Evaluating a Refugee Community School's Impact on Student Outcomes to a Matched Sample Over Time

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: Issues in Contemporary Program Evaluation in Schools

Abstract

More than 22,000 refugees settled in the U.S. in 2018 (Gal & Mark, 2018). Refugee children resettling in developed countries face cultural, economic, and educational marginalization (Dryden-Peterson, 2015). Thus, it is of critical importance for receiving schools to attempt to understand and mitigate the complex academic and non-academic needs of refugee students. Our study focuses on one community school effort to do just this at the middle school level. Quantitative findings revealed that middle school students attending the refugee community school (n=103) outperformed their demographically similar (propensity score matched) peers from different schools in the same district (n=103) on multiple academic metrics over time (GPA and college readiness), while having significantly less academic at-risk indicators.

Authors

• Toni A. May (Sondergeld), Drexel University

• Kathleen Provinzano, Drexel University