Date of Award

1-1-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

Morgridge College of Education, Teaching and Learning Sciences, Curriculum and Instruction

First Advisor

Maria Del Carmen Salazar, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Bruce Uhrmacher

Third Advisor

Kimberly Schmidt

Fourth Advisor

Debora Ortega

Keywords

Academic, Academic resilence, High school, Immigrants, Newcomers, Refugees

Abstract

The United States continues to transform demographically, economically, culturally, and linguistically, as it has for several generations. At the forefront of this change are the educators, struggling to make sense of how to teach students who are culturally and linguistically diverse.

The main research question guiding this study was: What factors support or constrain the academic resiliency of Newcomers? The purpose of this study was to examine the academic resilience of Newcomers at an urban high school in Colorado. This qualitative study utilized case study methods of data collection. This study took place in four stages. The first stage encompassed the participant selection. The second stage consisted of interviewing the case study participants. The third stage entailed collecting and conducting analysis of documents. The last stage focused on data analysis. The findings of this study suggested the supporting factor for academic success was a supportive network that provided practical and emotional support to Newcomers in their community, school, and family. In addition, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) demonstrated that a caring and supporting environment was desired along with valuing the Newcomers culture within the school. Furthermore, a sense of belonging within their family and community. The study also examined the internal and external motivation that influenced academic resilience. In contrast, the findings of this study indicated that constrain for academic resilience was discordance with school policy in discipline, grades, technology, and high-stakes assessment. In addition, bullying had an impact on the participants' academic resilience. Furthermore, permanent or temporary family separation had an emotional toll on academic resilience. Acculturation constrained the academic resilience of the participants. The findings of this study led to the following suggestions in order to support the academic resilience in Newcomer students: First, provide emotional support for the Newcomers that have experienced traumatic events. Second, family and schools need to motivate Newcomers by supporting them in their academic endeavor. Third, districts need to adjust the period by which they assess Newcomers. Fourth, schools need to improve the relationship between Newcomers' families and the school by explaining school policies in the families' native language.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Jacquelyn M. Carrillo

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

159 p.

Discipline

Education

Download



Share

COinS