SALaM(A): the Transition of Research into Practical Application With a Real-World Impact

Today, we recognize that the application of the study’s findings is critical: SALaMA has the capacity to contribute to the well-being of various sensitive groups who are settling in new environments, whether by choice or circumstance.

The SALaM(A) project was born out of practical necessity as a response to the cultural obstacles faced by adolescent Arabic-speaking students from public schools. Recognizing the importance of addressing these inquiries, we initially partnered with Dr. Lindsay Stark and Dr. Michael Wessells to structure the study, which became one of the flagship research projects of QFI.

What is SALaM(A)?

The Study of Adolescent Lives after Migration to America (SALaMA) is a mixed-methods study conducted by Washington University in St. Louis, in partnership with several school districts and local refugee resettlement agencies in the United States and in Ireland.

The study was first conducted in Harrisonburg, Virginia, followed by Austin, Texas, and the Detroit Metropolitan Area, Michigan. Later, the study extended to include students in Chicago, Illinois, eventually reaching beyond the borders of the United States and becoming SALaM in Ireland, a study managed by Maynooth University.

What comes after SALaMA?

Over 5 years, SALaMA has unearthed a variety of key recommendations to help schools navigate the integration of newcomer Arabic-speaking students into their communities. The application of these findings is now the necessary next step.

Drawing on the importance of school belonging, and seeing how these students remain resilient and hopeful despite the circumstances, schools can use the findings of the study for decision-making in hiring, curriculum design, community building, and other activities that can increase the strength of the community spirit. As the school becomes a social anchor for the student, it also becomes an indirect vessel of integration for the rest of the family.

In continuation, we will review some of the most prominent learnings, activities, and resources of the SALaMA study.

Revisiting the Landscape of SALaM(A) Resources

• The main website of the study, with resources to all related content can be found here.
• EMPOWER, the PhotoVoice program within SALaMA gallery from Chicago and Detroit and the PhotoVoice Facilitation Guide
• Forward with Peers Facilitation Guide
• Humans of SALaMA, Instagram gallery from 2023 showcasing works of participants in the EMPOWER PhotoVoice program
• Find all episodes of SALaMA Webinar Series here.
• All published SALaMA-related publications can be found here.

Topics Covered: SALaMA Webinar Series, 2023

Webinar Series were developed with Washington University in St. Louis with the aim of disseminating the research findings while engaging with educators, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers on a variety of topics related to the well-being of newcomer adolescents from the Middle East and North African region. The series welcomed approximately 20 professionals: panelists, educators, researchers, mental health professionals, and experts across various fields.

4-episode series covers:

1. Strategies to Support Multilingual Learning in U.S. Schools: webinar here
2. Impactful Interventions to Support Newcomer Adolescents: webinar here
3. Supporting Newcomer Student Mental Health and Psychosocial Wellbeing: webinar here
4. Supporting Arabic-speaking Students in the Greater St. Louis Region: webinar here

- Jeremy Aldrich, Director of Enrichment Programs at Harrisonburg City Schools

Transformative Insights: Actionable Results from SALaMA Research

Here are some practical recommendations from SALaMA findings:

• Create newcomer peer mentor groups.
• Promote social diversity among students.
• Offer Arabic language classes that will improve the sense of self and help students learn English better.
• Enable exclusive English language study during the first year, and as much as needed, to enable learning IN English.
• Proactively support newcomers and their families with host-country-specific information.
• Diversify teaching approaches and styles to find the best practices.
• Provide more training for teachers and staff about the newcomer students.

Do you want to learn from SALaMA?

Check out these key themes based on qualitative findings and insights from the focus group discussions.

Qualitative Findings of SALaMA: Based on Lived Experiences

Across different locations of the SALaMA study, new and recurring qualitative findings emerged. Access to these key insights can help schools and teachers create better environments for more students. This is why we share them here for your convenience!

• Adjustment Challenges: Difficulty to learn English undermines the career opportunities for family members, and limits engagement with public services.
• Family Stressors and Strategies: Parents try to help children’s adjustment to life in the U.S. while struggling to maintain their connection with native cultural and religious heritage.
• Parent/Caregiver Involvement: Both parents/caregivers and school staff encountered challenges in involving each other in their student's academic careers.
• School and Community Supports: Schools and communities took numerous measures to support youth and their families, making efforts to help both students and families adjust to a new school system.
• Peer Support: Students took great comfort in one another's friendship and support, seeing connections with peer mentors as vital to acclimation.
• English Language Fluency: Difficulty in learning English undermines educational opportunities of students, and their ability to develop relationships with their locally-born peers.
• Acculturation Stressors & Strategies: Schools used a variety of strategies to ease newcomer families’ adjustment to life in the U.S. while simultaneously incorporating their cultural practices to create bi-directional integration.
• Support from Arab Ethnic Enclave: In the Detroit Metropolitan Area, some aspects of newcomer families’ adjustments have been easier as this is home to one of the largest Arab-American populations in the U.S.
• Teacher Support: Students expressed the importance of having teachers who demonstrate patience, compassion, and encouragement, seeing it as vital to their educational, social, and emotional well-being.
• Newcomer Experiences & Challenges: Wide range of challenges include balancing multiple responsibilities inside and outside of school, acculturation and identity formation, peer support, and cultivating a sense of belonging.
• Barriers for Chicago Public Schools (CPS): The barriers that teachers, schools, and the district face in positively impacting the lives and education of newcomer students include the impacts of unpredictable funding, the need for increased language support within schools, the importance of adult social and emotional learning, cultural disconnects between staff and students, and the impact of COVID-19 on newcomer students.
• CPS Strategies and Opportunities for Success: Key informants shared many steps that teachers, schools, and the district are taking to meet the needs of newcomer students and provide high quality education, including the effort educators put into their jobs and curriculum, and many programs that exist at school and district levels.

Moving to Europe:

Findings from SALaM Ireland led to LEARNS in Ireland

Maynooth University joined the SALaMA team to implement SALAM in Ireland. Interest in the study arose after an influx of new students - specifically of Syrian origin - into the public schools in Ireland.

The SALaM Ireland study is led by Professor Sinead McGilloway (MU) with senior co-investigators, Dr. Rita Sakr (MU Department of English) and Dr. Anthony Malone (MU Department of Education).

Similar Findings in Ireland and the US

Language comprehension poses a significant obstacle that undermines the learning potential in the classroom while simultaneously delaying integration into new communities for these students. Eventually, this can have a negative impact on their overall psychological well-being.

SALAM findings lead to LEARNS

Following a visit in April of 2023 to the largest of the SALaM Ireland participating schools, St Oliver’s Community College in Drogheda, QFI set about designing and implementing an innovative and collaborative summer language enrichment programme as a first step in helping to address language difficulties. This is how the Language Enrichment for ARabic-speaking adolesceNts in Schools or LEARNS was created.

The pilot LEARNS project in Ireland was delivered in the summer of 2023. It included English instruction in the morning and Arabic instruction in the afternoon for two weeks.

All students were able to connect with their heritage and take pride in being Arabs in Ireland. The years out of school had truly impacted the students' basic school readiness, and this was a great area of growth for them. This program also instilled hope for the future in all the students – something they all needed.