Refugee Students and Parents as Drivers of Change in San Diego Schools: The PSRO’s Story

This article presents a case study of the Parent Student Resident Organization (PSRO), a diverse coalition of refugee students and parents in San Diego's City Heights neighborhood, and its role in advancing educational equity in San Diego Unified School District. In analyzing how the PSRO's intergenerational, feminist and cultural humility inspired organizing model empowered diverse refugee families to leverage California's Local Control Funding Formula to demand change, it retheorizes refugee students and parents as knowledgeable and competent educational advocates and suggests promising practices for teachers, school leaders, and community organizers committed to supporting refugee students and improving urban schools.