From the Editorial Board

During our recent reconfiguration of The High School Journal, our editorial board sought to define the issues of greatest concern to those in the field of education; the question of immigration and its relationship to secondary education was one of these. In light of our new mission to challenge the way society attempts to understand and reform secondary education without adequately addressing its interactions with and place in the world, we offer this special issue on Latino/a transnationalism as a way to interrogate assumptions about Latino/a immigration and education.

This special issue is timely and relevant. For educators who live in places like North Carolina, a state which has a very limited immigration history but a recent boom of immigrant students, this issue can provide a starting point for conversations about the education of immigrants. For educators who live in places like New York, with long immigration histories and continued high rates of immigration, this issue can promote discussion about the new contexts of immigration and even challenge our understanding of this complex process.

Regardless of the area in which one lives, all Americans are invested in the next generation. Since immigrant children, particularly Latina/o immigrant children, make up a large percentage of students in American schools, this issue is universally important. Transnational students are uniquely positioned within the globalization phenomenon; their experiences can help us to understand the ways in which we must negotiate the increasingly interconnected and borderless world.

The identity of the transnational student is complicated and nuanced. Many factors, such as country of origin, SES, indigenous language, and ethnic communities influence the experience of transnational students in schools. Education is one of the most important of these factors, but cannot stand alone as the panacea to meet the needs of immigrant students. In order to best serve students, educators must understand the multiple factors which influence immigrant acculturation and education. At the Intersection of Transnationalism, Latino/a Immigrants, and Education is an entrée into the multifaceted discussion of the experience of Latina/o transnational students, a topic of primary importance to secondary education.

The Editorial Board of HSJ would like to thank Guest Editors Margarita Machado-Casas and Patricia Sánchez from the University of Texas at San Antonio for their work in coordinating this issue. We hope this collection promotes discussion, encourages debate, challenges assumptions, and assists educators in the education of Latina/o transnational students.