In Whose Best Interest?: How Educators Make Sense of and Respond to Immigration Enforcement Near School Property
Open Access
- Author:
- Crawford, Emily Ruth
- Graduate Program:
- Educational Theory and Policy
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 25, 2012
- Committee Members:
- Dana Lynn Mitra, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Dana Lynn Mitra, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Suet Ling Pong, Committee Member
Jacqueline A Stefkovich, Committee Member
Emily Kate Greenman, Special Member - Keywords:
- undocumented students
ethics
educational access
decision making - Abstract:
- The enforcement of immigration policy presents new challenges for educators who serve undocumented students. This study examined how educators in different professional roles at one elementary school with undocumented students in Northern California made sense of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity near school property, decided how to respond, and perceived the outcomes of their decisions. Accordingly, this study asked: 1.) How do educators make sense of laws or messages regarding ICE and school policy toward undocumented students?; 2.) How do educators who work with undocumented students perceive in whose best interests they will act when their school has experienced ICE activity; and 3.) How does educators’ sensemaking of ICE activity on school property manifest itself in their decision making and in the outcomes of their decisions? These questions were addressed using a qualitative, embedded case study research design approach. The conceptual framework used sensemaking theory to investigate educators’ perceptions of ICE activity near school property and how they formulated a response. The framework also integrated the Best Interests of the Student model (Stefkovich, 2006) to reveal how educators made sense of their professional and personal responsibilities to make a decision in ethically complex circumstances. The findings from the study demonstrate that schools can serve as both the physical and political grounds over undocumented immigrants’ right to access social services. This study showed that educators had minimal legal awareness of undocumented students’ educational rights, or district and school policies related to ICE activity on or near the school’s campus. These findings support the need for state and local policymakers to work with school districts to define and align policies to protect undocumented students’ educational rights, and to inform school personnel of those laws and policies. The findings also confirm that ongoing professional development for school leaders should include both political and law courses and that school leaders and teachers could benefit from opportunities to participate in ethical training workshops as well.