Shifting the Zone of Mediation in a Suburban New Immigrant Destination: Community Boundary Spanners and School District Policymaking

Abstract

This paper explores the context of reception for immigrant students and English learners in one medium-sized suburban school district in the northeastern United States. Using qualitative methods, the authors describe how, despite a troubling context of reception emerging from a normative and political community context that harbored resentment toward the new immigrant population, a community-based organization whose members served as boundary spanners between the school district and the community helped prompt district leaders toward more equity-minded policies. Given increasing culturally and linguistically diverse student populations in suburban school districts across the United States, findings from this paper have important implications for community engagement and school district policymaking.

Notes

We use the term English learner, as this label is used in U.S. school districts to signal ongoing development of English language proficiency as measured by standardized assessments of listening, speaking, reading, and writing (Linquanti & Cook, 2013).

We did not include specific references to certain quotes or demographic data in order to preserve the school district's confidentiality.

John was also a white community member and great-grandchild of Italian immigrants who moved to Chesterfield when he married Rebecca in his late 20s.