Welcome to the WEEA EDEQUITY online discussion on Education and Immigrant
Girls. My name is Joyce Harris and I will be your moderator for the next
several days. As a WEEA Equity Associate it is an honor to moderate this
very important discussion. I am the Director of the Equity Center (formerly
known as the Center for National Origin, Race and Sex Equity) located at
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) located in Portland,
Oregon. The Equity Center operates the Region X Equity Assistance Center
(EAC) one of ten centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The
center provides professional development and technical assistance to K-12
public schools to increase their capacity to develop and implement policies
and practices to provide equitable education to all students by eliminating
inequities based on race, gender, or national origin. The center serves
Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, the
Republic of Palau and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands
(CNMI).
NWREL, has addressed issues of gender equity for over twenty years through
its professional development activities and publications. In 1978 NWREL
received a grant from the Women's Bureau to develop materials for Women in
Nontraditional Careers, I was one of the staff who worked on this project.
Under my leadership the Equity Center published Preventing and Countering
School Based Harassment (available in Spanish) and Improving Education for
Immigrant Students, guides for K-12 educators.. Through a WEEA grant, the
Equity Center recently revised it's 1988 Hand to Hand Mentoring materials
to train career women of color to effectively mentor high school girls of
color. The revisions reflect the current thought in the mentoring field and
better address the diverse needs of young women facing multiple forms of
discrimination. The center has also developed Gender Specific Programming
for Girls curriculum and training materials for policy makers and staff
across the nation who work with girls in the juvenile justice system funded
by the Office of Juvenile and Justice Delinquency Prevention
My thirty one years in education has been built on the belief that an
effective educator must create environments that provide students with the
skills and confidence to believe that they are capable and competent. The
challenge of how to educate all students is the educator's responsibility.
My work with culturally and linguistically diverse educators in the Pacific
region has deepened my knowledge and skill to assist educators to believe
that culturally and linguistically different students add richness and
texture to the classroom. There is much that we can learn from these
students. Educators must build a base of knowledge to comprehensively
address challenges faced by immigrant students and how gender roles in
different cultures impact interactions, expectations and learning. Building
on the cultural strengths and values of immigrant groups increases our
capacity to provide meaningful educational experiences for both immigrant
and non-immigrant students that is holistic, humanistic, inclusive and
comprehensive.
Recently I made a harassment presentation to a group of middle school
students. Later several students came up to share their personal stories.
I noticed one girl who stayed in the background as the other students began
to leave I caught her eye and she moved closer and we began to talk. She
said she was from Russia and was having a problem in school. Other kids
teased her because of the way she talked. Her two younger siblings were
also teased. She said that the boys on the bus made fun of her clothes and
pulled her hair. She said she didn't like coming to school and her little
sister was scared and cried everyday. She asked if that was harassment. I
told her that it was and asked if she had told anyone about it. She
hadn't. I took her to the school counselor and was assured that this
situation would be handled that day. I tell this story as a way of showing
just how vigilant we must be to monitor the actions and interactions that
occur in the school environment that may create unhealthy, hostile
environments for immigrant students. This story also shows us that
education for immigrant students is also about education for all students.
I would like to share this quote I found in Daughters of Africa, an
anthology of writings by women of African descent. The author is Serena
Gordon, born of a Bermudan father and German mother in London and it
describes the challenge we face in providing an equitable, safe and
responsive environment for immigrant girls and all children.
"I need to find the right way through the world, the way that is right for
me, the way that will keep the spark inside me glowing brightly. Nothing
must ever extinguish the spark, because then the true heart and soul dies.
So far I've kept alive and now I can walk slowly on into the light."
How do we create schools and communities that help immigrant girls to
shine, and to use their brilliance capably, competently and proudly? How
do we as educators, mentors, and parents illuminate our classrooms and
communities with the glow from the lights of our immigrant girls? Do we
provide the electricity, in the ways we teach, nurture and support them to
enable their lights to shine brighter each day or do we dim their
brightness through insensitivity, low expectations and by ignoring their
needs?
For the next few days we will be a learning community focused on
effectively educating immigrant girls by getting to know who they are, what
they need to be successful and what we must do to create equitable teaching
and learning environments. I look forward to your thoughts, suggestions and
reactions.
Joyce Harris
Director
Equity Center
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
101 SW Main St. Suite 500
Portland, Or. 97204-3297
(503) 275-9603
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