Vol 4 Issue 3 –From the Editor

“Stay in your lane” is a colloquialism that I have heard on occasion. When I stay in my lane, I speak about things that I understand fairly well. I do what I do. I also allow others to do what they do. My mother didn’t tell me that I needed to stay in my lane. She did, though, remind me that I needed to know when it was best to talk less and listen more (“You gotta use your head and your heart, son.”).

I bring the wisdom of both perspectives to reading this issue about newcomer students. I understand that my lane, generally, is education. But the lane of education has always been wide and winding, ranging from compulsory schooling nearly two centuries ago to desegregated schools several decades ago. In this issue, both phenomena–compulsory education (children are required to go to school) and education desegregation (all children should have access to public schools without discrimination)–are core in this issue, though neither term is specifically named. Also core is the need for a combination of care and knowledge, as these are vital to student and community success.

Chief Writer Allan Tellis’ shares that community conversations reveal that a new type of winding and widening are happening in schools in the region as newcomers from many (largely) South American countries arrive to our classrooms. Families, while often excited to have their children enroll in US public schools, do so with limited experience about the nature of schooling in our communities, and while also working tirelessly to stabilize themselves. Upon arrival to classrooms, their children also face significant new challenges of acquiring language and knowledge, including in classrooms led by teachers with little preparation to serve them well. We learn in this issue that takes head and heart to respond well to these varied experiences, and it takes skillful educators and compassionate community members to help to guide us through the ongoing widening and winding indicated by these experiences.

I’ll stay in my lane here by noting that there is lots of rich information in this issue about what newcomer students face in the region’s classrooms, and I’m still very much learning what this means for my own education practice. Their education requires skills that I didn’t learn in my teacher education program nor study in my doctoral work. I hope that you’ll approach this issue with an open mind and an open heart as well, joining me in recognizing our own lanes and offering what we can to support educators and the families of newcomer students. 

Peace, antwan