Garnering Civic Hope: Social Studies, Expectations, and the Lost Civic Potential of Immigrant Youth

Abstract

Social studies education is designed to provide a foundation for civic society. In this study we consider immigrant optimism theory within the context of U.S. secondary social studies to examine the civic potential of immigrant youth. Using a mixed-methods approach, we complement analyses of teacher and immigrant young adult interviews with national survey data to explore how adults’ expectations shape immigrant youths’ civic identity formation. Although immigrant parents consistently express high academic expectations of their children, teachers’ civic expectations emerged as a critical factor in immigrant youths’ civic development. While teachers and immigrant youth reported rich civic discourse in advanced social studies classes, we counter that limited social studies course taking may restrict exposure to teachers’ civic expectations, and result in the unrealized civic potential of immigrant youth. We close with a cautionary note regarding the limits of social studies to develop a transformative, emancipatory citizenry, especially among the increasingly diverse immigrant youth population.

Since the inception of the common school, U.S. education has served a dual purpose - the academic and civic development of American youth (Tyack, 2003). Each goal has been especially important among immigrant youth, both foreign- (first generation) and U.S.-born (second generation). The influx of immigrant youth into the nation’s schools at both ends of the 20^th century (Fortuny & Chaudry, 2011; White & Glick, 2009) has created the need for dialogue regarding their integration into the economic, social and civic life of the nation.

Prior research shows an association between adolescents’ academic success and future political engagement (Callahan et al., 2008; Nie et al., 1996), one measure of contributing to the civic good. However, the relationship between education and political engagement is tempered by inequities in academic preparation along racial, ethnic, linguistic, and generational lines (Kao & Thompson, 2003; Muller et al., 2010). Likewise, prior research shows that social studies education shapes future political and civic engagement (i.e., participation with political institutions, voting, campaign work, volunteering) in young adulthood (Hart et al., 2007), especially among immigrant youth (Callahan et al., 2008; Lopez & Marcelo, 2008; Stepick et al. 2002), who occupy a unique position within the social studies as they are socialized into civic society. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the civic potential of the rapidly growing immigrant student population in the U.S. may or may not be realized in the current social studies context. We define civic potential as an individual’s, or group of individuals’, likelihood of developing into citizens who are informed and engaged in both the political and civic life of the community (Wicks et al., 2014). We position these citizens similarly to Westheimer & Kahne’s (2004) participatory citizen. Further, for our purposes and consistent with Wicks et al. (2014), we define political engagement as participation in and with political institutions, including voting, for the purpose of influencing public policy. Civic engagement includes community involvement beyond the political dimension (i.e., volunteerism, fundraising, services designed to better the community (p. 624)). The present study is designed to explore immigrant youths’ civic potential as it relates to the expectations they experience during adolescence, as well as their social studies experiences. Given the relationship between social studies and later political engagement, any disparities in access, engagement, or exposure could result in a civic disadvantage.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The growing diversity of the U.S. K-12 population calls into question whether and how current educational experiences meet the needs of a changing student body. At present one in four school children is an immigrant, or the child of immigrant parents (Passel, 2011). Immigrant parents share with their children the political, social, linguistic, and cultural expectations of how to be in society as learned in the home country; to ignore this knowledge and accompanying identity is to ignore the student (Osler & Starkey, 2003). The reinterpretation of the home culture that emerges inside the new, host culture influences how immigrant youth engage with U.S. schools and schooling (Bankston, 2004; Olsen, 2008; M. M. Suárez-Orozco et al., 2008; Valdés, 2001). In particular, immigrant students’ approach to the social studies with its emphasis on what it means to be a citizen (Sherrod et al., 2002) has the potential to shape later civic outcomes.

We propose that the civic development of immigrant youth in the U.S. occurs under a constructivist frame supplemented by a funds of knowledge perspective (Moll & González, 1994). The term civic development addresses the formal and informal educational processes in which an individual, in interaction with others, creates a political and civic dimension to her identity. We draw first on Vygotsky’s (1986) sociocultural theory which embraces an engaged, interactive approach to concept development. Contemporary civic education research is infused with a dominant constructivist paradigm wherein students actively develop their own understandings of citizens and citizenship (Hahn, 2010; Torney-Purta et al., 2001; Torney-Purta et al., 1999). Scholars have argued that teachers may best meet immigrant students’ intersecting needs through the adoption of constructivist perspectives that engage the linguistic, cultural, and cognitive processes of learning (Cook-Sather, 2002; ten Dam & Volman, 2004). In fact, Walqui (2006) suggests that constructivism’s sociocultural foundations make it particularly well-suited to the simultaneous linguistic and cognitive development immigrant students require.

Civic education scholars Chareka and Sears (2005) suggest that the most effective civic education programs are those that utilize the preconceived notions of civic concepts that students bring with them to the classroom. Stepick and Dutton-Stepick (2002) argue that the bicultural identities of immigrant youth allow them to not only maintain multiple ties, but also draw knowledge and understanding from various sources, a core focus of the social studies. Likewise, Banks (2004, 2008) suggests that civic education should support students’ inquiry into and critique of their cultural attachments, creating space to maintain old ties while developing new ones. We hypothesize that in U.S. social studies classrooms, immigrant youth construct new understandings about citizenship based not only on the course content, but also on their experiences negotiating two distinct perspectives on what it means to be a member of society (Callahan & Obenchain, 2013), that of their foreign-born parents, and that of their majority-culture teachers, peers, and schools. With its clear focus on citizenship education and participation in society (NCSS, 2010), the social studies is well suited to draw on the resources immigrant youth bring to the classroom.

Similarly, funds of knowledge scholars (González et al., 2005) employ both sociocultural theory and constructivism to support the inclusion of home knowledge into everyday classroom practices. Every familial negotiation of language, culture, and social interaction creates new participant knowledge (Moll & González, 1994). For immigrant youth, family interactions can be a rich resource supporting the goals of social studies. Reviewing British citizenship literature, Osler and Starkey (2006) emphasize the need for engaged citizens who see themselves as part of their community. A pedagogical approach that integrates diverse students’ perspectives (Antrop-González & De Jesús, 2006; Moll et al., 1992) could facilitate civic understanding among immigrant youth. The purpose of the present study is to examine Latino immigrant youths’ secondary social studies experiences and expectations with respect to their civic potential.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Immigrant Optimism: Achievement and Expectations

Immigrant youth are significantly more likely to be racial/ethnic and linguistic minorities and come from lower socio-economic settings than their non-immigrant counterparts (White & Glick, 2009). Despite research evidence associating these factors with poor academic achievement, children of immigrants consistently outperform non-immigrants of similar backgrounds. Kao and Tienda (1995) first referred to this phenomenon as the immigrant advantage; despite considerable roadblocks, immigrant youth respond to their parents’ high expectations with relatively high educational performance (Kao, 2004) compared to non-immigrants. The immigrant advantage stems from foreign-born parents’ optimistic expectations of their children’s academic, social, and professional potential.

Immigrant parents’ relatively high expectations begin in early childhood and endure through adolescence. Using nationally representative data from the ECLS-K¹, Raleigh and Kao (2010) found that throughout the elementary grades, immigrant parents’ educational aspirations for their children remained more consistent and higher than those of non-immigrant parents. Familial aspirations persist through high school (Rosenbaum & Rochford, 2008) when immigrant adolescents find themselves in the unique position of living up to their parents’ expectations, even when the broader society may expect less of them.

The benefits of immigrant parents’ expectations are most often realized through immigrant youths’ high academic achievement (Kao & Tienda, 1995; Rosenbaum & Rochford, 2008) and attainment (Perreira et al., 2006) relative to non-immigrants. Immigrant achievement however, not only reflects parental aspirations but also shared experiences. In her study investigating the relationship between family context and dropping out, Feliciano (2001) illustrates how bicultural immigrant youth draw linguistic and sociocultural support from both the home and host cultures, employing multiple funds of knowledge to negotiate their way in a new society. Although immigrant optimism positions youth to fare well academically and socially despite adversity, it must be considered within the larger societal context in which it occurs. As the U.S. and other democracies have become more diverse, schools have emerged as a focal point of academic and professional preparation, as well as civic and political socialization (Kymlicka, 2003; Osler & Starkey, 2003). Despite considerable educational progress over the past half-century, immigrant youth remain susceptible to a host of negative outcomes and experiences (Olsen, 2008; C. Suárez-Orozco et al., 2009), making long-term social, civic and economic success challenging at best. As the primary site of immigrant youths’ integration, K-12 education simultaneously provides great promise and poses great challenges.

Schools and Civic Socialization: Central to the Civic Fabric of Society

The civic socialization that occurs in schools, especially within social studies, is critical for a healthy democracy. Civic education depends not just on the development of civic knowledge (Print, 2007), but also on the concepts of trust and leadership (Galston, 2001) for the purpose of enlightened political engagement (Parker, 2001b). In a democratic state, citizens must be knowledgeable, and they must be active in the political and civic life of their immediate and broader communities. Further, the stability of a democracy depends on the trust its citizens hold in the government. In a study of adolescent civic engagement in five democracies, Torney-Purta, Richardson, and Barber (2004) found that school-based experiences influenced both young people’s trust, and their civic engagement. Prior research demonstrates a significant, positive relationship between adolescents’ civic knowledge as measured by test scores and voting in young adulthood, one type of political engagement (Hart et al., 2007). In both studies, school experiences were found to shape civic and political practices later in life.

In general, social studies coursework in democracies focuses on preparing students to participate in civic society with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions required by the state (Print, 2007; Sears, 1994). However, actual civic preparation varies by individual student and school characteristics. Westheimer and Kahne’s (2004) seminal study investigating civic education programs found an overarching focus on developing one of three types of citizens: personally responsible, participatory, and justice-oriented. The personally responsible citizen self-regulates, volunteers, votes, and engages in civic life in an individual way. The participatory citizen engages with others, often taking on leadership roles to improve society. Finally, least common, the justice-oriented citizen questions the status quo and works to change inequitable systems and institutions in order to improve civic life. While these typologies are thought provoking and informative, further research is necessary to understand whether the distribution of these typologies may vary across diverse populations.

As a field, social studies education has citizenship education at its core (NCSS, 2010). Modern U.S. social studies has its roots in the Progressive Era of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries following the social welfare movement of the 1850s (Saxe, 1992). Earlier incarnations were the distinctly conceptualized and taught disciplines of social science and history, with little to no explicitly stated civic purpose. Current U.S. K-12 social studies however, has expanded to the education and development of an informed, engaged citizenry (Levstik & Barton, 2001; Nelson, 2001; Parker, 2001a), the primary goal regardless of how the content is delivered.

Investigating access to social studies content in demographically diverse U.S. high schools, Journell (2011) found that the breadth and depth of adolescents’ discussions surrounding the 2008 presidential elections depended on the level of their social studies class. Students received instruction commensurate with their teachers’ assumptions of their future potential. Specifically, upper track students were exposed to a discourse that would prepare them for leadership roles via national, if not global, awareness. In contrast, lower track students were prepared to discuss issues from a local perspective, reflecting teachers’ assumptions that they would not move far from the home community. These trends reflect the teachers’ assumptions that high track students (white, upper middle class) would leave the community to attend college and pursue careers elsewhere, while low track students (racial/ethnic minority, working class) would not. Journell (2011) ultimately concluded that the social studies class level was related to the academic and civic expectations teachers held for their students.

By the time students enter high school, general history and government courses dominate the curriculum, and are taken by most high school graduates (Fallace, 2008; Ross, 1997). In the U.S., 40 states currently require three years of social studies course work, typically including one year of U.S. History and at least one semester of American government (Godsay et al., 2012). In high school social studies, divisions occur between basic graduation requirements and more specialized course work, especially with respect to civics and government (Niemi & Smith, 2001). Eligibility for a four-year college or university generally requires completion of academic credits beyond basic graduation requirements, and often include advanced social studies.

The quantity and quality of social studies coursework contributes to youths’ college preparation (Adelman, 2004), as well as their civic participation in young adulthood (Atherton, 2000; Chaffee, 2000; Niemi & Junn, 1998). Advanced social studies (e.g., geography, international relations and sociology/psychology) may offer access to a wider range of curricular content. Alternately, courses that employ an international focus or deal with the human experience may allow immigrant students to capitalize on their bicultural funds of knowledge. Prior research suggests that social studies teachers can recognize and build on the unique nature of immigrant students’ civic perspectives, given their experiences navigating two distinct worlds, that of the home and that of the school (Callahan & Obenchain, 2013). However, the division between basic and advanced social studies preparation emerges early in adolescents’ academic careers. In the U.S., non-immigrant, non-Hispanic youth demonstrate greater knowledge of civic content, understanding of democracy, and political communication than their immigrant, Hispanic peers (Torney-Purta et al., 2006). If immigrant students are marginalized academically and/or socially within the school, their access to advanced social studies courses may also be limited.

Social Studies and Immigrant Youth

Despite the centrality of schools, especially social studies, to the development of an engaged citizenry (Parker, 2008), relatively little work has explored specifically how social studies experiences influence immigrant youths’ civic identity development. Most prior studies have focused outside the school and classroom, on the family and shared ethnic community (Pallares & Flores-Gonzalez, 2010; Rumbaut & Portes, 2001). For example, research indicates that the parent-child political transmission models at work in non-immigrant families reverse in immigrant contexts (McDevitt & Kiousis, 2006; Wong & Tseng, 2007). Other work suggests that immigrant youths’ civic engagement may be reactionary, for example, the youth marches organized in response to the anti-immigrant sentiment that surfaced following 9/11 (Rumbaut, 2008). In fact, Bloemraad and Trost (2008) argue for a bidirectional model of immigrant civic socialization, with both youth and parents contributing to one another’s development. A bidirectional model draws on multiple information sources, inside and outside both home and school contexts. It is at this intersection, where immigrant youth experience the social studies, that that we position our study.

Even when models control on a number of factors associated with academic achievement and engagement, U.S. immigrant youth demonstrate levels of civic engagement comparable to, if not greater than non-immigrants (Lopez & Marcelo, 2008; Stepick et al., 2008). And, like their non-immigrant peers, immigrant youth focus their civic and political energies on their ethnic community, especially in response to discrimination (Stepick, et al., 2008). Bringing experiences from the immigrant home into the social studies classroom could actively engage these students while capitalizing on their funds of knowledge.

There are challenges to building on students’ funds of knowledge given the positioning of immigrants within social studies curriculum and materials, including textbooks. Hilburn and Fitchett (2012) found that portrayal of the immigrant experience in the U.S. was often inaccurate or too vague to be meaningful, and rarely acknowledged the contributions of immigrants and immigrant groups. A consequence of this portrayal is the reinforcement of a master narrative in both curricular materials (Suh et al., 2015) and academic standards (Journell, 2009). Given this, it is necessary for social studies discussions to not only draw on immigrant youths’ lived experiences, but also allow for the development of culturally relevant pedagogy with the goal of empowering youth from marginalized communities to challenge the status quo (Journell & Castro, 2011) by questioning the dominant narrative. More often, adopting a funds of knowledge approach, which values and incorporates students’ culturally situated knowledge may facilitate, but does not require, challenging the status quo.

Despite the potential to engage immigrant youth through a funds of knowledge approach, disparities in civic preparation may prove insurmountable. Torney-Purta and colleagues (2001) found that while Latino youth show more positive attitudes to immigrant issues, they demonstrate less civic knowledge as measured through the IEA civic education instrument than White students. Such an ethnic divide has the potential to disproportionately undermine immigrant communities. Numerous scholars (e.g., Hahn, 2003; Marri, 2009; Osler & Starkey, 2003; Rubin, 2007) warn that without careful attention paid to the diversity of student experiences, current social studies curricula will not adequately engage the vast majority of racial, ethnic and language minority students. It is this schism between the civic predisposition of immigrant youth, and their actual civic preparation, that our work will investigate.

PURPOSE OF STUDY

Given the potential for immigrant engagement in civic life (Callahan et al., 2008; Callahan & Muller, 2013), we explore young adult Latino immigrants’ social studies experiences (a site of explicit curricular attention to civic education), as well as the educational expectations held for them. We began by exploring the following research question: How do immigrant youth perceive the parental and teacher expectations they experienced during adolescence to shape their civic development within the social studies context? As we analyzed our qualitative data, it occurred to us that the expectations immigrant youth experience relative to those of non-immigrant youth would influence the interpretation and implications of our findings. This realization prompted us to turn to national survey data to identify the larger trends. In addition, we investigated the teachers’ perspectives, specifically how high school social studies teachers perceive and position their immigrant students’ civic development. In doing so, it became apparent that our interview data could only address part of the question. To understand teachers’ expectations and positioning in context, we needed to know more about the larger patterns of social studies course-taking and performance, which we investigated using nationally representative survey data. This iterative process of posing questions and developing further inquiry based on initial findings led us to adopt a mixed-methods approach.

METHODS

Mixed methods research (MMR) is frequently characterized by a “methodological eclecticism” (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2011, pp. 286–7) that prioritizes the research question(s), and utilizes whichever methodological approaches best answers those questions. The MMR approach reflects an “everyday pragmatism” (Biesta, 2010) that acknowledges philosophical differences among various inquiry paradigms, without seeing those differences as a limiting factor in the mixing of methods to explore a problem (Greene & Caracelli, 1997, p. 8). Specifically, we elected to follow an exploratory design that accommodated the initial collection and analysis of qualitative data which was later supplemented by a quantitative phase expanding upon the preliminary assertions generated earlier (Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2007, p. 77). Following a component design (Caracelli & Greene, 1997) with a complementarity intent (Greene, Caracelli, & Graham, 1989), the two phase study began with the collection and analysis of qualitative data (in-depth interviews with immigrant Latino young adults and their former high school Advanced Placement (AP) social studies teachers regarding the youths’ high school social studies experiences), followed by a quantitative phase (analysis of large scale survey data from the 2002 Educational Longitudinal Study [ELS: 2002]).

Phase One: Qualitative

Participants

Participants came from four high Latino immigrant communities: San Diego, California; South Florida; Chicago, Illinois; and Central Texas. We chose to first target National Board (NB) certified teachers because the NB certification process provides one relatively consistent measure of content and pedagogical expertise. Using the NB certification database, we randomly selected and contacted twenty-six high school social studies teachers actively working with immigrant students in high Latino enrollment schools in each of the four regions. Thirteen teachers consented to participate. All NB certified social studies teacher participants had been teaching at least 7 years, taught at least one section of AP or honors social studies, and were White, with the exception of one non-immigrant Latina.

Using snowball sampling (Patton, 2002), we then contacted the Latino immigrant young adults recommended to us by the teacher participants. Our recruitment targeted first- and second-generation Latino young adults who were eligible to vote in the 2008 presidential election. Many, although not all, were former students of the teacher participants, resulting in participants who had all taken AP coursework. Our Texas young adult sample was not directly connected to our Texas NB certified teacher, however all had studied with a comparable teacher. Nineteen young adults were contacted and seventeen consented to participate; all were enrolled in a college or university at the time of the study.

Data Sources and Data Collection

Individual, recorded, semi-structured interviews provided the data for the qualitative portion of the study. Each participant was interviewed for one to two hours by the first author, a former classroom teacher fluent in Spanish. Interviews were conducted in English, per participants’ language preference, and in person, with the exception of those from Florida, which were completed via telephone for logistical reasons. All interviews occurred by geographic region, first with the teacher participants, and then with the corresponding Latino young adults. Interview topics included, but were not limited to, issues of curriculum, pedagogical practices, in- and out-of class activities, service learning, teacher-student relationships, and immigrant youths’ political engagement.

Here, we briefly address one important limitation; we interviewed only high school social studies teachers, however our youth participants referred to a variety of teachers in their interviews. We did not have the opportunity to interview additional teachers, mentors, or coaches. School-based adults often play important roles in adolescents’ academic, professional, and civic development (Haensly & Parson, 1993) and we were only able to investigate one small slice of that experience. Future research will want to consider the perspectives of various school-based adults who interact with immigrant youth.

Prior to the beginning of each interview, the interviewer explained the study’s focus on the civic and political development of Latino immigrant youths. Interviews are a well-established data source used to illuminate the phenomenon under study (Hunt et al., 2011). Each interview began with an overview of prior research motivating investigation of Latino immigrants’ social studies course-taking and political engagement. This provided the context and initial prompt for the interview, asking participants to offer their own explanation for the relationship, or to challenge the findings if appropriate. Both teacher and young adult interviews included a request to expand on the social and academic processes experienced in the social studies classroom. Based upon the content of this expansion, the interview proceeded with relevant probe questions, including the youths’ current civic and political engagement, as well as any high school experiences that participants believed might have shaped their current civic positioning. The interviews explored the Latino young adults’ attitudes towards and reflections on high school social studies experiences, as well as voting and present civic engagement (See Appendix A). While interview questions focused on voting as a key characteristic of political engagement, participants expanded their definition in their responses.

For the NB certified teacher participants, topics ranged from classroom practices and activities, to the curriculum, to interpersonal relationships; anything that they believed might engage immigrant students in civic life and political processes. Interview questions explored teachers’ understandings of civic and political engagement, and which social studies activities and goals they perceived to speak most directly to immigrant youth. Teachers discussed their beliefs, expectations, and perceptions about both their social studies instruction and immigrant students’ civic and political development.

Qualitative data analysis occurred in an ongoing and iterative manner as we examined themes within and across the geographic regions, as well as across the teacher and young adult participants. Specifically, evidence of expectations began to emerge, particularly as they related to civic life. We generated coding schemes independently and then collaborated to refine the codes and to generate the broader thematic findings. Data analysis occurred in two main phases: 1) initial coding, involving naming segments of data, and 2) focused, selective coding that used the most significant or frequent initial codes to sort and organize large amounts of data. During the initial phase, we used action words to label segments of data and to flag particular comments that proved central to our research objectives (Charmaz, 2006). Following the initial coding, data were summarily reviewed and annotated to determine the viability of the thematic coding. Consistent with the mixed-method component design with a complementarity intent of the study (Greene, et al., 1989), we turned to national survey data to enhance and elaborate our findings and contribute to their validity.

Phase II: Quantitative

Data Sources

We use data from the 2002 Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS: 2002), which provides a representative sample of sophomores in U.S. high schools during the 2001–2002 academic school year (N≈15,000 students nested in 750 schools²). ELS data include information from a base year survey in 2002, a follow-up survey in 2004 when most students were in their senior year of high school, high school transcript information, and a second follow-up survey in 2006, two years after high school for most respondents. Parent, administrator, and teacher surveys supplement the ELS student data. The high school transcript data contained in ELS allows for consideration of students’ course-taking patterns and detailed measures of achievement. We include all students present in both the base year (2002) and second follow-up (2006) surveys with valid transcript weights, resulting in an analytic sample of approximately 11,700 students.

Variables of Interest

Immigrant status is drawn from measures of student and parental nativity in the base year surveys to create an indicator that captures all children of immigrant parents. We note first whether the respondent herself is either first generation (foreign-born) or second (child of one or more foreign-born parents). We then combine both first- and second-generation children of immigrants into the immigrant youth category to address their common parental background. We coded respondents born in the U.S. to two non-immigrant parents as non-immigrants.

Educational perceptions, expectations and aspirations are drawn primarily from the 2002 base year sophomore student survey. We include whether the student reports liking and working hard in school, as well as her expectations of college attendance. To counterbalance these self-perceptions, we also include students’ perceptions of their parents’ and teachers’ expectations for school success. We close with a measure drawn from the second follow-up (2006), indicating whether the (now young adult) respondent expects to complete college.

Social studies course-taking and achievement are taken from the ELS’ high school transcript data. We calculated the total number of social studies credits a student completed during high school, including history, geography, political science, government, and economics coursework. Students who completed one or more honors or AP social studies course during high school were assigned a 1 on college preparatory social studies; all others were coded to 0. We created a continuous variable, social studies GPA, ranging from 0–4, to represent students’ average achievement in all high school social studies courses.

Background characteristics include gender, race/ethnicity and parental education level drawn from the base year student survey (2002). We provide these measures to give the reader a point of reference to compare the immigrant and non-immigrant populations.

Data Analysis

We ran t-tests of significance on the mean values of the variables of interest to determine which, if any, differed significantly for immigrant youth relative to non-immigrants. For the purposes of this mixed-methods study, we focused simply on providing a snapshot of adolescents’ academic and social studies experiences and expectations. The interested reader will find more detailed investigations of these data and themes in our previous work (Callahan et al., 2008; Callahan & Muller, 2013), examining other aspects of immigrant youths’ civic development.

RESULTS

In our analyses of both the qualitative and quantitative data, we found ample evidence to support immigrant optimism theory, which positions parental expectations as central to immigrant youths’ academic success. While teachers’ academic expectations emerged as important, the civic expectations they held for immigrant students became increasingly salient via our qualitative analysis, leading to an overarching theme of civic identity formation. Atkins and Hart (2003, p. 156) note that civic identity is comprised of two elements: 1) a connection or sense of belonging to a community, and, 2) the entitlements and responsibilities that come with membership in a community. Immigrant youths’ civic identity formation was bolstered by two subthemes: first, the development of informed, engaged citizens, and second, a sense of civic obligation. Reflecting on social studies as a site of civic development, we then present a descriptive picture of immigrant youths’ social studies experiences relative to non-immigrants, and close with a cautionary note about the ability of the social studies to engage an increasingly diverse population. Effective civic development can only occur with access to the rich civic discourse of a motivated, engaged social studies classroom.

Parents’ Academic Expectations: Fueling Immigrant Optimism

In general, the Latino immigrant young adults in our qualitative sample reported that their families held high academic expectations of them. Specifically they understood that they were expected to go to college. Isabel³ explained that her parents’ academic expectations began early and that “our parents really pushed us to be good in school” by taking “gifted and talented” courses in middle school, AP courses in high school, and ultimately attending college. Anthony shared that “this second generation, there’s a lot of pressure, a lot, a lot…”; he would later elaborate on the source of this pressure.

My mom and my dad always made sure that I had good grades. They said that was my only job. They didn’t expect anything less [than good grades]. Even though I got good grades, they made [the point] ‘that is what you’re supposed to do. I don’t expect anything less. We are giving you this opportunity and that is what you’ve got to do.’ They said that I’ve got to go to college. All right.

Parental expectations were wholly academic; the young adults reported no explicitly articulated civic expectations from their parents. In fact, in Amanda’s case, she believed that one specific desire for civic engagement was discouraged:

I wanted to go to college and get my degree and then join the Peace Corps for a couple of years, and then who knows. [But] I will probably go to grad school because it has always been assumed in my family that I would go to college, like I didn’t have any other option. And then it was always assumed that I would also either go to medical school like my dad or law school like my sister.

Our participants often discussed living up to these parental expectations in the context of understanding the sacrifices made for them to secure a better life. Initially, Rafael was disappointed with his family’s decision to emigrate; however, he shared his subsequent awareness and understanding of his parents’ social and professional sacrifices:

I saw that there were a lot of opportunities over here. For example, schools were just waiting to be taken advantage of. I saw the resources and thought maybe I could do something and be good at it.

Recognizing that his prospects improved as a result of his parents’ sacrifice, Rafael began to construct a path for himself in his new context. Just as Rafael looked to the present and future, Sam reflected on his mother’s past sacrifices and the difficulties they had faced:

My mom has always lived in Mexico and she decided that since I was coming to school, it would be a better environment for me if we came [to the US] together. I’m not going to say it wasn’t hard. …. It took a lot because she had everything over there. She had her friends and when we came over here, for the first few years, we didn’t know what to do.

Here, Sam acknowledged what his mother gave up in her life to improve his. These young adults contextualized the pressure of parental expectations within the sacrifices made for them, which serve to justify the high expectations.

The high academic expectations that our Latino young adult participants perceived from their parents and families are confirmed by the trends that emerged in the ELS data. In line 1 of Table 1, immigrant youth report significantly higher levels of parental expectations than non-immigrants. Even early in high school (sophomore year), immigrant youth are significantly more likely to report that they go to school because their parents expect them to succeed, and to go to college. Immigrant parents’ higher educational expectations for their children are associated with an immigrant achievement advantage (Kao, 2004). That immigrant youth hold relatively high educational expectations for themselves is not surprising; the patterns found in the national the ELS data reinforce our qualitative findings.

Civic Identity Formation

Interestingly, while parental expectations were discussed solely in academic terms, our Latino youth participants reported their teachers’ high academic, as well as civic expectations, a finding supported in the teacher interview data. Teachers’ expectations were supportive of the development of a particular type of civic identity, one that promoted commitment and responsibility to both the students’ ethnic community as well as to the political state (Kymlicka, 1995; Peck et al., 2010). We draw the reader back to Atkins and Hart’s (2003, p. 156) two-pronged definition of civic identity with Rosita, who expressed both entitlements and responsibilities for informed, engaged citizenship, as she shared one teacher’s expectation:

He always made us aware…we did have a voice. I remember him always telling us to vote, that we had the power to change things.

Rosita’s teacher expected his students to be “aware” (i.e., responsibility) and “vote” (i.e., both an entitlement and responsibility), indicating that they “had the power to change things” (i.e., entitlement). Anthony reported that his social studies teacher held similar expectations: “he wanted us to be active. He wanted us to vote, not just vote – find a reason and to know what was happening in politics.” Again, from Anthony’s perspective, voting was encased within a broader idea of civic life in which students found a purpose and became informed about an issue around which they could build their community involvement. Teachers’ expectation that students construct and present an informed argument is related to a civic identity characterized by enlightened political engagement (Parker, 2001b, 2006), which requires using one’s informed voice, whether orally or in writing, to engage in civic life. While Rosita and Anthony characterize their vote as voice, Fatima discussed voice literally. “We had to interview people. We had to write articles; we had to be outspoken.” In each example, the students saw both the entitlements and the responsibilities that come with civic membership. Isabel added the dimension of community connection, in this case the US. “She [our teacher] emphasized that we need to be active because it is our country and we are the future of it.” Isabel noted that her teacher’s attitude made her the “most significant influence” during adolescence.

The social studies teachers discussed their expectations of their immigrant students in ways that were consistent with what the youth reported. The social studies teachers argued that rigorous academic curricula complement a strong civic life, noting the importance not only of having informed opinions, but also clearly communicating them, a theme mirrored in the youth data. Mr. Rocca held clear goals for his immigrant students: to understand that democracy is a “high maintenance form of government”, and that it requires “an educated, informed, and active citizenry.” Mr. Gordon echoed this sentiment, arguing that, “If you are successful in developing critical thinkers… independent thinkers… they’re more confident.” For Mr. Gordon, these thinkers were more likely to become engaged in the community; likewise, Mr. Riser hoped to nurture informed and active citizens:

They may take these classes and start to realize, OK, I understand how this system works. I feel more knowledgeable about it. Maybe they’re more prone to then participate because they’ve taken some classes. They see how it works. They’ve gotten some context and maybe that makes them more prone to then say, “I’ll vote.”

Although from a different perspective, Mr. Riser’s comments are strikingly similar to Anthony’s, whose teacher wanted him to “know what is happening” and “vote.” Several other teachers shared specific activities they used to encourage students to develop content knowledge and the ability to communicate an informed opinion, including structured discussions (Gordon, Martinez) and simulations (Jones, Jewel, McDougal, Rocca, Tomasi). Many youth carried these strategies forward, including Ramiro who explained, “these democratic discussions and all of these debates were focused on our research, on our ability to speak and think critically”. For some teachers, these experiences related directly to what they believed their students would need to succeed in college. Ms. McDougal discussed a Civil War simulation, in which students had to take on a variety of roles:

I had three volunteers play devil’s advocate and it was very interesting watching them try. I told them at the college level … the professor may say, how many of you agree that he should never have been hung? And your hands go up. And now he’s going to say - good - now go argue the other side. And their eyes just – ‘ching.’ In order to be a strong advocate for your position, you’ve got to understand the other side, what they’re going to throw at you, so that you’re prepared to counter it.

Ms. McDougal helped her students understand that specific academic skills (e.g., knowing multiple sides of an issue, clearly communicating an informed position) were necessary for college success. Reporting that, “my favorite question is why?” Ms. McDougal pushed her students to understand the processes and relationships that create a strong democracy.

Ms. Martinez approached college preparation as well, but went beyond academics as measured by grades to note that, “Our kids are very savvy and they understand that volunteerism is important for the college resume…so they get involved.” Although volunteerism is a common civic behavior in U.S. schools, Ms. Martinez framed it narrowly within her immigrant students’ appropriate, if not assimilative behavior. Her immigrant students do what is expected to strengthen their college applications, just like their academically competitive non-immigrant classmates. In this instance, volunteering has little to do with the societal goal of civic engagement, but rather aligns more closely to the individual goal of college admission. This is similar to Chareka, Nyemah, and Manguvo’s (2010) study of African immigrants in Canada who saw volunteering in one’s new nation as a good résumé builder. While volunteering facilitates individual goals (i.e., college admission, obtaining a job) it may also convey the message to others about the immigrant’s attempt to integrate into the dominant culture, solidifying her commitment to and sense of belonging in a new community.

Whether the idea of the “power to change” was articulated explicitly (e.g., Rosita), or implicitly through the charge to “be outspoken” and “find a reason” (e.g., Fatima, Isabel, Ramiro, Anthony), our youth participants believed that their teachers expected them to become informed, engaged citizens who did more than vote, a belief shared by the teacher participants. Our social studies teachers expressed these civic expectations and in turn, their Latino immigrant students not only understood, but also internalized them.

The Informed and Engaged Citizen

All of our Latino young adult interviewees commented on the high academic and civic expectations that their teachers held of them, which our analyses suggest are complementary. We argue that it is at the intersection of the academic and the civic that the construction of a civic identity required for a particular kind of citizen can occur. Our participants were expected to be both informed and engaged in the civic lives of their communities. Among college bound youth, being informed centers around content knowledge and skills. In discussing his social studies teacher’s expectations, Ramiro explained:

Do your research, know what you are talking about…what are the factors, what are the issues? He [teacher] always said that if you go into something uninformed, you really have no right to say anything because you don’t understand.

Even Ramiro’s use of the term “issues,” as opposed to opinions or beliefs, implies a civic dimension. This idea was echoed by Amanda who recalled one teacher’s perspectives: “If you have a position, you better damned well be able to back it up or I am not going to listen to you and I’m not going to let anyone else listen to you.” These examples focus on being informed by knowing content and having the skills to communicate that knowledge. For example, Sam reported that his history teacher stressed the need to be informed about historical content in order to engage in the present context: “If you want to be able to understand what people are doing, you’ve got to look at the history of everything.” While we asked specifically about social studies, several students discussed other teachers as well. Sam noted that his ROTC⁴ instructor “always stressed knowing what we were talking about”, emphasizing the importance of being an informed citizen. In addition, participants believed that their teachers’ academic expectations were primarily skills-oriented. Ramiro shared his English teacher’s belief that students should use “words as our weapon to speak in a way and write in a way.” Teachers expected that these immigrant youth would engage in a well-informed, knowledgeable way. Teachers’ emphasis on skills was linked to the ability to communicate a position. Participants did not see their teachers as promoting any specific position or perspective, but rather the idea that an informed and well-communicated position was desirable, if not necessary, for citizens in a democracy.

In a similar vein, participants consistently conveyed that their teachers did not expect them to uncritically regurgitate information, but instead to think deeply and from different perspectives. Sam reported that his ROTC instructor motivated him personally, and “prompted me to think critically about things.” Fernando elaborated on this theme:

It’s not like we are all thinking the same things about a particular issue, but that we can all go through the process and realize the way that you would go about figuring out the issue. I was lucky enough to learn how to not just ask questions, but how to ask the right questions.

Overall, participants perceived that teachers’ expectations were geared toward individual success, generally defined by college attendance. Isabel articulated this when describing her social studies teacher: “She really wanted to prepare us for college” by having students use specific “academic college words.” In extending this belief beyond this one teacher, Isabel spoke generally, “[my teachers] were bent on just making us very academically responsible students.” All these ideas—being informed, constructing and presenting a coherent argument, thinking critically—are not only important for college success, but also complement the needs of informed and active citizens.

Nationally, the ELS survey data confirm that immigrant youth are acutely aware of their teachers’ expectations, as is frequently the case among non-mainstream student groups (Jussim & Harber, 2005). Line 2 of Table 1 reinforces our qualitative findings, showing that immigrant students are significantly more likely to perceive their teachers to expect academic success from them than non-immigrants. In addition, they maintain a more positive outlook, reporting that they both work harder in school (line 3), and like school more (line 4) than non-immigrants. These patterns resonate with the academic and civic expectations voiced by our young adult participants as they discussed their teachers. Given the powerful press of immigrant parents’ expectations (Kao & Tienda, 1995), it is not surprising that immigrant youth’s academic motivation (evidenced in both our qualitative and quantitative analyses) draw from external sources—parents’ and teachers’ expectations—that are significantly higher than those experienced by non-immigrants.

Table 1.

Means and Proportions of Educational Aspirations and Expectations, Social Studies Experiences and Background Characteristics by Immigrant Status Significant Cross-Group Differences Noted

Generational Status		Immigrants	Non-Immigrants
	N	3470	9890
Educational Aspirations and Expectations
Student reports that parents expect school success		3.54	3.44	***
Student reports that teachers expect school success		2.77	2.67	***
Student reports working hard in school		2.79	2.69	***
Student reports liking school		2.22	2.10	***
Student expects to go to college (2002)		0.95	0.92	***
Student expects to complete college (2006)		0.94	0.93	*
	N	2992	8792
Social Science Course Taking and Achievement
Social Science Credits		3.54 (1.15)	3.75 (1.29)	**
Social Science GPA		2.47 (0.88)	2.61 (0.98)	**
	N	3470	9890
Background Characteristics
Female		0.50	0.50
Race/Ethnicity
Black		0.06	0.15	***
Asian		0.33	0.01	***
Other		0.07	0.05	***
Latino		0.37	0.06	***
White		0.17	0.73	***
Parental Education Level
Less than High School		0.15	0.02	***
High School		0.17	0.20	***
Some College		0.26	0.39	***
College or More		0.42	0.42

^*p≤0.05;

^**p≤0.01;

^***p≤0.001

A Sense of Civic Obligation

The Latino young adults in our sample conveyed that their dual status as both immigrants and members of a democracy demanded their participation. As immigrants, they owed this engagement to their home community, even if it contradicted their parents’ explicit expectations. As U.S. residents or citizens, the opportunity to strengthen their communities was one they did not want to waste. Sam, who earlier discussed his mother’s sacrifices, shared that, “I had this idea that it was my responsibility to help as many people as I could, in any way possible,” while Rafael “wanted to make a difference,” and Amanda succinctly observed that “I have a lot to live up to.” Isabel, who lost a brother while he was serving in the U.S. military, framed her societal civic expectations within that specific context. “There are heroes out there. And they are the people who fight for us every day. We need to support them by being active in the political process.” Participants discussed what they believed their teachers and/or their parents expected of them, but their statements were broad and often not directly linked to individuals. Rather, these statements reflected a synthesis of immigrant youths’ unique cultural and societal responsibilities. Anthony provided additional detail about external societal expectations:

There’s a lot of pressure. Most of us are the first in college. We’re here at this big university. We come from [major city’s] inner city schools. They tell us you can see how proud our school was and some teachers were real proud. Once we’re here, then we hear the stats – a 19% dropout rate. And when they said that, I was pretty scared. It’s just a lot of small pressures.

Although Anthony clearly mentions school pride, he tempers it with a jarring statistic (19% of Latino freshmen enrollees will drop out). The students we interviewed firmly believed that their teachers, families and communities were invested in their individual success (e.g., college going, graduation). Here, the students’ internalization of these expectations broadly mirrors their teachers’ perspectives, as well as the trends evident in the national ELS data. Table 1 shows that by the 10^th grade, immigrant students demonstrate significantly higher hopes of college going (line 5), and by young adulthood, significantly higher expectations of college completion (line 6) relative to non-immigrants. While hopes and expectations are clearly not the same as a diploma in hand, they do represent immigrant youths’ academic, if not civic, potential.

Access and Exposure: Social Studies Content and Civic Potential

Both the teachers and Latino immigrants we interviewed perceived a strong relationship between students’ high school social studies experiences and the development of their civic outlook in young adulthood. Our qualitative sample was intentionally narrow in scope, designed to target a select group of teachers, deemed highly qualified by their peers, and subsequently, the Latino immigrant youth who studied with them. However, educational stratification research suggests that linguistic, racial, ethnic and social disparities in academic opportunities and access persist (Dondero & Muller, 2012; Lucas & Berends, 2007; Oakes, 2005). Many, although clearly not all immigrant youth belong to one or more of the above categories (Passel, 2011). To counter this, we intentionally targeted the outliers: Latino immigrant students in an optimal social studies placement scenario. While our participants may have had atypical experiences, this allowed us to investigate what might be possible when immigrant youth accessed advanced social studies. Our qualitative findings suggest that an engaging social studies context can foster civic identity development. We were then left to ask, what proportion of immigrant youth actually gain access?

To determine the broader trends in social studies access, we used the ELS: 2002 transcript data to compare the social studies experiences of immigrant and non-immigrant youth. The bottom section of Table 1 shows that immigrant youth take significantly fewer social studies credits and earn significantly lower social studies grades than non-immigrants (lines 7, 9). Interestingly, despite overall disparities in course taking, we find no significant differences in the completion of college preparatory social studies coursework by immigrant status (line 8), suggesting that a segment of immigrant youth exist who complete advanced social studies coursework, providing evidence to support a select immigrant advantage.

Ultimately, the disparities we find in both social studies course-taking and achievement suggest that immigrant students may be particularly at risk of unrealized civic potential as they enter young adulthood. Although social studies and civic development are undeniably important to becoming an informed, engaged citizen, educational orientations and expectations are critical to the realization of this process among immigrant youth.

A Cautionary Note: Cultivating a Compliant Citizenry

Our findings regarding the immigrant advantage and civic identity formation, coupled with national trends illustrating the contrast between immigrant youths’ high academic expectations and orientations, and their limited social studies experiences, suggest that while teachers in certain contexts are able to optimize immigrant youths’ civic potential, most immigrant youth never experience this encouragement. However, even within the advanced social studies context, teachers’ civic expectations centered on the knowledge and skills necessary to produce informed and engaged individuals who could function within existing institutional structures. In fact, some encouraged an even more passive disposition, which may seem to contradict the expectation that students construct and communicate informed arguments. However, it also reflects teachers’ focus on immigrant students’ fitting into the dominant culture. Cultural integration, if not assimilation, differs markedly from ensuring that youth understand the dominant culture in order to critique it. The teachers we interviewed expressed a desire for immigrant youth to assimilate into existing structures and conform to societal expectations (i.e., vote, volunteer). Mr. Tomasi summarized this belief:

I think it’s teaching them to be responsible within their realm first, and then branching out from there. This is what responsible people do. If you want to be successful, you have to be responsible. There is this idea that if you don’t toe the line—you’re not going to make it here.

Here, Mr. Tomasi equates immigrant students’ success with the ability to “toe the line,” a nod to preservation of the status quo via personally responsible behavior (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004).

Personal responsibility, as a goal of a common and particular type of citizenship education in U.S. schools, focuses on the civic behaviors of an individual engaging with the community status quo. This type of citizenship neither advocates for, nor participates in systemic change (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004). Being a personally responsible citizen requires not only developing, but also communicating an informed opinion. However, crafting, communicating, and advocating for a transformative perspective with the intent of affecting change is not consistent with maintaining the status quo (Zinn & Macedo, 2004). Ms. Jewel shared a similar sentiment as she discussed her role in role in encouraging her students to think of ways they can be “productive” and “effective” citizens by “paying your taxes and [serving] if you get called to jury duty.” These are appropriate avenues for civic engagement, but as Mr. Schroeder asked, “We’re making good citizens, I think. But active citizens?” This question was left for debate among our teachers, as it likewise remains among scholars (Banks, 2008; Johnson & Morris, 2010; Sears & Hughes, 2006; Westheimer & Kahne, 2004). It is often said that what a society expects of its citizens may be found in its civic education, calling into question the ability of U.S. social studies to create citizens who hold a transformative disposition to civic engagement.

DISCUSSION

Our teacher participants cared passionately about their immigrant students and helped them gain the knowledge and skills necessary for college. However, they also stopped short of encouraging their students—immigrant or non-immigrants — to work for institutional change. This particular approach is consistent with Westheimer and Kahne’s (2004) argument that citizenship education, an explicit purpose of the U.S. social studies curriculum (NCSS, 2010; Thornton, 1994), typically focuses on personally responsible and participatory notions of a good citizen. Rarely does a social justice agenda, in which students study unjust systems and engage with others to advocate for change, prevail (Johnson & Morris, 2010; Rubin, 2007; Zinn & Macedo, 2004). For immigrant youth this disconnect, coupled with limited social studies completion, suggests that many will exit the U.S. school system with unrealized civic potential. Comparing the experiences and the potential of our participants to the vast majority immigrant youth who complete only the minimally required social studies courses, we ask whether schools may be missing the opportunity to develop a solid civic base for the future.

Our findings suggest that immigrant youth perceive adults to frame success first and foremost in academic terms. Beyond voting, civic outcomes are rarely central to the discussion. Most teachers clearly expect their immigrant students to vote, go to college, succeed academically, conform in a civic and professional sense, and engage in the civic life of their community, but not much more beyond that. This academic framing of success clearly parallels the dominant discourse that associates educational attainment with civic and political engagement (Dee, 2004; Nie et al., 1996). The upside of this discourse is that when immigrant youth succeed academically, they tend to do so across content areas, taking both more math and more social studies. What this perspective does not acknowledge, however, is that immigrant students may be uniquely predisposed to a civic perspective on success (Lopez & Marcelo, 2008; Stepick, et al., 2008). Given immigrant students’ potential for civic engagement demonstrated in our qualitative data, and their social studies preparation and achievement evidenced in the national data, it appears vast majority are not being primed for leadership and political engagement. We argue that the civic potential of most immigrant youth remains unrealized.

The sheer leadership power and civic potential inherent among U.S. immigrant youth came to light during a period of immigrant rights marches in 2006 (Bloemraad & Trost, 2008; Pallares & Flores-Gonzalez, 2010). The patriotic upsurge that developed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks also sparked a particularly virulent strand of anti-immigrant rhetoric (Nguyen, 2005). In partial response to media, social, and legislative attacks on immigrants, immigrant youth took the helm in 2006, advocating for their parents during this unsettling time (Bloemraad & Trost, 2008; Pallares & Flores-Gonzalez, 2010). The marches not only illustrated the potential civic and political voice of the growing immigrant population, but also demonstrated a reversal in political socialization. Here, immigrant youth turned the tables and taught their parents about the civic processes they learned about in school (Bloemraad & Trost, 2008). It is this transformation of theory into action that interests us as we consider the implications of immigrant youth’s anemic social studies completion alongside their relatively high civic potential.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

The association between U.S. immigrant youths’ civic knowledge and engagement (Lopez & Marcelo, 2008; Stepick, et al., 2008), coupled with our findings regarding their internalization of civic expectations, and their anemic social studies preparation suggest that schools could increase their communities’ future political and civic engagement by focusing on immigrant students’ social studies course-taking. While the quantity of social studies course-taking is one aspect to consider, prior research also problematizes curricular materials (e.g., Journell, 2009) and the quality of social studies experiences [e.g., open classroom climate (Torney-Purta, et al., 2001), participation in meaningful discussions (Hess & Avery, 2008)]. Both the quality and quantity of the social studies may shape political and civic engagement for all. Based on our findings, and building on prior research (Lopez & Marcelo, 2008; Stepick & Dutton-Stepick, 2002), we argue that immigrant youth can become either a civic core in their communities, or merely peripheral civic participants, depending on their educational experiences. Minimal efforts by schools (e.g., ensuring immigrants’ social studies enrollment) could potentially increase local civic participation and political investment.

Heeding a Cautionary Note

Our findings, combined with those of Rubin (2007), Marri (2003, 2005, 2009), Hahn (2003, 2010) and others, illustrate the critical role of the teacher and the importance of a constructivist perspective that values and affirms students’ knowledge. Rubin (2007) suggests that while schools can and do make a difference, unchecked, this influence can prove negative and/or destructive. In response, we argue that schools and educators have the potential to improve immigrants’ civic development. If more educators engaged immigrant youth’s funds of knowledge in the social studies classroom, as did the teachers in our study, the likelihood of fully realizing their civic potential might increase markedly.

Our participants comprised a purposefully select sample: U.S. immigrant youth who took advanced social studies and their social studies teachers. Marri (2003, 2005, 2009) and Rubin (2007) repeatedly find immigrant and minority youth marginalized and on the outskirts of adolescent civic discourse. We argue that when immigrant youth have the opportunity to engage with teachers who recognize their funds of knowledge as a resource (Callahan & Obenchain, 2013), schools may realize this untapped civic potential. Using national data, our findings confirm what Marri and Rubin suggest—that immigrant youth complete significantly fewer and less academically engaging social studies classes than non-immigrants. Improving social studies access may increase immigrants’ engagement with educators whose professional focus is the development of empathy and the ability to recognize another’s perspective (NCSS, 2010)— rich resources found in immigrant students’ funds of knowledge. Improving the quality and quantity of immigrants’ social studies experiences is the first step toward improved civic engagement.

Ultimately, even though the immigrant youth viewed their success from a civic, as well as an academic perspective, their teachers and parents alike conveyed a much more narrow, academic definition of success. Contrary to the civic goals of schooling, these key adults did not position immigrant youth as emancipatory, transformative, or revolutionary (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004), but instead focused on civic participation that would complement and reproduce existing societal norms and political and economic structures (Zinn & Macedo, 2004). Cultural integration, reflective of a non-transformative citizen typology, and consistent with teachers’ expectations for all students (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004), clearly influenced teachers’ expectations. That said, it is important to keep in mind that these teachers treat their immigrant students just as they do the children of non-immigrant parents. Admirably, teachers’ goals are consistent for both groups; immigrant students simply manifest lost civic potential at a much greater cost to their communities. Our findings and those of others (Dilworth, 2004; Tyson & Park, 2008), suggest a master narrative embedded in U.S. social studies curriculum that is both assimilationist and confirmatory in nature.

Despite our teachers’ emphasis on immigrant students’ disposition towards social studies (Callahan et al., 2008; Callahan & Muller, 2013) as it relates to civic engagement, at the end of the day they complete fewer social studies courses. Although our Latino immigrant participants engaged in successful civic pathways in young adulthood (e.g., campaign work, health advocacy), their teachers and parents geared them toward individual academic success, which would then shape their awareness of the need for civic participation as they engaged with their communities as young adults. Classroom level changes are increasingly difficult to implement under current U.S. accountability and reform. From NCLB (U.S. Department of Education, 2001) to the Common Core Standards (2012), social studies is often no more than an afterthought (National Education Association, 2004). It is not merely that there is little time to develop civic ideals and invoke an emancipatory citizenry, but rather that social studies must fight for space with art, science, physical education, music, and the other frequently un-tested content areas. Until educational policymakers prioritize civic education, and with it, immigrant students’ social studies course-taking, the nation will suffer from the unrealized civic potential of its growing immigrant population.

Biographies

Rebecca M. Callahan is an Associate Professor of Bilingual/Bicultural Education in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin. She can be reached at Callahan@prc.utexas.edu.

Kathryn M. Obenchain is an Associate Professor of Social Studies Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907. She can be reached at kobench@purdue.edu.

APPENDIX A: Semi-Structured Interview Questions

Sample Teacher Interview Questions: Open Ended Discussion Format

Prior to the initial discussion, the PI will review and share key findings from several prior studies regarding high school social studies course-taking as it relates to immigrant young adults’ voting and voter registration. (Share charts and graphs, as well as other factors in the models.)

In the process of the interview today, I am going to ask that you reflect on these findings and on how you think your classroom curriculum, pedagogy and practices might either explain or contradict these findings.

In particular, we wonder how you think the formal aspects of school and schooling might influence children of immigrants?

Are there any particular factors or behaviors you see at play in the classroom that engage children of immigrants in the political process?

What key points in the curriculum do you think might engage immigrant students in a civic manner? What points might dissuade them?

Pertaining to the potential effects of interpersonal relationships, how would you characterize your relationships with students—both children of immigrants and children of native-born parents?

What kinds of political participation, if any, do you believe are engendered by classroom assignments?

What kinds of things happen in your classroom that you believe might promote civic involvement and eventually voting?

Are there any things that happen in the classroom that might inhibit civic involvement and voting?

Are you doing anything now, in light of the current election, which might spur current or future civic engagement among your students?

What activities might occur that would limit that engagement?

What, if anything, does your school do to promote civic activity and involvement among students?

What could your school do that it might not be doing now to promote civic behaviors?

Are there policies in place that you perceive help advance student involvement in the political process?

Alternately, are there any policies in place that you perceive might inhibit student involvement in the political process?

(2) Sample Immigrant Young Adult Interview Questions: Semi-structured interview

Thank you for meeting with me today; Mr./Ms. _____ referred you as one of his/her former high school social studies students who might be willing to discuss the high school social science experience as well as your own civic participation as a young adult. I am going to ask you a few questions, both about your experience during high school and about your experience now as an adult in the community.

The current study is designed to explore the factors at work within high school social studies that might produce a relationship between social studies course-taking and immigrant students’ voting. Findings may help to shape classroom practice and educational policy to meet the needs of future students like you.

With these ideas in mind, I would like to ask you a few questions.

To begin, can you tell me a little bit about the ways you might be involved in your community? How about your involvement with politics? How, if at all, are you involved with politics on the local level? …. What about on the national level?

*Have you registered to vote since you turned 18? Are you currently registered?

*How have you been involved in the current election? Have you been involved at all locally or on a broader scale?

If so, what kinds of activities do you participate in? If not, what kept you from becoming involved in the election?

In light of the findings I shared with you earlier, what if anything about your high school social studies experiences do you think shaped your current political involvement? What about your current community involvement?

As you think about community or political involvement, what kinds of things—readings, activities, interactions, relationships with friends or with teachers—do you think have influenced your current behaviors?

(Teacher) recommended you to us as a former student; how do you think s/he might have shaped or contributed to your current civic or political involvement?

Can you think of any other teachers or mentors who might have influenced your current level of civic or political involvement? If so, can you describe your relationship with that (or those) individual(s)? What about your interactions shaped your current involvement?

Please describe your high school social studies experiences; how did you feel about your social studies classes? Your teachers? Your peers in the classes? The curriculum you covered/textbooks you used?

Describe any activities you were required to participate in as a high school social studies student.

Describe any community and political involvement you took part in during and following high school.

What kinds of connections do you think might exist between your formative experiences and current civic engagement?