In recent years, the social and political persecution of the Maya population throughout Central America has led to an influx of Maya women and children migrating to the United States. The increased population of immigrant children presents new challenges for the United States, especially in public education. Maya people are rarely distinguished from the Latinx population, subsequently causing their linguistic and cultural needs to go unmet and unacknowledged. This project focuses on the education of Guatemalan-Maya students in a North Georgia public school system, framed through interviews with educators. The educators selected for this study worked almost exclusively with elementary, middle, and high-school age Guatemalan-Maya students. The perspectives of the teachers are presented in combination with the historical, social, and economic positionality of immigration in the New South. The purpose of this project is to understand how the public school system shapes the attitudes and perceptions of public educators towards the education of their students, and how this system ultimately effects identity, acculturation, and academic achievement.
","abstract_html":"<p>In recent years, the social and political persecution of the Maya population throughout Central America has led to an influx of Maya women and children migrating to the United States. The increased population of immigrant children presents new challenges for the United States, especially in public education. Maya people are rarely distinguished from the Latinx population, subsequently causing their linguistic and cultural needs to go unmet and unacknowledged. This project focuses on the education of Guatemalan-Maya students in a North Georgia public school system, framed through interviews with educators. The educators selected for this study worked almost exclusively with elementary, middle, and high-school age Guatemalan-Maya students. The perspectives of the teachers are presented in combination with the historical, social, and economic positionality of immigration in the New South. The purpose of this project is to understand how the public school system shapes the attitudes and perceptions of public educators towards the education of their students, and how this system ultimately effects identity, acculturation, and academic achievement. </p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Tussey, Anna"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in American Studies (MAST)","degree_level":"Capstone","degree_discipline":"Interdisciplinary Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Rebecca Hill","Dr. Alan LeBaron","Dr. Amanda Richey"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2017-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:43:17Z","subjects":["New South","indigenous","multilingual","literacy","American Studies","Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Indigenous Education","Language and Literacy Education","Teacher Education and Professional Development"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mast_etd/19","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Rebecca Hill","Dr. Alan LeBaron","Dr. Amanda Richey"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Tussey, Anna"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2017-07-06T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Interdisciplinary Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Capstone"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in American Studies (MAST)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["New South","indigenous","multilingual","literacy","American Studies","Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Indigenous Education","Language and Literacy Education","Teacher Education and Professional Development"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mast_etd/19"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In recent years, the social and political persecution of the Maya population throughout Central America has led to an influx of Maya women and children migrating to the United States. The increased population of immigrant children presents new challenges for the United States, especially in public education. Maya people are rarely distinguished from the Latinx population, subsequently causing their linguistic and cultural needs to go unmet and unacknowledged. This project focuses on the education of Guatemalan-Maya students in a North Georgia public school system, framed through interviews with educators. The educators selected for this study worked almost exclusively with elementary, middle, and high-school age Guatemalan-Maya students. The perspectives of the teachers are presented in combination with the historical, social, and economic positionality of immigration in the New South. The purpose of this project is to understand how the public school system shapes the attitudes and perceptions of public educators towards the education of their students, and how this system ultimately effects identity, acculturation, and academic achievement.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["\"We Run a Different School Within a School\": Educator Perceptions of Guatemala-Maya Students in a North Georgia Public School System"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Rebecca Hill","Dr. Alan LeBaron","Dr. Amanda Richey"],"dc:creator":["Tussey, Anna"],"dc:date.available":["2017-07-06T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["In recent years, the social and political persecution of the Maya population throughout Central America has led to an influx of Maya women and children migrating to the United States. The increased population of immigrant children presents new challenges for the United States, especially in public education. Maya people are rarely distinguished from the Latinx population, subsequently causing their linguistic and cultural needs to go unmet and unacknowledged. This project focuses on the education of Guatemalan-Maya students in a North Georgia public school system, framed through interviews with educators. The educators selected for this study worked almost exclusively with elementary, middle, and high-school age Guatemalan-Maya students. The perspectives of the teachers are presented in combination with the historical, social, and economic positionality of immigration in the New South. The purpose of this project is to understand how the public school system shapes the attitudes and perceptions of public educators towards the education of their students, and how this system ultimately effects identity, acculturation, and academic achievement.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/mast_etd/19"],"dc:subject":["New South","indigenous","multilingual","literacy","American Studies","Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Indigenous Education","Language and Literacy Education","Teacher Education and Professional Development"],"dc:title":["\"We Run a Different School Within a School\": Educator Perceptions of Guatemala-Maya Students in a North Georgia Public School System"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Interdisciplinary Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["Capstone"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in American Studies (MAST)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:43:17Z"}