Our current projects combine basic research, the development of methodologies for the study of diverse families and youth, the training of graduate students and post-docs, dissemination of research findings via traditional scholarly outlets (journals, books, and scholarly lectures), presentations to educators and policy makers, as well as systematic media outreach.
Research on Immigrants in College (RIC)
Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, Carola Suárez-Orozco, and Robert Teranishi -: Co-Principal Investigators
Immigrant populations in higher education are fundamentally misunderstood, mis-characterized, and understudied. There is simply a dearth of research to inform a broad comprehensive understanding of the experiences and outcomes of immigrant students in higher education, including the demography of this student population, an understanding of where and why they enroll in college, and how they present unique challenges for individual campuses, states, and our national higher education priorities generally.
One strand of this research includes "The Role of Settings on Relational & Academic Engagement for Latino Community College Students" funded by the W.T. Grant Foundation. While Latinos are the fastest growing ethnic group in the US, they are failing to thrive in higher education. Latino/as are more likely to enter community colleges than their peers with similar academic preparation. Though the majority of immigrant origin students entering community colleges enroll with the intent of transferring to 4-year institutions, most never do. Thus, for immigrant origin populations community colleges offer a promise of academic access realized by few. We strive to understand what can be done to better serve these students' needs.
Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation (LISA) Study
This large scale, interdisciplinary, longitudinal, and comparative study, funded by the National Science Foundation, W.T. Grant Foundation, and Spencer Foundation, clarifies the relationships between immigration, family life and education by addressing the various ways in which schools and other institutions are changing the lives of newcomer immigrant youth. This data set has been the foundation of many publications (including Harvard University Press’ Learning a New Land: Immigrant Students in American Society) as well as numerous scholarly articles and dissertations.
Children of Immigrants in Schools
An NSF funded Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) grant which facilitated cross-national comparative research conducted by a team including five senior U.S. and five European scholars, together with ten postdoctoral and pre-doctoral students focused on improving our understanding of the role of educational institutions and policy in the integration of children of immigrants.
Learning in the Global Era: International Perspectives on Globalization & Education
This project brought together an international coterie of leading scholars, policymakers, and educators to examine how globalization is affecting education around the world. The resulting recently released book, draws from innovative research in both the social sciences and the neurosciences, to examine the challenges and opportunities now facing schools as a result of massive migration flows, new economic realities, new technologies, and the growing cultural diversity of the world's major cities.
Diverse Young Adults and their Perspectives on Civic Life Study
For several decades, levels of trust in the United States have been declining; trust among individuals and groups; and trust of major institutions, such as the government, business, the media (Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 2010). These declines in trust pose a threat to democratic life where citizens are required to interact with each other regularly, whether for political, economic, or social ends. In order for this interaction to occur, individuals must be willing to extend a certain level of trust to those with whom they come in contact. In this way, trust and civic participation are inextricably linked (Putnam, 2000). Although, roughly 60 million people living in the United States today are either foreign-born or of foreign parentage (Rumbáut, 2008) we know less about the ways that immigrant origin young adults perceive, trust (or distrust), and engage with these key institutions.
This pilot study funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York examines: 1) the conceptions of civic trust among first and second generation Latino and Asian young adult; 2) conceptions of civic trust with respect to four sectors of American society: judicial system (police, ICE, court), education, the media, and religious institutions; 3) compares conceptions of civic trust with respect to America as opposed to conceptions of trust with respect to country of origin; and 4) preliminary explores the relationship between civic trust and civic engagement.