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In this study, we employ a curricular conceptual lens of the particular to explore the experience of multicultural education from the perspective of an immigrant student, Raj. Using a school-based narrative inquiry approach, we learn about Raj's experiences at the intersections of immigration and settlement, adaptation and assimilation, English-language acquisition, unemployment, poverty, family violence, and family relocation. We employ Dewey's [(1938). Experience and education. New York: Simon & Schuster] theory of experience, Connelly and Clandinin's [(1988). Teachers as curriculum planners: Narratives of experience. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia] understanding of curriculum as experience, and Schwab's [(1969). The practical: A language for curriculum. School Review, 78, 1-23] theory of the particular as theoretical frameworks upon which to examine and analyze interactions and events.

We surveyed educational service providers to determine what services are available to children with hearing impairments (HI) in two rural and two metropolitan areas of the United States. Teachers in rural areas employ a broader range of assistive technology but have less access to maintenance and repairs; they also have less access to highly trained specialists due to much longer travel distances. Also, parents are less informed about possible interventions than their metropolitan counterparts. Classroom teachers and service providers in all areas need more professional development relevant to working with children with HI and should collaborate more with special educators.

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In this article, we examine one school's experience with policy, as a means of shedding light on the intersection of factors contributing to challenges of implementing policies to support the academic achievement and social adaptation of immigrant and minority students in their school context. We begin with the presentation of a 'big fight' between two students of different ethnic and racial backgrounds, and consider multiple perspectives of how the disagreement was addressed by teachers and administrators, to offer insight into how issues of race and policy might have been understood by members of the school community. We use a narrative inquiry approach to examine ways in which a policy designed to enhance student participation was interpreted by various members of this school community. This study reveals nuances of the intersection between culture and (hidden) curriculum as it relates to the implementation of policies aimed at creating and maintaining safe school communities.