Students and educators are constrained from finding meaning in the current educational system as a result of the tension between educators' pedagogical practices and systemic constraints, such as high-stakes standardized tests and district-mandated instructional curriculum. Such restrictive educational policies limit educators from developing…

The strong relationship between education and civic engagement is what leads Fraga and Frost (2010) to describe the U.S. school system as a "center of democratic governance" (p. 119). For immigrant communities, schools also serve to foster political socialization and incorporation. This chapter considers schools' democratic roles from an…

The numbers of im/migrant children in schools have increased throughout the world. The principal receiving areas are North America, Western Europe, the Persian Gulf, Asia and the Pacific, and the Southern Cone of South America. In the United States, one out of every four children younger than the age of 8 lives in a family where at least one…

In this chapter, the author discusses immigrant newcomer populations and their experiences with K-12 schooling in preparation for and access to postsecondary education. Much attention has been paid to the concept of immigrant optimism, namely, that immigrant parents are optimistic about their children's futures, including their educational…