Education Week Article Reaction

       I read Anita Snow's article "Handful of schools offer refugee kids a safe place to learn", where she details her visit to Valencia Newcomer School.  What makes the Pheonix, Arizona school so unique is the international student body comprised mainly of refugees.  With zero refugees settled in the United States last month (the most surprising fact from the article in my opinion) Valencia Newcomer School is an anomaly in our current political climate.  Students from Myanmar, Eritrea, Indonesia, Afghanistan, and Cuba all learning together in their '"safe place"' Principal Lynette Faulkner's nickname for Valencia Newcomer.  Both Faulkner and Snow portray an idyllic school, one of the few in our divided, turbulent society.

What also shocked me was that Valencia Newcomer and other similar schools are not "in cities with more refugees, but where local education officials took the initiative to create them".  This fact surprised me because of recently acquired knowledge about immigration to Germany.  My brother who moved to Germany about 9 months ago and recently received his work visa, is currently enrolled in federally run German classes to help aid his assimilation into German life.  As the U.S. is considered a thriving first-world country, shouldn't we also assist refugees and immigrants by offering similar services?

A hallway at Valencia Newcomer School Phoenix, Arizona.

Poverty/homelessness and parent-teacher relations were the two units most relevant as a future Elementary School teacher.  Because Elementary age students are still developing their communication skills and emotional awareness parent-teacher relations are even more important than for high school age students.  Having strong parent-teacher relationships can make resolving classroom issues easier and increase attendance and homework completion.  Similarly for students experiencing poverty and/or homelessness parent-teacher and parent-school relations can directly impact students' academic achievement and overall wellbeing.

References:

Snow, A. (2019, December 2). Handful of schools offer refugee kids a safe place to learn. Retrieved December 2, 2019, from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/11/28/handful-of-schools-offer-refugee-kids_ap.html.