High school teachers' perceptions of teaching Civics to immigrant students in a new gateway state

This qualitative study examines Civics teachers' perceptions of working with immigrant students in a new gateway state. By analyzing collective case studies of six teachers in central North Carolina, from different types of schools and with different professional backgrounds, this study is positioned to make recommendations for social studies teacher educators and Civics teachers with respect to teaching Civics to immigrant students in areas with a relatively small but growing number of immigrant students. Employing the additive acculturation model as a theoretical frame, and supported by a civic education framework, this study explores the multiple contexts of teaching Civics to immigrant students in a new gateway state, including teachers' overall perceptions of immigrant students and teachers' perceptions of teaching Civics to immigrant students. The major finding in this study is that six self-selected, reflective practitioners with differing personal and professional backgrounds who have taught in different types of schools all had overall positive perceptions of teaching immigrant students, strove to support immigrant students academically and socially, and encouraged students to maintain their heritage culture despite being obstructed from doing so by a series of contextual factors and professional limitations, each of which was influenced by teaching in a new gateway state. Six sub-findings, which point to both reasons for concern and reasons for optimism for teaching Civics to immigrant students in a new gateway state, support the central argument. From these findings, I suggest a broadening of the additive acculturation framework, and present four approaches to teaching Civics to immigrant students.