In February 2026, the Center for Child and Family Policy received a transformative gift of $10.5 million from Bukhman Philanthropies to support five new research projects on some of the most pressing issues facing children and families today. The following is the second of a five-part blog series to introduce and share more about each of the newly funded projects.
North Carolina is home to one of the nation’s 10 largest refugee and immigrant populations, welcoming thousands of families with school-age children each year. The disruption of their education is one of the biggest challenges faced by these students, affecting not only their academic development but their mental health and long-term stability.
Providing intentional support for English learners, especially newcomers, is essential to helping them succeed. This is where Jennifer Mann’s Critical In-Depth Reading and Wellbeing (CIDR) project comes into play.
Prior to pursuing her PhD, Mann spent 14 years as an educator, teaching high school English and elementary and adult English as a Second Language (ESL) to refugee and immigrant students. She now serves as a research scientist at Duke University’s Center for Child and Family Policy, where she leads the CIDR project, a five-year, school-based research and professional learning initiative that examines how literacy instruction can support adolescent well-being for students from refugee and immigrant backgrounds.
“My classroom experiences showed me the transformative power of critical literacy, meaningful relationships, and opportunities for students to connect their own stories to broader social and historical issues. This project grew from a desire to better understand how schools can create those kinds of spaces and how educators can move beyond assumptions that limit students' potential.”
Dr. Jennifer Mann
Read on to learn more about the CIDR project and the potential of critical literacy to create more equitable educational experiences for immigrant and refugee students.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q&A with Dr. Mann
How did this research project come about?
How did this research project come about?I really feel like this project started with my everyday life in the classroom and the different approach that I took to teaching ESL compared to my colleagues and the response I received from my students. My students would say the literature they read in my class felt relevant to their lives and that their stories were welcome and treated as equally important to the classroom conversation as the texts themselves. They felt in their other classes they were given remedial work because they were new to the country.
As an English literature teacher for newcomer students, my job was to teach literary analysis while also supporting their English language development. That did not mean lowering expectations or not teaching deep analysis. Instead, it meant figuring out how to do it in a different way.
At the time, I couldn’t have named what I was doing as a critical literacy approach to instruction.
It was years later when I went to get my PhD that I learned about critical literacy as an approach to instruction that invites deep analysis and questioning of texts. "[This approach]…really encourages students to take action in some way and to be present in the space. It emphasizes that literacy is not just this thing you do in the classroom but a practical tool for engaging with the world.”
The high school where Jen taught ESL had the largest refugee population in North Carolina. Her students came from all over – from across the Middle East, parts of Africa, China, South America, and elsewhere.
“It wouldn’t have been unusual to have a class of 25 students with more than 20 different languages spoken,” she said.
Many of her students came from refugee backgrounds and were from ethnic minority groups who were being persecuted or even faced genocide. Many were escaping dangerous countries and came to the United States after spending years in other countries or in refugee camps. Many fled on foot and left everything behind.
With today's political climate and heightened discourse around immigration, how does critical literacy play a role in improving outcomes for immigrant and refugee students who face numerous barriers beyond language and education?
Critical literacy is essential because immigrant and refugee students are often navigating questions of identity, belonging, representation, discrimination, and power. It creates opportunities for students to connect their lived experiences to literature, history, media, and current events while developing the tools to analyze and challenge inequitable systems.
At a time when immigration is highly politicized, critical literacy also serves as a form of empowerment. It allows students to recognize that their experiences and perspectives matter and that they can actively participate in conversations that affect their lives and communities.
“It gives them a tool to be able to have an entry point into the conversation that’s happening about them and should be happening with them.”
Most importantly, critical literacy helps educators see students differently. It serves as a reminder that language proficiency should never be confused with intelligence, knowledge, or potential. Critical literacy challenges those assumptions and encourages schools to recognize the strengths and assets immigrant and refugee students bring into classrooms every day.
What is the most important goal of this research project?
“Providing more equitable education…because most other students in the school are being offered the opportunity to engage deeply or critically with text. But our English learners are being offered something less than.”
Specifically, I want to identify how critical literacy practices can help students develop a stronger sense of belonging, agency, and voice while also supporting their academic growth. Too often, immigrant and refugee students are discussed in terms of achievement gaps, language deficits, or barriers. This project instead asks what becomes possible when we recognize and build upon students' strengths, experiences, and knowledge.
Ultimately, the goal is to help create educational environments where immigrant and refugee students are not merely included but are genuinely valued as contributors to the classroom and broader community.
What are some anticipated policy implications of this research?
One of the most significant policy implications is the need to move beyond narrow approaches that focus exclusively on language acquisition. Language support is essential, but it's not enough.
This research suggests that educational success is also shaped by students' sense of belonging, their relationships with teachers, the representation of their experiences in curriculum, and opportunities to engage critically with issues that affect their lives. As a result, the findings could inform teacher preparation programs, professional development initiatives, curriculum design, and policies related to multilingual learners.
I also hope the research contributes to conversations about how schools define student success. If policymakers recognize immigrant and refugee students as individuals with valuable knowledge, cultural resources, and lived expertise, rather than simply as students who need remediation, we can begin creating more equitable and humanizing educational systems.
Why is this work especially important right now?
This work is especially important because immigrant and refugee communities are increasingly at the center of public debate, yet their voices are often absent from those conversations. Schools are one of the few places where young people can critically examine the messages they receive about themselves and their communities and have opportunities to share their ideas, concerns, and experiences.
In many ways, this project represents the intersection of my life's work and my life's purpose. For nearly two decades, I have worked alongside immigrant and refugee students whose experiences challenged me to rethink what education can and should be. I pursued doctoral studies because I wanted to move beyond witnessing these issues and contribute to solutions. To now be leading research that helps teachers to center the voices, strengths, and experiences of these students feels deeply meaningful. It is both professionally rewarding and personally humbling, and I hope the impact of this work extends far beyond my own career.
Meet the CIDR Project Team
From left to right: Jenneca Graber-Grace, Caitlin Donovan, Hazel Vega Quesada, Ph.D. (Co-Investigator), Alison Turner, Sheri Petrequin, and Jennifer Mann, Ph.D. (Principal Investigator).
Learn More
Visit the CIDR project website for more information and latest updates.
