In this three part study, Rodriguez will explore how school districts and school personnel can facilitate the educational success and social inclusion of recently arrived Central American immigrant students. Specifically, Rodriguez will identify how newcomer immigrant youth define their educational needs and sense of belonging; investigate how the two largest school districts in Maryland manage and respond to the educational and belonging needs of newcomer immigrant youth; and identify the role of formal and informal community-based partnerships with these two districts in increasing or hindering newcomer youths’ educational access and sense of belonging. Trained as a sociologist of education and K-12 education policy, Rodriguez will expand her methodological expertise in longitudinal mixed-methods designs and scale development for survey research, supported by her mentors Patricia Gandara, Research Professor and Co-Director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA and Gilberto Q. Conchas, Hoy Endowed Professor of Education at Penn State University.
Rodriguez will explore how school districts and school personnel can facilitate the educational success and social inclusion of recently arrived Central American immigrant students.
