An unlikely destination: Meeting the educational needs of immigrant, migrant and refugee children in the suburbs of Chicago, IL

The purpose of this paper is to describe a university-multi-school district partnership that positively affected the lives of P-12 immigrant, migrant and refugee students and their parents through an iterative collaboration of talent and resources among institutions.

This is a case study describing a university-school partnership grant-funded program detailing the processes, products, and implications for policy and practice.

University faculty and public school educators must work through intentional, contextually informed partnerships. It is through these partnerships that scarce resources of time, talent, and funds can be used wisely to build sustainable systems to educate students in K-12 schools and prepare future leaders for this work.

This is a case study limited to the suburban Chicagoland area. Generalities to other communities cannot be directly made.

This study builds on the extant literature of university-school district partnerships and sustainable leadership theory by exploring the processes for creating iterative and individualized structures that benefit both university and public school districts. This study implores universities to re-examine priorities and purpose, especially within schools and colleges of education, in order to remain viable, relevant institutions for positive school improvement.