LSI Team Examining the Educational Experiences of Refugee Families in Tallahassee

Tallahassee, Fla. – This past January, Learning Systems Institute (LSI) Director Rabieh Razzouk awarded a new LSI SEED grant to Dr. Celia Reddick, Julie Twomey, M.Ed. and Dr. Brenda Wawire. The group received funding over 11 other proposals for their "Strengthening school experiences for refugee young people, families and their teachers in Tallahassee" project.

The proposal facilitates the first systematic study of the educational experiences of refugee students, their families and teachers in Tallahassee. During the first six months of the project, 36 interviews were conducted with refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Syria. Of those interviews, 27 were with refugee children and 9 were with their parents and other caregivers.  

"Our project examining the educational experiences of refugees in Tallahassee is off to an excellent start, and there is the potential for it to grow and thrive with ongoing dedicated support," said Dr. Reddick, Assistant Professor of Education and International Development with a joint appointment in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and in LSI. "Through hard work by the team in building relationships both with community members in Tallahassee as well as with a growing list of research team members, we have been able to begin interviews with refugee families from the DRC and Syria and will shortly begin interviews with refugees from Afghanistan and Venezuela."

As the project enters its second six months, the next steps include conducting additional interviews, as well as establishing connections with refugee-serving organizations in Tallahassee that are willing to share their insights. The team will also request research permission from Leon County Schools to undertake school-based data collection in the coming academic year.

Another component of the project is an arts-based project with refugee children and their peers. The team is currently planning an intervention for young people from refugee families who have been interviewed for the project.

"This proposal stood out for its timely and impactful focus on refugee education, its commitment to improving school experiences for resettled families and its innovative approach to integrating research with community-based interventions," said Razzouk when the LSI SEED grant was awarded. "We are particularly excited about the potential to build bridges between refugee students and their peers, provide valuable data to guide local educational policies and serve as a foundation for future large-scale funding opportunities."

LSI strives to lead the way in creating innovative educational solutions that seamlessly connect theory with practice. Through advanced research, we develop industry-leading methods and implementation strategies to enhance systematic learning at all levels and in all environments. For more than five decades, LSI has been committed to driving measurable improvements in the performance of both individuals and organizations.