
