Syrian refugee kids find joy and success in these classrooms. They are a lucky few.

An 11-year-old named Asmaa Jaffal sits with her hands stuffed into the pockets of her Rolling Stones sweatshirt. Asmaa is from northeastern Syria. She says she was in the second grade when her world turned upside down. “When the war started,” she explains in Arabic, “ISIS came and they closed all the schools — except for…