LSI Team Surpasses 80 Interviews with Tallahassee Refugee Families Exploring Educational Experiences
Tallahassee, Fla. – Dr. Celia Reddick, Dr. Adrienne Barnes-Story and Dr. Brenda Wawire are leading the "Strengthening school experiences for refugee young people, families and their teachers in Tallahassee" project. The project is funded by the Learning Systems Institute (LSI) at Florida State University. It facilitates the first systematic study of the educational experiences of refugee students, their families and teachers in Tallahassee.
Now in its 10th month, the LSI team has conducted more than 80 interviews with refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Syria, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Afghanistan who are now living in Leon County. Data processing and analysis have begun and complete transcriptions and translations for interviews, across languages, will be completed. 
“This has been a wonderful project to develop with my colleagues and with refugee families throughout the city,” said Dr. Reddick. “Young people and their families have a great deal to share about what is working well in schools and what can be strengthened, and I believe all of us working to support education will benefit from their insights.”
Before the end of the year, the team will hold an arts-based intervention for young people from refugee families, consisting of two sessions during which participants will represent their experiences in the city through art. The hope is to publicly exhibit the art to build engagement and awareness of the experiences of refugee young people in the city, and to foster long-term relationships and community.
The team will also develop a qualitative codebook, conduct qualitative and thematic coding, engage in iterative writing and discussion as a team and onboard six research assistants who will support data analysis.
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.