Addressing the Needs of Immigrants and Refugees: Towards a Model of Inclusive Practices

Wednesday January 30, 2019
4:00 - 5:00 PM
Grand Ballroom 2501 B

Addressing the needs of immigrant families, specifically, refugees continue to be a challenge for school districts across the nation. As refugee families resettle, they encounter a plethora of barriers, including linguistic, cultural, socio-economic, and logistical. District-level officials, school-level leaders, teachers, and support personnel can make a difference in improving the well-being of refugee families. Using a theoretical framework, research-based practices, and ethnographic research, a model of inclusive practices will be explored, bringing attention to the importance of servicing a vulnerable, underserved population.

Presenters
Monica Handyside

Monica Bracho-Handyside, Ph.D. currently serves as an Instructional Specialist in Prince George's County Public Schools. Her experience includes ESOL specialist and ESL instructor. Dr. Handyside has taught graduate level courses in Human Growth & Development, Linguistics, Foundations of ESL, Second Language Acquisition and Teaching ESL Reading and Writing at the Catholic University of America and Trinity University. Dr. Handyside advocates for Title I children and families, English Language Learners, refugees, and students experiencing homelessness. Dr. Handyside is a translator and the author of the book "Metacognition Matters." Sessions
Stacey Montgomery

Stacey A. Montgomery, a passionate educator, is a Technology Resource Teacher in Prince George’s County Public Schools, MD, with 25 years in education (Library Media Specialist, CSTEM Coordinator, and ESOL Teacher). Bachelor’s Hampton University, Master’s UMD College Park and The GWU - Bilingual Special Ed. Research Interests: Special needs populations
Neftali Ortiz

Neftali Ortiz, a Specialist for Prince George’s County Public School Department of Family and Community Engagement has been working with Immigrant and Refugee families to improve the education of children in immigrant and Refugees families. He oversees the Diverse Family Engagement Initiative for the Department of Family and Community Engagement for PGCPS and helps families understand the school system’s expectations while removing barriers. Neftali was a Parent Engagement Assistant (PEA) for 16 years. As a PEA, Neftali trained teachers and staff on how to communicate and work effectively with families as equal partners and helped parents/families understand the educational system.
Andrea Phillips Hughes

Andrea Phillips Hughes is an Instructional Supervisor charged with oversight parent engagement in the Title I Office of Prince George’s County Public Schools. Andrea has over 30 years of experience in education. She has held various positions: classroom teacher; regional instructional specialist, principal at both middle and high school levels, and supervisor in an alternative education program. Andrea facilitates and conducts workshops for parental engagement for Title I teachers and parent and families of Title I participating children.
type:
Lecture
theme:
leadership
audience:
classroom leaders
topics:
cultural diversity, Title I-A, Title II-A, Title III-A, Title IV-A