Teachers College Press Reconceptualizing Education for Newcomer Students: Valuing Learning Experiences Inside and Outside of School

Countless reforms and interventions have sought to improve academic outcomes for immigrant-origin students, with labels like “at-risk” rushing forth to solve the “dropout crisis.” And yet, even in culturally and linguistically affirmative environments, youth still fall to the margins. Using research from a newcomer school located in New York City, the author explores the everyday lives of nine immigrant students outside of school, showing that youth are not simply waiting for school reforms. Their educational lives are not bound to institutional spaces or the logics of schooling. Instead, youth routinely take up educational practices that are intellectually rigorous, joyous, resilient, and fulfilling. These practices reveal educations that are not held to a single place or purpose. Instead, they are present in schools, on subways, at museums, in neighborhoods, across many other places, and always on the move. Using a historical and ethnographic lens, this book challenges researchers and educators to consider how education might be reconceptualized to better respond to marginalization and exclusion and, in the process, provoke new understandings of education itself. Book Features: Listens to the stories, histories, and philosophies of immigrant youth as they explore the realities and possibilities of education. Examines undocumented educations--practices that fall outside of schools or appear only in marginalized, liminal ways. Explores education in everyday life, moving outward from the classroom, to hallways, beyond the school doors, and finally beyond the very logics of schooling. Includes vignettes of student participants, interviews with teachers and administrators, and analysis of school policies and curricular documents. Sparks different ways for researchers, educators, and activists to think and study with recently immigrated youth.