A Toolkit for School Communities to Work With Afghan Refugee Families - Take Action
While it’s important to increase knowledge among school staff about the strengths and circumstances of Afghan refugee students and their families, it is critical to take the next step to applying that information. This section provides strategies, tools, and resources for using culturally responsive family engagement and trauma-informed approaches in work with Afghan refugee families.
Plan-Do-Study-Act Framework
The examples and tools in this section offer a range of strategies to support school staff who work with Afghan refugee students and families; however, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Ultimately, each school community will need to determine the strategies that seem most aligned with the assets and needs of students and families in their schools. One way to do this is to apply the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework, a model used to improve a process or carry out change.
Check out this website from the Minnesota Department of Health for more information on applying the PDSA framework and to access several useful worksheets to carry out each step. Through this framework, school communities should ask themselves three key questions to guide their efforts:
- What are we trying to accomplish?
- How will we know that a change is an improvement?
- What changes can we make that will result in an improvement?
The figure below also shows a visual depiction of the PDSA framework.
Figure: Plan-Do-Study-Act Framework
Figure depicts a visual representation of the PDSA framework, cycling through the Plan, Do, Study, Act phases. The image also offers steps to consider at each phase of the framework.
Image is adapted from: Center for Public Health Practice, (2022). PDSA: Plan-do-study-act. Minnesota Department of Health
Examples of strategies to support Afghan refugee students and their families
Below is a list of strategies to consider when engaging and connecting with Afghan refugee families. These strategies were suggested by Pennsylvania educators who attended a workshop series on meeting the needs of Afghan refugee students and their families.
- Host a professional development event for school staff. Topics should be identified in collaboration with Afghan refugee students, families, and community partners.
- Reach out to local resettlement agencies to build strong connections and coordinate efforts to support Afghan refugee students and families.
- Identify and build connections with local community resources (e.g., libraries, ESL courses, translation services) that can support Afghan refugee students and their families.
- Increase access to school supports (e.g., interpreters, family liaisons, orientation materials, school websites, and classroom applications such as Class Dojo) in languages that are preferred by Afghan refugee students and their families.
- Host a diversity day where students and families share about their cultural traditions to increase respect and understanding among the school community.
- Develop a plan to implement trauma-informed approaches schoolwide.
- Host parent cafes throughout the year to help parents connect with one another, in addition to culturally relevant resources in the community.
- Train school staff on the use of community circles to foster trust and build connections.
- Host sessions for Afghan refugee families and other immigrant families to orient them to school policies and introduce them to staff at the school such as administrators and health staff.
- Incorporate trauma-informed approaches into school emergency drills, which can be particularly alarming for refugee students and others who have experienced violence.
- Ensure that Afghan refugee students and their families have access to leadership opportunities (e.g., Parent-Teacher Association or school board) at school.
- Conduct professional development sessions that allow staff to identify and disrupt implicit and explicit bias, racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia.
12 tools you can use
The following 12 resources include practical tools and strategies for increasing schools’ or school districts’ capacity to support Afghan refugee students and their families. Some resources focus specifically on the needs of Afghan refugee students and their families, others focus on a broader group of immigrant students, and others include information on universally applicable strategies to engage with families and implement trauma-informed approaches. For the lengthier resources on this list, we highlight the chapters that may be the most relevant.
1. Supporting Afghan Students in Schools & Youth Programs in the United States
Designed to help school staff develop a well-rounded understanding of the circumstances of newly arrived Afghan students and their families, including the challenges they may face as they seek to adapt to the U.S. education system; better understand the Afghan educational systems and possible educational experiences of students; name core considerations for working with Afghan students and their families; adopt skills and strategies that may be helpful in working with Afghan students and families; and access information and resources to support their work. Check out the Considerations for Working with Afghan Students and Families and Approaches to Welcome and Support Afghan Students chapters to support family engagement and trauma-informed work.
2. How Schools Can Partner with Afghan Refugee Families
Includes recommendations for schools to effectively partner with families arriving from Afghanistan and shares lessons learned from schools already partnering with this community.
Provides strategies to support Afghan students’ social and emotional needs in their new learning environments.
4. Refugee and Immigrant Core Stressors Toolkit
Provides information about four core stressors that refugees commonly face, and guides users through an assessment of a particular youth or family’s needs. Also includes tailored recommendations for resources and interventions, based on the assessment.
5. Involving Refugee Parents in Their Children’s Education
Addresses barriers that refugee families may experience when trying to engage in their children’s education, such as cultural misunderstandings and language barriers, and outlines strategies to overcome these barriers and effectively engage families.
6. Best Practices for Working with Refugee and Immigrant Youth for School Professionals
Five-part series that shares best practices to increase school professionals’ capacity to support refugee and immigrant youth and families.
Designed to help elementary and secondary teachers, principals, and other staff who work directly with immigrant students—including asylees and refugees—and their families. Check out Chapter 3: Supporting Newcomers’ Social, Emotional, and Mental Health Needs and Chapter 5: Establishing Partnerships with Families to support family engagement and trauma-informed work.
Designed to help school staff identify and use research-based practices, policies, and procedures for welcoming, registering, and supporting newcomer immigrant and refugee students who are attending secondary schools (grades 6-12). Check out two chapters in particular—Welcome and engage newcomer immigrant and refugee students and families and Support the social, emotional, and postsecondary needs of newcomer immigrant and refugee students—for the most relevant information for using family engagement and trauma-informed approaches to support work.
9. Trauma-Sensitive Schools Training Package
Offers school and district administrators and staff a framework and roadmap for adopting a trauma-sensitive approach either school- or district-wide. Includes a variety of resources for educating school staff about trauma and trauma-sensitive practices and for providing school leaders with a step-by-step process for implementing a universal, trauma-informed approach.
10. The Pennsylvania Family Engagement Birth through College, Career, Community Ready Framework
Designed to guide the implementation of effective practices, use of shared language, and a family engagement continuum for families across their child’s educational lifespan. In the Learning Community Standards and Supportive Practices chapter, readers will find various examples of family engagement practices they can incorporate in their work with families.
Provides capacity-building and technical assistance to schools in Pennsylvania to help them best support refugee students.
12. Welcoming and Enrolling Afghan Students
Hosts a collection of resources such as guides, toolkits, and webinars about welcoming and enrolling Afghan refugee students for educators, service providers, and other stakeholders who are engaging with Afghan students and families.
Resources for families
These resources can be shared with Afghan families in schools to increase their awareness about available supports:
U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement
The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement seeks to help new arrivals into the United States seek appropriate health care and services and ensure their health, well-being, and stability. The linked page provides specific behavioral health and legal resources and information applicable to Afghan refugees, most of which are available in Dari and Pashto. Contact information is also available for local programs and services in the State of Pennsylvania.
Settle In is a digital platform designed to provide videos, podcasts, and other resources on different topics about life in the United States. It provides content via a website and app, and on Facebook. All resources are available in Dari and Pashto.
Afghan Resource Center offers practical information and resources for Afghans who have newly arrived to the United States. The Center also hosts the “FindHello” app, which allows individuals to connect to local services in cities across the country. The Resource Center is available in Dari and Pashto.
Bridging Refugee Youth & Children’s Services (BRYCS)
BRYCS has created an online portal to help refugees find services, connect to smartphone apps, and share testimonies. The built-in website translator includes Pashto, but not Dari.
To share these resources with families, Child Trends has designed a customizable flier that school staff can fill out to help connect Afghan refugee families to resources and supports. The flier has been translated into Dari and Pashto. Instructions on how to use the flier can be found in the English version.
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