Accessing Quality Education

A fascinating and detailed on-the-ground look at how refugee families have accessed education in the DMV and how dramatic improvements could be made. This painstaking local study has national significance. -- Jamie B. Raskin, (Democrat), U.S. Representative, Maryland
An important and illuminating book that draws on detailed research to understand the experience of education for displaced people. Based on a fascinating range of in-depth interviews, it contains very important lessons for policymakers – in particular by promoting refugee inclusion and calling for greater attention to their perceptions and experience. -- Tom Scott-Smith, Director, Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford
This book provides a valuable insight in the challenges and opportunities of access, inclusion, as well as practical applications of service provision for refugees in the DMV area. This focus on a specific region in the United States creates the foundation for understanding the experiences of refugees in a local education context, and offers relevant conclusions and recommendations beyond the DMV area and the United States. -- Hans de Wit, Boston College
Bernhard Streitwieser, Katharine Summers, and Jessica Crist provide a necessary overview to U.S. refugee policy, the quest for educational access for resettled refugees, and local resettlement in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) region of the United States. Their work provides a useful resource for understanding the critical issue of educational access and local resettlement at a time when many communities across the nation and around the world are reflecting on important questions of how to best ensure successful integration of refugees into local communities. -- Kyle Farmbry, President, Guilford College
Accessing Quality Education: Global and Local Perspectives from Refugees navigates the complexities of refugee education, offering invaluable insights for educators, scholars, and policymakers. It dissects the educational landscape for refugees, starting with a historical analysis of U.S. refugee policy, moving through the systemic barriers to education, and culminating in practical strategies for inclusion and application. -- Chris R. Glass, Boston College
By leveraging the collective expertise of the REAL team, this book offers an innovative and important example of how established and new researchers working as a team can come together to create, share, and leverage from their combined efforts. This surely is a game changer for how academic publication and impact happens. -- Sally Baker, Australian National University
Drawing from an ambitious student-faculty collaborative study from the Refugee Educational Advancement Laboratory, this book offers not only a much-needed glimpse into the lived experience of displacement in the context of education, but also actionable steps for a range of actors to take in response. The case study approach allows a detailed picture to emerge with applicability far beyond the DC, Maryland, and Virginia metro area. An accessible, important work with wide appeal. -- Lisa Ruth Brunner, University of British Columbia Centre for Migration Studies
Economic and political crises throughout the world have caused millions of people to seek refuge and better futures in other nations. Accessing Quality Education by Bernhard Streitwieser, Katharine Summers, and Jessica Crist is a thoughtful international understanding of many of the important limits and possibilities of higher education policies and practices for many of these people. The meticulous book is highly recommended for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners aiming at gaining a profound understanding of widening refugees' access and success in higher education globally. -- Khalid Arar, Texas State University
This book addresses an important and pressing issue: the integration of refugees in the United States, the Washington DC area in particular. It is based on interviews with refugees and includes the work of students who interviewed them and write about the ethical and practical implications of the challenges and barriers to education that refugees face in their new home. -- Ernesto Castañeda, Director, Immigration Lab, American University