Faculty Research Overview

>> Rong, Xue Lan

Overview

Inspired to make a real difference in children’s lives and the society in which they live, Xue Lan Rong uses interdisciplinary research to explore three aspects of educational equality: the education of immigrant children of various ethnic groups; the education of Asian-American children; and education in China – especially the education of migrant children in China’s urbanization movement.

In past quantitative studies, Rong used large national datasets including U.S. Census data to research the interplay of micro-level factors – race, ethnicity, nationality, gender and age of arrival in the United States – with macro-level factors such as socioeconomic conditions, sociocultural and historic traditions, laws and policies, characteristics of the communities in which immigrants settle and the stratified local social/political system to determine how they affect the education of children with immigrant backgrounds. Findings from her cross-group comparisons revealed different acculturation patterns and complex schooling behaviors as well as variable educational outcomes.

Rong’s major contributions to her field include elaborations on theories that conceptualize the relationship between variable educational achievement patterns and the multiple stages of children’s socialization into American society. Her more recent studies, framed with transnational/transcultural migration theories and applying quantitative and qualitative methodologies, attempt to link the updated theories and research findings to educational policies and practices. This research seeks to provide recommendations for schools, immigrant families and their communities so they can help immigrant children adjust to school and society. On the basis of this research and additional scholarship into the education and social well-being of Chinese children and women, Rong is expanding her research to the transition of rural-urban migrant children in China’s urbanization process, the initial responses from China’s educational systems and its short-and long-term consequences.

Selected Projects

Education and Migrant Children in China

Project Director: Xue Lan Rong, Associate Professor of Social Studies Education

This project focuses on urbanization in China and specifically on the education and socialization of migrant children and women who are moving from rural to urban settings.

In 2005, Professor Rong organized a research team with seven faculty members from Beijing University. Together they identified six major themes and outlined several important areas of collaborative research.

Implications for educational policy and practice will be studied, with the goal of helping immigrant children adjust to American schools and society.

Professor Rong will travel to China in the fall of 2007 to begin data collection.

Learning and Teaching in China

Project Director: Xue Lan Rong, Associate Professor of Social Studies Education

This study abroad program has been organized by Professor Rong in collaboration with the UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Global Initiatives (formerly the University Center for International Studies) and the Graduate School of Education at Beijing University and its affiliated high school.

In this six-week program, pre-service middle grades and secondary teachers from the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education go to China where they learn how to teach about China and gain experience teaching English, U.S. history and literature to Chinese students.

The experience provides the American students with an opportunity to learn about the Chinese educational system, school operation and students. It also deepens their understanding about Americans in a global context.

Funding is currently being sought for this project.