Immigrant youth belonging in community-school and district partnerships to reduce inequality

This five-year study will examine how school districts manage the influx of newcomer immigrant youth who are unaccompanied. This project is sponsored by the William T. Grant Foundation Scholars Award Program. The activities have and will involve policy analysis, qualitative data collection and analysis, survey development, and disseminating research to academic and public audiences.

Working Paper(s)

Rodriguez, S. (2023). Latino immigrant belonging in community-based organizations: Evidence from a survey experiment.

This paper seeks to share findings from a survey of youth in school and community-based organization contexts. Findings from the survey reveal that Latino youth have lower belonging than white peers in middle and in high school, and they report low belonging in the community overall. Latino youth, especially those from immigrant households and who are non-native English speakers report lower belonging than Latino youth who report they are not English language learners. The research calls attention for schools to support students by cultivating positive relationships and interactions with young people and adults in schools.