Perspectives of African immigrant students in American public schools

In this qualitative study, I looked at the schooling experiences of recent African immigrant students in the Midwest region of the United States. The main research questions that were addressed include: How did the African students in this study perceive the way they were taught in American public schools? How did they view the relationship between them and their teachers? How inclusive were curricular materials in their districts? And what were the factors that contributed to African immigrant students' successes and challenges in their American classrooms?The pivot of this naturalistic inquiry was to document and analyze the emic perspectives of learners from a different continent by illuminating individual stories embedded in context. A qualitative design was employed in this investigation for the purpose of understanding the schooling experiences of African immigrant students in the United States. Network sampling and purposeful sampling were part of the multiplicity of sources for this research work. To tackle the study, I used a triangulation of a detailed survey questionnaire, semi-structured and in-depth interviews, and personal narratives of the respondents. Content analysis was carried out through descriptive and interpretive coding patterns.Twenty African immigrant students completed a survey of 34 questions. Ten individuals were selected from the 20 initial participants for in-depth interviews at different locations in America's heartland. These respondents were all born in Africa and spent at least four years in U.S. public high schools. All of them graduated from public high schools in America's Midwest within the last decade. Among the interviewees, 50 percent were males, and 50 percent were females. They represented all the major regions of the African continent. The study took place from December 2008 to August 2009.Findings in the study revealed four major themes: lack of cultural orientation, indifference, lack of relevant curricular and instructional materials, and personal determination. Participants in the dissertation research viewed their education in the United States favorably, but expressed frustration with curriculum approaches and pedagogical delivery in their classrooms. Results also demonstrate that African immigrant students perceived their educators in different ways that I have analyzed and presented in this study.