Charter Schools for Refugee Children in USA

Ethnic Focused Education for African & Hmong Students in Minnesota

Jan 20, 2009

Charter schools in Minnesota with an ethnic focus have a positive impact on African & Hmong refugee children's learning, and support assimilation into American culture.

Minnesota, one of the first states to embrace charter schools in 1991, is now making a difference in the lives of children coming from refugee camps to begin a new life in America.

This article looks at two Minnesota charter schools that focus on maintaining a cultural identity for the refugee populations they are serving while supporting successful English language learning and assimilation into American culture.

What are Charter Schools

Ethnic Centered Charter Schools

The January 18, 2009 New York Times article, “Immigrants See Charter Schools as Havens” by Sara Rimer, and the June 17, 2008 Star Tribune article, “St. Paul’s Hmong School Creates a Culture of Success” by James Walsh both highlight charter schools that focus on the needs of refugee children.

Two schools featured in the articles developed curricula to maintain a connection to the customs, traditions, language and values of the refugee’s heritage while supporting assimilation into American culture and English language learning.

According to the New York Times article, there are teaching assistants from East Africa in the classrooms at the Twin Cities International Elementary School who understand the challenges facing children who have been in refugee camps for years. One father from this school puts it quite simply, “Getting lost in America…means losing your culture, your language, your identity.”

In the New York Times article, Dr. Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco, New York University’s immigration studies co-director, laments that in public school, immigrant children can become isolated, alienated and have a low graduation rate. She compares the parents from the charter schools that focus on the needs of specific immigrant populations as “taking ownership of their children’s schools…doing what soccer moms and dads…do day in and day out.”

The Hmong Academy, featured in the Star Tribune article, strives to foster Hmong culture and also support student’s success in western culture. The school graduated its second class in 2008. Of the previous year’s 40 graduates, 35 are enrolled in colleges even though most of the students live in poverty and are also learning the English language.

Christina Hang, director of the Hmong Academy, who was also a refugee in Thailand after leaving Laos, states “We wanted a school that addresses how do you become a Hmong-American in this society.”

Refugee Resettlement Statistics

The United States accepts more than twice the number of refugees for resettlement than the top 9 other countries combined, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area ranks 8th out of 30 metropolitan areas in the United States for number of refugees resettled between 1983 and 2004.

Considering the above statistics from the March 1, 2007 article, "Refugee Resettlement in Metropolitan America", by Audrey Singer and Jill H. Wilson published on the Migration Information Source website of the Migration Policy Institute, it is worth studying Minnesota's establishment of ethnically focused charter schools to address the challenges of educating refugee and immigrant children that supports their assimilation into American culture and values their ethnic heritage.

The copyright of the article Charter Schools for Refugee Children in USA in Curriculum Issues is owned by Barbara Shema. Permission to republish Charter Schools for Refugee Children in USA in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.