Graduation Year

2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Major Professor

Vonzell Agosto, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Charles Vanover, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Deirdre Cobb-Roberts, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Lauren Braunstein, Ph.D.

Keywords

parental engagement, multicultural education, immigration, digital literacy divide, mental health, microaggression, community-based digital research, policy, deportation

Abstract

Anti-immigrant sentiment and "English-only" ideologies have a significant impact on educational policies, practices, and processes. This includes parental engagement, the quality of education and life opportunities offered to immigrant children, and families’ well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine how Latinx and Caribbean mothers in Florida with various immigration statuses (i.e., undocumented, asylum seekers, refugees, international students, and mixed-status) and often with limited financial resources attempt to steward their children through the U.S. educational system. The research question was: How did emergent multilingual immigrant mothers experience the K-12 education system in Florida? The sub-question was: How did schools communicate with emergent multilingual immigrant mothers and their children?The conceptual framework guiding this study was Community Cultural Wealth, coupled with Critical Language and Race Theory (LangCrit), Dis/ability Critical Race Studies (DisCrit), and Borderlands Theory. Through a qualitative community-based digital approach, in-depth interviews, and artwork (e.g., painting, photography, poetry, collage), two findings emerged from the collected data. They were: (1) Mothers experienced interactions with school personnel and curriculum practices that normalize a culture of exclusion and microaggressions toward immigrant children and families of linguistic and ethnic-racial diversity. (2) Discontinuous and superficial communication from school personnel influenced mothers’ dis/engagement, mobility, and school choice. The findings of this study are discussed along with implications for policies on the mental health of children and families, professional development for teachers, school leadership, and the role of inclusive technology in enhancing school communication and parental engagement. Recommendations for theoretical development and future research are provided.

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