At least 5.1 million U.S. students in kindergarten through 12th grade are English Language Learners today--10.5 percent of the entire student population. That amount is expected to grow to 25% by the year 2025. Numbers on the educational levels of these students' parents vary, though it appears that at least one-third of the heads-of-household…

The existence of the achievement gap is more than just a black-white issue; contrary to stereotypes, it is a concern within Asian homes. Hmong students underachieve in comparison with many East Asian students. Traditional cultural practices and poverty have been identified as explanatory factors. Our data suggest that a more critical factor might…

This article examines the uses of oral testimony in writing about literacy in historical context, especially about the literacy traditions of populations "hidden from history"--immigrants, refugees, and undocumented persons--who are entering U.S. schools and workplaces, and whose literacy histories may be unknown or lost. Drawing on testimonies…

The contact hypothesis (Allport 1954) predicts that cross-racial interaction can produce social bonding under certain status, relational, and institutional conditions. We extend this classic theory on ingroups and outgroups using qualitative data on Cambodian and Hmong refugees' recollections of casual conversations about ancestry with black and…

This interview study examines the way practitioners in Wisconsin public schools created conditions to facilitate refugee parent involvement. Practitioners' perceptions of barriers to refugee parents' school involvement are explored as well as the strategies used to promote meaningful parent involvement. Interviewees included nine school…

The study examined relations between maternal scaffolding of children's problem solving and children's adjustment in kindergarten in Hmong families living in the United States. Mothers and their children (63 dyads) were visited the summer before kindergarten. Mothers' years in the United States, age, education, reasoning skills, and parenting…

The inclusion of English Language Learners as a subgroup in the No Child Left Behind legislation has leant additional importance to the need for valid and efficient measures of reading for students whose first language is not English. This study examines the use of Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) reading fluency as a predictor of later reading…

In this article, the author provides a brief history of Hmong and traces the origin of Hmong story cloths. The Hmong, a nomadic and agrarian people, may date back 5000 years. Today they live in China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos, where during the Vietnam War and its aftermath, many Hmong were killed or persecuted for siding with the American…

In this article I offer a framework for thinking about how public schools in liberal societies ought to respond to instances of arranged marriages for girls from deeply communitarian cultural groups. Focusing on three cases of culturally and religiously arranged marriages from the Hmong, Islamic fundamentalist and Mormon fundamentalist…

This paper illustrates how a methodological tool called "drawing-voice" can be used to demonstrate qualitatively what statistical and policy data are not able to reveal regarding the educational realities of Hmong minority communities in northern Vietnam, particularly with regard to the role of local language and culture in school. This…

Hmong American adolescents' perceptions of their parents were examined using the parenting styles and family ecologies models. Individual interviews of forty 11- to 18-year-old Hmong American teenagers resulted in open-ended and fixed-choice responses. In the open-ended responses, adolescents emphasized themes of parental involvement and depending…

This article examines the culture of community-based after-school programs that serve low-income Hmong immigrant youth. By drawing on knowledge of Hmong culture, history, and family structure, and knowledge of mainstream American culture, the staff at the community centers are able to connect to children and adolescents in ways that schools do…

Asian American Education--Asian American Identities, Racial Issues, and Languages presents groundbreaking research that critically challenges the invisibility, stereotyping, and common misunderstandings of Asian Americans by disrupting "customary" discourse and disputing "familiar" knowledge. The chapters in this anthology…

U.S. higher education institutions are enrolling increasing numbers of long-term immigrant students, who belong to Generation 1.5. Essentially beginning college while still in the process of learning English, these students often struggle in higher education, and they present new challenges to college writing instructors. This study explored the…

The underachievement of ethnic minority youth from disadvantaged neighborhoods is a pervasive educational issue this nation is facing. Based on an ecological perspective, we examined the contextual effects of neighborhood ethnic density and neighborhood disadvantage on the academic achievement of Hmong immigrant youths. Utilizing hierarchical…