Mather Elementary School

At this site, you will listen to audio about the Mather School. Sitting on top of Meeting House Hill in Dorchester, it is the oldest publicly-funded elementary school in the U.S. Thirty percent (30%) of the Mather School’s students are Vietnamese American from immigrant family backgrounds—the highest concentration of Vietnamese American students in any Massachusetts school. The school has a critical mass of Vietnamese American teachers and is the site of a longstanding Vietnamese Sheltered English Immersion Program and a recently-designed Vietnamese dual language bilingual immersion program. What is the importance of Vietnamese American educators for Vietnamese American students? How does education help support refugee and newcomer students in Dorchester (and how has that experience changed over time)? How have hate crimes affected Vietnamese American students over time?

Next, visit the school's website: http://www.matherelementary.org

Then, visit the Boston Public Schools District English Learner Advisory Committee Vietnamese community site: https://sites.google.com/bostonpublicschools.org/bps-delac/look-act/vietnamese

Last, read this Boston.com article on the role of UMass Boston's Asian American Studies Program in supports Vietnamese American students and the wider community: https://www.boston.com/news/jobs/2013/12/08/umass-boston-mather-aid-vietnamese-students/