Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Examining School Practices That Support Immigrant Students’ Feelings of Belonging

ABSTRACT

A quarter of all US students are immigrants, children of immigrants, or immigrant-origin youth. In this article, we examine how school practices can either support or hinder these students’ feelings of belonging. Given the important relation between students’ feelings of belonging and a range of academic, motivational, and socioemotional outcomes, in this study, we specifically asked: How do students’ experiences in two very different schools shape their feelings of belonging? To answer this question, we drew from studies of two high schools serving recently arrived immigrant students in communities with distinct immigration histories. Using the nested context of reception as our theoretical lens, our analysis reveals that the symbols, subtle acts, and overt actions students encountered in schools influenced their feelings of belonging. These findings show that belonging operates on multiple levels and have several implications for school leaders, educators, and educational policymakers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Immigrant is a holistic term to describe people following multiple patterns of movement between countries. An umbrella term, immigrant describes any person who is born abroad and leaves his or her home country to move to a new country. In this article, we use the term immigrant-origin youth to refer to students who are immigrants or have at least one immigrant parent (Ríos-Rojas & Stern, 2018).

2.. To protect participants’ anonymity, we omitted specific references to countries of origin. Moreover, we recognize that these students have distinct backgrounds and experiences, but given the limited space in this article, we do not delve further into the backgrounds of our participants in this study.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kristina F. Brezicha

Kristina F. Brezicha (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7389-9323) is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at Georgia State University. In her research, she examines how education supports diverse individuals’ abilities to participate equitably in democratic processes. Previously she taught elementary special education students in New York City.

Chandler Patton Miranda

Chandler Patton Miranda (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4424-853X) is a term assistant professor in the Education and Urban Studies programs at Barnard College. In her research, she focuses on urban immigrant education in the US context as it relates to institutional culture, timelines for graduation, the politics of English-language learning, and equitable assessment practices. She is a former high school science teacher.