This study examines how intercultural approaches to teaching and learning affect campus efforts for student achievement and school improvement. The focus of this study was three secondary schools in northern Italy, each of which has a diverse student and staff population. Multicultural approaches to education encourage the acceptance and integration of all backgrounds. Some change efforts develop only from input and the perspective of the predominant cultural group, which maintains influence over the institution.  Moskal and North (2017) observed that school leaders who promote an intercultural approach encourage the participation of students from all backgrounds, as these forms of inclusive leadership more effectively integrate newcomers. Fazel et al. (2015), in a similar line of reasoning to Yosso’s (2005) concept of collective cultural wealth and Triandafyllidou’s (2009) concept of transnational capital, affirmed that each individual possesses cultural wealth, and newly arrived as well as marginalized students benefit most when school programs integrate cultural elements from their lives into the context of learning and intercultural exchanges. 

Initiatives to implement culturally responsive practices are closely related to trends in school improvement, which includes more than increased performance on high stakes, standardized testing and assessment measures (Tyack & Cuban, 1995). Schools that benefit students, teachers, and all stakeholders focus on instructional improvement and increased educational opportunities (Messiou et al., 2016; Tyack & Cuban, 1995).  School leaders positively impact academic growth and discovery at a campus when they collaborate with stakeholders to support participation and engaged learning. Transformative change in education occurs with intentional planning and vision by school leaders in conjunction with campus stakeholders, including parents, staff, students, and community members (Fullan, 2016; Ross-Gordon et al., 2015). Through an intercultural approach, students of diverse and varied backgrounds integrate into the school community while maintaining their cultural identities and developing aspects of the campus’s community cultural wealth.

The following research question guided this project: What are the most effective practices that school and community leaders employ to promote an intercultural approach to education that encourages dialogue and mutual respect among all stakeholders? The use of intercultural practices, such as providing language access for students and family members, campus-wide polices promoting the inclusion of every student’s cultural background, and engaging student learning in the local community, reduced aspects of prejudice within the campus population. However, campus climate greatly affects student participation in the school community: one student’s sense of belonging (i.e., involvement in the school culture, feeling supported, developing quality relationships with other students and staff) differs greatly from another’s, especially in the context of academic performance and race or ethnicity (Voight, Hanson, O’Malley, & Adekanye, 2015).  When school leaders incorporate policies and practices respecting diversity and intercultural exchange, schools to become sites of engaged learning (Moskal & North, 2017). 

The connection between teachers and students represents a concept that highlights community building in schools. In fact, teachers that promote diversity integrate different opinions and points-of-view to build equitable classroom communities (Messiou et al., 2016). When students learn in classrooms that value diversity and multiple viewpoints, educators challenge the intransigent nature of schools and support intercultural exchanges (i.e., reciprocal interactions that value all social and cultural backgrounds) (Hajisoteriou & Angelides, 2014; Hayward & U-Mackey, 2013). From an intercultural perspective, school leaders and stakeholders develop inclusive practices when they actualize policies and programs that are both culturally relevant and responsive to all members of the school community.  However, multicultural approaches have received increased scrutiny because of tendencies to align these strategies with a broad-based social identity representing an amalgamation of diverse cultures into a particular regional or national cultural conglomerate (Long, 2015; Tanaka, 2007; Taylor, 2012).  

Methodology for the Research Project This research study used a multi-sited ethnography to examine the experience of school and community leaders in three schools in northern Italy. Over ten (10) months, I carried out research at schools in the region of Veneto. I noticed an increase in the collaboration between leaders and school staff to support newly enrolled students. As part of the multi-sited study, I conducted research at schools located in different areas of the region. The experience in Veneto was significant for my study because I witnessed a dramatic increase in student enrollment during observations and interviews at these sites. The study design for this research employed a methodology that analyzes a subject existing in different locales through a relational analysis of observations and data collection (Marcus, 1995). The multi-sited ethnography examines the conflation of apparent systems within the complex sociocultural environment; Marcus (1995) referred to this environment as the lifeworld, representing contiguous social and cultural realities. A defining principle of this approach involves the repositioning of that which is researched, since the subject itself exists in diverse contexts and dynamics (Marcus, 1995; Pierides, 2010). I chose this approach to show how leaders devise programs to promote the integration of newly arrived students, who face much different acculturation patterns than those encountered by newcomers of similar backgrounds (Lazarevic, Wiley, & Pleck, 2012). I collected data through archival research, observations, and interviews with educators and community leaders working with refugee students. I also used descriptive statistics to analyze school survey data, enrollment, and attendance for orientation programs. Since I participated in the ethnography, my own perspective influenced the process of conducting research and interpreting meaning in aspects of this study (Vagle, 2009). The feedback of participants provided ways to formulate constructive responses to support a dynamic school community (Brown & Stega, 2005). Through the research, I followed trends that arose as the subject of the study emerged across diverse sites and settings. This study examined how school leadership supports community building and student integration, and the findings offer insight for similar intercultural initiatives across Europe and other parts of the world.

Key Finding: The Role of Language Access in Student Involvement For many of the research partners, language access represented a key component to both family and student participation in campus activities. The access to language in a school environment remains a key component to community building for both students and families. When school leaders provide different language resources, they increase the opportunities for participation and engagement by both students and family members. The findings demonstrate that teachers positively support student integration through sustained application of intercultural practices through supporting language access. When schools incorporate more opportunities for language access for the community, the campus leadership employs practices with a more intercultural approach. As language access increases, more students, parents, and family members attend school functions and have the opportunity to exchange aspects of cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) and forms of shared ecologies of knowledge (Guajardo et al., 2016). In this way, the findings from this study demonstrate that language access allows more participation and involvement in the school community. For students, this new location becomes a place of transition, possibly a difficult transition. In fact, teachers recounted the difficulty of becoming part of the new community, especially for adolescents and adults. Through dialogue, shared memories, and interactions, teachers at the sites discussed ways to encourage students to find a commonality in the process of building classroom communities. The results of this project provided insights into the development of a diverse campus culture. This research explored the way in which satisfaction with and participation in campus and community support programs predict integration into the school community. As this study investigated how school leaders establish partnerships with community organizations to develop, implement, and monitor initiatives, the results of this research have implications in both school leadership and community development.

Alba, R. & Holdaway, J. (2013). The integration imperative: Introduction. In R. Alba and J. Holdaway (Eds.), The children of Immigrants at school: A comparative look at integration in the United States and Western Europe (pp. 1-38). New York: New York University Press. Bal, A., & Arzubiaga, A. E. (2014). Ahıska Refugee Families’ Configuration of Resettlement and Academic Success in U.S. Schools. Urban Education, 49(6), 635–665. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085913481363 Bourdieu, P. & Passeron, J. (1990). Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture. London, UK: Sage Publications. Brown, L. & S. Strega, S. (2005). Research as resistance: Critical, indigenous, and anti-oppressive approaches. Toronto, ON: Canadian Scholars’ Press/Women’s Press. Esses, V. M., Hamilton, L. K., & Gaucher, D. (2017). The Global Refugee Crisis: Empirical Evidence and Policy Implications for Improving Public Attitudes and Facilitating Refugee Resettlement. Social Issues & Policy Review, 11(1), 78–123. Lazarevic, V., Wiley, A., & Pleck, J. H. (2012). Associations of Acculturation with Family and Individual Well-being in Serbian Refugee Young Adults in the United States. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 43(2), 217–236. Marcus, G. (1995). Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24(1), 95-117. McBrien, J. (2005). Educational Needs and Barriers for Refugee Students in the United States: A Review of the Literature. Review of Educational Research, 75(3), 329–364. Moskal, M., & North, A. (2017). Equity in Education for/with Refugees and Migrants—Toward a Solidarity Promoting Interculturalism. European Education, 49(2/3), 105. https://doi.org/10.1080/10564934.2017.1343088 Pierides, D. (2010). Multi-sited ethnography and the field of educational research. Critical Studies in Education, 51(2), 179–195. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508481003731059 Pinson, H. & Arnot, M. (2007). Sociology of education and the wasteland of refugee education research. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 28(3), 399-407. Taylor, S., & Sidhu, R. K. (2012). Supporting refugee students in schools: what constitutes inclusive education? International Journal of Inclusive Education, 16(1), 39–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603110903560085 Tyrer, R. A., & Fazel, M. (2014). School and community-based interventions for refugee and asylum seeking children: A systematic review. PLoS One, 9(2), e89359. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0089359 Valenzuela, A. (1999). Subtractive schooling: U.S.-Mexican you and the politics of caring. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Varenne, H., & McDermott, R. (1999). Successful failure: The school America builds. Oxford, UK: Westview Press. Yosso, T. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69-91, DOI: 10.1080/1361332052000341006