Abstract
|
The Latino population in Georgia has almost tripled over the last decade, increasing the number of Latinos in the state to half a million. Twelve Georgia counties experienced at least 500% growth in Latinos from 1990 to 2000. Many of the reasons Georgia has become attractive—economic prosperity, labor shortages, developing migration networks—will continue to draw Latino immigrants. The total Latino population in the southern states is expected to reach 22 million by 2025, with Georgia being a growth leader.
With demographic changes come both increased opportunities and challenges for Georgia communities. Many of the changes are felt at the municipal and county levels, and require that government officials, educators and other policymakers respond in new and innovative ways. Those in a position of leadership need new knowledge and tools to be able to respond in an effective manner. They need a better understanding of the cultural, historical and societal foundations that immigrants bring.
In 1996 a former US Congressman, Erwin Mitchell, founded The Georgia Project in response to the rapid growth of Spanish-speaking students in local public schools. The Project sponsors bilingual and bicultural teachers from Mexico who work in schools in Georgia. The Project also sponsors professional development opportunities for local teachers and scholarships for future teachers. Georgia Project teachers assist immigrant children not only with issues of adjustment to the new language and culture, but also with important content material that will help them achieve success.
The Georgia Project brings people together to learn, to live, and to prosper in a culturally diverse Georgia, as evidenced by its mission statement: The Georgia Project is a community-based NGO which seeks to support the academic needs of Latino students, their teachers, and their families through the collaboration with local school districts, the University of Monterrey (Mexico), and with other institutions of higher learning.
The Georgia Project is now more than one decade old; over its life more than 300 teachers, administrators, counselors and paraprofessionals from around Georgia have benefited from its programs, either through professional development workshops or the Summer Institute, an annual, intensive, cross-cultural, linguistic and academic training program held both in Georgia and Mexico. Although short-term impact and effectiveness of the Georgia Project’s programs have been examined through such techniques as surveys of teacher perceptions of effectiveness, no one has studied the long-term impact.
We propose an empirical evaluation of the long-term impact of the Georgia Project. We will trace Latino students whose teachers have been served by the Project to determine if they are better equipped to meet success in the classroom, in their pursuit of higher education and careers, and in society. Important measures will include standardized test scores, graduation rates, university admittance, and nature of employment. These measures can be compared to the larger student body as well as to Latino students whose teachers have not participated in any Georgia Project programs.
Importantly, a “civic engagement” scale measuring such things as leadership, volunteerism, and membership in civic organizations will be used to examine how involved these Latino students are in their respective communities. Such civic participation is important as Georgia becomes increasingly diverse and the state learns to better govern and educate its multiethnic and multicultural society.
|
