| Transforming Education by Putting Children First |
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IDRA Newsletter – This Issue's Focus: Language Rights |
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In This Issue Navigating Policy Landscapes for Linguistic and Cultural Equity Language Rights are Civil Rights – 50th Anniversary of the Lau v. Nichols Ruling AI as a Tool for Inclusive Bilingual Education
Transnational Students Deserve a High-Quality Education on Both Sides of the Border New Classnotes Podcast Episode: Supportive College Climates for Undocumented Students International Day to End Corporal Punishment of Children - Recent News: Public speaking, media coverage, alerts
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Navigating Policy Landscapes for Linguistic and Cultural Equity
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by Morgan Craven, J.D., & Lizdelia Piñón, Ed.D. |
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The over 5 million emergent bilingual (English learner) students in U.S. public schools bring invaluable assets of multilingualism and multiculturalism to their school communities. Despite the large and increasing emergent bilingual student population, policymakers at every level have struggled to, or been unwilling to, address the systemic failures contributing to gaps in educational attainment and achievement for these students and their peers. |
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The most pressing issues impacting emergent bilingual students include serving those with special education needs, supporting family leadership in school and policy spaces, and protecting student rights to educational opportunities.
In addition to providing research and development to address these issues, IDRA works to increase targeted federal and state funding for research-based language programs; advance adoption of meaningful, culturally-relevant assessment methods; and expand access to vital strategies, such as translanguaging, to enable emergent bilingual students to use their home languages as they grow their English skills. |
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IDRA Serving Emergent Bilingual Students – Online Technical Assistance Toolkit |
This toolkit for educators provides an introductory overview of emergent bilingual students and programs to serve them. The toolkit includes a literature review, five video chapters, webinars and podcast episodes. See toolkit |
| IDRA Educator Six-Part Webinar Series on Translanguaging
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Through translanguaging, emergent bilingual students use all of their linguistic and cognitive resources to better understand content provided to them in a language they have just begun to learn. Led by industry experts, this series is an engaging resource for educators. See series |
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Language Rights are Civil Rights – 50th Anniversary of the Lau v. Nichols Ruling |
by Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D. |
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Fifty years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Lau v. Nichols affirming the rights of emergent bilingual students to participate fully and meaningfully in public school, IDRA celebrates the brave students, families and advocates who helped enshrine these rights and create these remedies in law.
This article highlights key insights from the historic opinion and discusses the array of student rights and remedies established by the ruling, ranging from providing the staff, structure and resources necessary for a quality emergent bilingual program to ensuring that these students and their families can access a wide array of school programs and information available in a language the family understands. |
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AI as a Tool for Inclusive Bilingual Education |
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) in language instruction can be a valuable tool for bilingual educators who are often challenged by a lack of resources, outdated data, and the evolving demands of assessments, particularly in linguistically diverse schools.
AI tools can provide crucial support for novice teachers or those lacking experience working with emergent bilingual (English learner) students. This article gives an overview of ways educators can address linguistic diversity with AI tools, provide personalized learning and assessment support, conduct language translation and transcription, create content, set up virtual tutoring, share resources among bilingual educators, and get data analytics. |
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Transnational Students Deserve a High-Quality Education on Both Sides of the Border |
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Transnational students are part of families that have moved across borders for social, economic, familial or other reasons. The United States and Mexico share about 9 million of these students. Transnational students bring a wealth of assets to their school communities, from bilingualism to digital and cultural literacies. They deserve a high-quality education that prepares them for their future.
Unfortunately, schools may not recognize these assets and may not provide the unique social and academic resources that these students need to thrive. Educators can help support these students via translanguaging and promoting the valuing and recognition of these students’ dynamic bilingualism as an asset in the classroom. |
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Additionally, IDRA’s Ventanilla de Orientación Educativa (VOE) can help transnational students thrive on their educational journey by assisting families navigate the U.S. education system and learn about educational opportunities in both countries. |
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New Classnotes Podcast Episode |
Supportive College Climates for Undocumented Students |
Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D., talks with two UNT students and a faculty member about how a recent legal challenge – a thinly veiled anti-immigrant attack on the Texas Dream Act – affected them and their campus environment. They describe the Young Conservatives of Texas’s “Catch an Illegal Immigrant Game” on campus and ways students and faculty came together to support undocumented students in such a climate. |
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Today is International Day to End Corporal Punishment of Children | |
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Every student deserves a learning environment that fosters growth and belonging, where they are safe and free from harm. This is not possible if corporal punishment is allowable under the guise of “discipline.” Corporal punishment is used on children – specifically students of color – as young as 3 years old. |
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Black students disproportionately receive corporal punishment in schools as do students with disabilities, making this a key racial justice and educational equity issue.
Any student receiving corporal punishment is one student too many. It does not teach nor lead to improved behavior. But it has huge harmful impacts on students, even beyond physical injury. IDRA is pressing for a permanent end to school corporal punishment. In recognition of this International Day to End Corporal Punishment of Children, we are sharing some tools to help you and other advocates join us. |
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Join advocates across the globe to recognize the International Day to End Corporal Punishment of Children! |
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- Share on social media why we must end this harmful practice in schools. Use the hashtag: #EndCorporalPunishment
- Share Your Story! How has corporal punishment affected your family? Share your story with Morgan Craven, J.D., at morgan.craven@idra.org.
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Encourage school districts to put a stop to corporal punishment in their schools! School districts do not have to wait for their legislature. They can elect to end the practice of corporal punishment in their own schools. In our map below you can see which districts have already done so.
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Morgan Craven, J.D., spoke on a panel for the national Convening on Closing the Education Gap for K-12 Latino English Learners held by LatinoJustice Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF) and ASPIRA of New York on April 4, 2024. Her topic was, “Using the Law and Government Funding to Improve Outcomes in Language Access.” |
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Aurelio M. Montemayor, M.Ed., spoke on a panel for the TNTP/Our Lady of the Lake’s Multilingual Advocacy Month: Bilingual Education and the Legacy of Lau v. Nichols event on April 14. Paige Duggins-Clay, J.D., presented to the Round Rock ISD Board of Trustees and community members regarding its proposed identity-based bulling policy on April 18, 2024.
Celina Moreno, J.D., spoke at the Hispanic National Bar Association, Region XII, for its annual summit, “Celebrating our Narrative,” on April 18, 2024. Her topic was, “From Hernandez to Harvard/UNC: A Closer Look at the History of the 14th Amendment.”
Morgan Craven, J.D., also spoke at the Hispanic National Bar Association, Region XII, for its annual summit that continued on April 19, 2024. Her topic was "Legislation and Judicial Opinions That are Shaping the Latinx Narrative.” |
Georgia private school voucher bill criticized for diverting funds from public schools, Megan Butler, Courthouse News Service, April 23, 2024 Kemp signs school vouchers into law, Fox 5, Atlanta, April 23, 2024 Georgia governor signs school voucher bill to provide $6,500 toward private tuition, by Ross Williams, Georgia Recorder, April 23, 2024
Experts’ Top Policy Priorities for English-Learner Education, by Ileana Najarro, Education Week, April 9, 2024 Meet the students hoping to make Mexican American Studies a core class, by Nancy M. Preyor-Johnson, April 5, 2024 Closing the Education Gap for K-12 English Learners, by Latino Justice PRLDEF and ASPIRA of New York, April 4, 2024
See these media stories and other recent media coverage with links on our website. |
April 11, 2024 – Webinar – A Review of the Newest Georgia Voucher – Get the 4-1-1 on SB 233 in our webinar Tuesday April 3, 2024 – Podcast – Ambassador Educators on Promoting STEM Equity March 28, 2024 – March 2024 Issue of the IDRA Newsletter – Focus: School Safety See these eNews with links on our website. |
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| IDRA is an independent, non-profit organization. Our mission is to achieve equal educational opportunity for every child through strong public schools that prepare all students to access and succeed in college. |
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