Navigating Educational Success for Their Young Children in the United States: Refugee Families Draw from Their Experiences.

The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences and factors that contribute to how refugee families support their children’s educational success. Through their lived experiences, refugees bring various perspectives and insights into their families’ pursuits in supporting their children. More attention needs to be paid to understanding how refugee backgrounds and experiences influence the way these families help their children educationally. Although some studies have examined how refugee families utilize their wealth of knowledge and navigational capital to support their young children’s learning in a new educational system, there is growing need to contribute more into this literature. Semi-structured interviews with eleven refugee parents revealed that their previous educational experiences, linguistic strengths and challenges, and the presence of a support system influenced their families’ navigation of new educational experiences. Results indicated that refugee parents rely on social, familial, linguistic, and navigational capital to persevere and support their children during the transition to the United States (U.S.) school system. This study adds to this literature and aims to offer suggestions to educators and professionals working with refugee families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]