When the prestigious California Institute of Technology announced in August it would drop calculus as an admissions requirement — students must prove mastery of the subject but don’t have to take it in high school — observers of an ongoing education equity debate might have thought it was the last holdout.

According to a recent survey the answer is more complex, that while some schools have revised their acceptance criteria based on the availability of rigorous courses, including calculus, others have not.

Queries sent to 20 top-tier colleges and universities, many of which are recognized for their strong engineering programs, found that 11 do not require it while six strongly recommend or encourage it.

Calculus may not be a must, but it is still expected at many institutions.

Princeton looks for some applicants to complete the class if they have access to it. Likewise, MIT, Carnegie Mellon and Purdue strongly recommend or encourage at least some applicants to take the course in high school.

Cornell was alone among the 20 in still mandating calculus. In fact, the Ivy League school tells incoming freshmen that at least one of their two letters of recommendation must be from a math teacher and they are “strongly encouraged” to make that person their precalculus or calculus teacher.

Caltech dropped calculus, physics and chemistry from a list of required courses while widening students’ opportunity to showcase their abilities through other means, including the completion of online courses through the free Khan Academy.

Ashley Pallie, Caltech’s executive director of undergraduate admissions, noted it was a significant shift for the STEM-intensive titan. The school had required a calculus course for decades, she said, despite pushback from applicants.

“Every year, we would get lots of students who would write in and say, ‘I was on track to take it, but the teacher isn’t able to teach us here,’ or, ‘Not enough students signed up for the class,’ or, ‘The class isn’t offered at my high school,’” she said. “And the answer was always, ‘No. We need to have the course requirement.’ ”

But that changed when Pallie and two faculty members, who set admissions criteria, learned at a February conference on equity and college acceptance the extent to which the course is not available, particularly to low-income applicants, students of color and those living in rural areas.

Pallie credited Melodie Baker, national policy director at Just Equations, an organization that promotes math policies that support equity in college readiness and success, for sharing the information at that gathering. Calculus still has merit, Caltech faculty concluded, but should no longer be mandated.

“So now it’s less about having taken the course and more about, ‘Can you showcase to us that you have proficiency and mastery?’” Pallie said.

MIT follows a similar model; it wants incoming freshmen to have two semesters of calculus but allows them to place out of the requirement either through outside credits or by taking an Advanced Standing Examination.

Calculus is not required for admission to any University of Michigan school or college, including the College of Engineering and the Ross School of Business.

And the same holds true at Harvard, Columbia, Northwestern, Rice and Johns Hopkins. 

The explanation is simple, according to one school’s spokesperson. 

“We recognize not all high schools have a calculus course available to students, so it is not required for admission to Johns Hopkins University,” said Jill Rosen.

Baker, of Just Equations, said colleges and universities should always seek to widen the opportunities for bright applicants so they can one day help solve the world’s most complex and enduring problems.

“When math is used as it was intended, to cultivate and develop talent rather than rank and sort students, the future of STEM looks like a microcosm of the larger society,” she said. “It looks very different from what it looks like today: It looks well-represented.”

The University of Minnesota doesn’t demand calculus for entry to any of its undergraduate programs. However, the school does prefer that students study the topic at some stage: It’s mandatory for some majors, though it can be taken at the college level.

Still, a spokesperson for the five-college system said, “Anyone can get in without it.”

For other colleges, the answer is nuanced. Neither calculus nor precalculus is a requirement for first-year admissions at the University of California, a spokesperson said.

The vast U.C. system, which encompasses 10 campuses and some 280,000 students, does, however, note that those interested in STEM, data science and the social sciences are “strongly encouraged” to consider a math course sequence that prepares them for calculus — either during high school or in their first year at the university.

Sharon Veatch, school counseling department chair at the rural Housatonic Valley Regional High School in northwest Connecticut, follows college admissions criteria closely. Two of her former graduates are now at Harvard and a couple of others have recently graduated from Cornell.

She said universities have become less focused on calculus in recent years: Their decision to largely drop SAT and ACT admissions tests from consideration means they are looking at students more holistically, placing less emphasis on any one class.

But, Veatch said, many top-ranked universities urge students to take the most rigorous course available. For those at her high school, that means Advanced Placement calculus. The campus hasn’t offered AP Statistics for years.

“In general, when I advise students, I say, ‘You need to max out on the curriculum,’” she said. “Because that’s what I’m being told.”

Maxing out, of course, means something different from one state to another as several are reassessing their mathematics offerings.

California has tried to broaden high school students’ opportunities by providing other academic pathways, not just those that lead to calculus.

But there’s been a push and pull between equity and rigor, with the state recently backtracking on a key issue for college applicants: The faculty committee that sets admissions requirements for the U.C. system decided in July that data science could no longer be a substitute for Algebra II. The state Board of Education, which oversees K-12 and is looking at reframing math statewide, soon after removed its endorsement of data science as a substitute for that subject.

Stanford, a crown jewel in higher education in that state, recommends four years of rigorous mathematics — including algebra, geometry and trigonometry.

“We also welcome additional mathematical preparation, including calculus and statistics,” its website advises.

Calculus is not necessary for entry to the University of Wisconsin. But spokesman John Lucas said direct admittance to the engineering program is highly selective, “so, it’s rare for a student to not have taken calculus.”

Georgia Tech is a bit more explicit. Laura Simmons, an admissions counselor there, said in an online video, that students should take the most challenging courses available to them. If that means seeking out a dual enrollment math class at the local college, they should choose wisely.

“We’re never going to pretend that college algebra is the same as a calculus class,” she said.

High-achieving Black, Hispanic and low-income students who pass algebra in the 8th grade — a feat that can set children up for success in college and beyond — still end up taking far fewer advanced high school math courses than their white, Asian and more affluent peers, new research shows.

Outcomes are starkly different for those who have that opportunity. High-achieving Black, Hispanic and lower-income students who do gain access to advanced math classes in high school have better academic outcomes across multiple measures: stronger high school graduation rates, higher GPAs and greater college admission and persistence rates. They were also more likely to attend a highly selective college and earn more STEM credits there, a pathway to landing lucrative jobs in those fields.

Just Equations and The Education Trust released their report Thursday. Together, they analyzed eight years of data following 23,000 ninth graders from 900 private and public schools throughout the country, information collected by the National Center for Education Statistics. The study group was tracked through high school and college starting in 2009. 

Both Ed Trust and Just Equations advocate for educational equality with a focus on children who have been traditionally underserved. Earlier research cited in the report shows Black, Hispanic and impoverished students, regardless of their capabilities, are less likely to be assigned AP math courses, enroll in STEM majors or attend top-tier colleges than their wealthier, white or Asian peers.

“This study challenges the notion that access to advanced math courses is purely the byproduct of talent and academic achievement,” said Melodie Baker, national policy director at Just Equations. “Our analysis confirmed that all too often, factors such as race, wealth and privilege — rather than students’ aptitude and proficiency — can be hidden prerequisites for access to courses that lead to STEM and college opportunity.”

While 46% of high-achieving Asian students, 19% of white students, and 29% of students from high socio-economic backgrounds took college-level AP/International Baccalaureate calculus by the end of high school, just 10% of Black, 15% of Latino and 11% of lower-income high-achievers did the same. 

For this high-achieving, underrepresented group, taking advanced math courses in high school also appears to level out racial and income disparities in high school graduation rates: 99% of Asian and white students, 98% of Black students, and 96% of Latino and lower-income students graduated in four years. Four-year high school graduation rates declined among all high-achievers who did not take advanced math classes and gaps opened up along racial and socioeconomic lines, although the drop in graduation rates was starkest for Asian students and least-felt by affluent students.

“We know that it is so important for students to feel engaged and that their learning experiences are relevant,” said Ivy Smith Morgan, EdTrust’s director for P12 research and data analytics. “What this conjures for me is the anecdotes about students who are so smart but stop paying attention in class because they are not challenged. They are not getting the opportunities that align with their ability.”

Smith Morgan noted U.S. students’ performance in mathematics as compared to their peers in other countries has been a highly scrutinized topic for years, with last week’s release of the latest PISA scores showing unprecedented 13-point declines for American students and an average 15-point loss globally. The U.S. now ranks 26th in its math scores and Smith Morgan said a failure to mine students’ talents will have dire implications for the economy. 

“What we are talking about is losing a future workforce with the skills, training and technical knowledge we need to fill all of the STEM jobs that will exist — not the ones we have right now, but the ones we have not even thought of yet,” she said. “We are shooting ourselves in the foot.”

The study notes the disparity in opportunity starts well before students enter high school: Just 24% of Black students, 34% of Latino students, and 25% of students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds took Algebra I or higher in eighth grade, compared with 39% of white children, 64% of their Asian peers and 57% of students from higher income backgrounds. 

“Anyone who is paying attention knows that our mathematics education systems are deeply inequitable,” said David Kung, director of strategic partnerships at The Charles A. Dana Center in Austin. “Black, brown and poor students get shafted when it comes to access, teaching and advising.”

The Dana Center, which seeks to ensure all students have equitable access to excellent math and science education, has been working with several states across the nation as part of its Launch Years Initiative to revamp mathematics curriculum, making equity and student interest a top priority.  

“This report is another reminder that whenever there are decisions to be made —  to take algebra in 8th grade, to enroll in an advanced math class, to apply to college, to choose a STEM path — equity gaps open,” Kung said. “We must reform our systems so those critical transitions are smoother, especially for students from groups we have historically under-supported.”

The new study found, too, that high-achieving underserved students who took more challenging high school mathematics coursework often had math teachers who established clear goals and school counselors who set high standards. Such positive influences may have aided in their success. 

Researchers say 74% of Black and 81% of Latino high-achieving students who were enrolled in advanced high school mathematics courses went on to follow a standard process of getting into and staying enrolled at college after high school. 

Not so for those who did not: Only 58% of Black students and 53% of Latino high-achieving students who did not take these classes had that same outcome. Results were similar for students from lower-income backgrounds: 77% of those who took advanced math courses experienced standard college enrollment and persistence versus 53% who did not take more challenging courses.  

The study showed Black and Latino high-achieving students who took advanced math courses in high school had better first-year GPAs in college: roughly 0.5 points higher. Lower income students had a 0.6-point gain. 

EdTrust and Just Equations recommends Congress support and incentivize state and district leaders to greatly expand access to challenging coursework in all topics, including math. 

They said, too, that the government should increase funding for whole-child support services that would allow districts to hire an appropriate number of well-trained restorative justice coordinators, school counselors, psychologists and nurses. 

States and districts should also boost professional development efforts and coaching with the goal of reducing bias and incorporating anti-racist mindsets. 

They can also automatically enroll students in higher-level math courses, like the Dallas school system, which moved from an opt-in model to an opt-out policy in the 2019-20 school year. The entire state of Texas followed that example: Gov. Abbott, earlier this year, signed a bill that requires the automatic enrollment of children in advanced math based on their test scores, not on a recommendation. 

The Commit Partnership, a Dallas-based nonprofit focused on education, applauded the move. Chelsea Jeffery, its chief regional impact officer, said she looks forward to other districts doing the same, not only changing their policies but providing students with the support necessary to graduate high school ready for college and the workforce. 

“We celebrate Dallas ISD for their innovative approach to this critical subject area and to policymakers for passing legislation that will benefit our students and community,” she said.

The study classified a student as high-achieving if they passed — with an A, B, or C — Algebra I or higher in middle school. Others who made the cut scored in the highest one-fifth on a math assessment given to students in ninth grade. 

Disclosure: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides financial support to Just Equations, The Education Trust, The Charles A. Dana Center and LA School Report’s parent company, The 74.

This article was published in partnership with The 74. Sign up for The 74’s newsletter here.

College attendance and graduation rates of KIPP middle and high school students compared to those who were not selected in the KIPP middle school lottery. (Mathematica)

A new study reveals vastly improved college enrollment and completion rates for students who attended both KIPP middle and high schools as compared to a similar group of children who applied for enrollment but were not selected in the network’s lottery system.

KIPP middle and high school students were 31 percentage points more likely to enroll in a four-year college within three years of high school versus those students who were not selected, according to the study. And their likelihood of graduating college within five years after high school shot up by 19 percentage points.

Among Mathematica’s sample of students, the effect of attending both a KIPP middle school and high school was so large that if it were applied to all students nationally, the longstanding college completion gap between Black and Hispanic students and their white peers would nearly close.

“The magnitude of these impact estimates is large, and effects of this size have substantial policy relevance,” the researchers write.

KIPP, which got its start in Houston in 1994, now serves 120,000 students across 21 states and Washington, D. C. It currently operates 117 elementary, 121 middle and 42 high schools.

KIPP enrolls mostly Black and Hispanic students from low-income communities, children who have been historically underserved and have lower high school and college completion rates.

KIPP places much emphasis and resources on supporting its alumni through college and into their early careers. The model of following through with children beyond high school has seen tremendous success elsewhere: Students who participated in Chicago’s OneGoal program, which spans students’ junior and senior year of high school in addition to their freshman year of college, had a 40% greater chance of earning a bachelor’s degree than their peers, a recent study found.

“We just have an unyielding belief in children and … we’re frankly willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that every child fulfills their potential,” said Shavar Jeffries, who joined the KIPP Foundation as CEO in January 2023.

The study tracked 2,066 students who applied to 21 KIPP middle schools in 2008, 2009 or 2011. Mathematica senior fellow Philip Gleason first studied KIPP in 2007, four years after his company began a broader study that showed marked improvement in the achievement of children who attended charters in city centers.

“We wanted to know what was going on in these schools and KIPP was the largest network of charters that served students in urban areas,” he said.

The 2007 study showed KIPP middle school students outperformed their peers — children who applied to the program but were not selected through the lottery system — in both reading and math.

In this latest report, Mathematica went back to the students in the 2007 study to see whether they attended or completed college, using data obtained through the National Student Clearinghouse.

While the findings were consistent with their earlier work, Gleason found the degree to which KIPP middle and high school students outperformed their peers surprising.

“The earlier studies were also positive in terms of their impact on academic achievement,” he said. “But what we did not know was how important the combined effect of going to a KIPP middle and high school would be.”

Jeffries attributes the results to KIPP’s academic program — and to its efforts to counsel students long after graduation.

“We are very intentional,” he said, adding that staff work hard to help every high school student find their path. “We have partnerships with well over 100 colleges throughout the country. We do a lot of work to match students with postsecondary placements.”

He said, too, that staff believe in the success of all students.

“We go above and beyond,” Jeffries said. “We tend to have longer school days and longer school years. And we use data in very intentional ways so that in our classrooms, on an ongoing real-time basis, we can differentiate our instruction based upon where a kid is at any given point in time.”

While Jeffries said the network is very focused now on learning loss recovery following the pandemic, there are plans over the next five years, a KIPP spokesperson said, to open as many high schools as possible with an aim that every KIPP 8^th grader would be able to attend a KIPP high school.

Some 70% of students offered admission to a KIPP middle school attend one, the study found. Roughly 75% of these students graduate from those schools and approximately 71% of these graduates continue on to a KIPP high school.

Makala Faniel, 25 and who enrolled in KIPP WAYS Atlanta in fifth grade, credits the program with much of her academic and professional success.

College readiness was built into the curriculum, she said, and counselors routinely helped students research universities, choose the right Advanced Placement courses to boost their chance of acceptance, fill out the Common Application and apply for key programs within a particular school.

Faniel visited the University of Pennsylvania as a middle schooler and would graduate from the college in 2020 with a degree in material science.

“That early exposure really helped,” said Faniel, who is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in bioengineering at Georgia Tech University.

She said KIPP’s partnerships with colleges and universities provided much-needed support: Faniel was in regular contact with other KIPP students at UPENN who helped her navigate next steps.

Even after college, when she was first considering graduate school, she once again called on KIPP resources.

“I talked to a lot of my former teachers when I was thinking about grad school, trying to figure out what do I do? How do I apply? What do I need?” she said. “I changed majors between undergrad and graduate school, so I talked to them about making that transition.”

Ivelyn Camano-Lucero, 16 and a senior at KIPP NYC College Prep, hopes to study computer science at Yale.

She will be among the first in her family to attend college: Her older brother was a student at Syracuse University while her sister studies at Fordham. All three attended KIPP schools.

The youngest of the trio, Camano-Lucero, who lives near the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, wants to become a cybersecurity engineer.

She talks often with other students about her plans beyond high school and noticed that those who attend other public schools don’t seem to have as much support.

“When I talk to my friends about my career counselor, they aren’t familiar with that,” she said. “I think that aspect is pretty different.”

Kelly Gallagher, KIPP NYC manager of college counseling, said the counselors on staff have manageable caseloads: a maximum of 60 students each, allowing them to work closely with each of them.

Counselors edit college essays, talk to the families about their student’s next steps, explain the documentation needed to obtain financial aid — and how to appeal when schools don’t provide enough, among a host of other duties, Gallagher said.

Another set of staffers, the College Success Team, visit students at college at least once per semester, she said. Students who are headed for the military, seek to pursue certifications or enter the workforce also have designated staffers to help them progress.

“This is my 10^th year at the high school and I have former students who are now my coworkers,” Gallagher said, adding it’s not hard to focus KIPP students’ attention on college. “They are excited about it.”

The Mathematica study released today leverages the lottery-based samples from the earlier research and was funded by Arnold Ventures, a philanthropy which has given millions of dollars to KIPP since 2011.

Disclosure: Walton Family Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the City Fund provide financial support to KIPP and LA School Report’s parent company The 74.

Students build pyramids in geometry class during a 2022 summer learning program offered by Baltimore City Public Schools. This year, the district will have more than 22,000 summer program seats from pre-K through 12th grade. (Asher Lehrer-Small)

School districts around the country, reeling from dramatic drops in fourth- and eighth-grade math scores on the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress, hope to recoup at least some of what’s been lost through summer programs.

Flush with federal dollars, new and robust offerings have been open to a wide swath of students starting in the summer of 2021 and will continue in many districts this year. But the trend could stop as that pandemic relief money runs out.

Some districts, including Detroit’s, have already pared down summer programs, inviting only those students identified as struggling, while others can’t even reach all the children on that list — at least not during the summer.

Baltimore City Public Schools saw some of the most staggering losses in mathematics at the fourth-grade level — a 15-point drop on the 2022 NAEP exams compared to those in 2019 — tying it with Cleveland for worst-in-the-nation.

Baltimore’s and Cleveland’s decline in fourth-grade math scores was nearly double the average eight-point drop among the 26 big city districts that took the tests and dwarfed the average five-point drop of fourth graders nationally.

Eighth graders in both cities also saw their math test scores plummet: They dropped nine points in Baltimore and eight points in Cleveland. These losses are on par with the rest of the nation: The major cities’ average and the national average for eighth grade math both declined by eight points.

The 76,000-student Baltimore district has been working for years to remediate those who have fallen behind. It offers extensive summer programming for children at every grade level — more than 22,000 seats from pre-K through 12th grade for summer 2023 programming, up by 2,000 from the year before, district administrators said. But only 15,000 children participated last year, meaning thousands of seats were left open.

And even with the additional slots, the number might not match the need as it relates to this subject: Just 7 percent of third through eighth graders tested proficient in math on recent state exams. At 23 Baltimore schools, not a single student tested proficient in math.

Administrators said their district’s summer program was developed, in part, in response to recent NAEP scores. But they know some children who might have benefited from the program will be left out because of budgetary restrictions.

“Of course, we would love to be able to offer every student an opportunity to engage in learning during the summer,” said Laurie-Lynn Sutton-Platt, director of summer and extended learning.

The upcoming program can’t be a catch-all, but it can help, district administrators said.

“It’s a start,” said Kerry Steinbrenner, Baltimore’s director of mathematics. “Summer is an ideal opportunity for students to continue to develop their math skills and we don’t want to miss that … We want to try to impact as many kids as we can during that time.”

Cleveland Metropolitan School District, which serves more than 36,000 children, is also working to undo damage done by the pandemic. Some 4,200 students are enrolled in its five-week summer learning program with more added to the list every day. The district hopes the figure will reach the height it did last year at 6,500.

But it can’t guarantee participation.

“We are working to reach all of the students we can during the summer, but it is dependent upon students and families electing to enroll,” said chief communications officer Roseann Canfora. “We cannot require them to do so.”

Although driven by poor reading, not math scores, some third graders in Tennessee are mandated to attend summer programming this year if they performed poorly on that portion of the state exam and are at risk of being held back.

In the long term, average math and reading scores improved for fourth and eighth graders on the NAEP between the early 1970s and 2012. Between 2012 and 2020, just before the pandemic struck, they largely flattened while achievement gaps between high and low scorers — a persistent equity issue with NAEP — widened. And then the unprecedented drop in the 2022 scores brought COVID’s impact into full relief.

How long it will take children to recover from that — or what it will take for more students to reach grade-level proficiency in math — are big questions, but recent research has shown the sharp decline in math proficiency could have lifelong negative consequences.

Talia Milgrom-Elcott, executive director and founder of Beyond100K, a national network focused on preparing and retaining 150,000 excellent STEM teachers in 10 years, believes wealthier children have long made up what was lost.

But others will never reach that goal, she said.

“What’s different isn’t the kids: It’s their experience during the pandemic and the support they’ve received since,” she said. “We could have corralled all our resources to accelerate the mental, emotional and academic recovery of all kids — and if we would have, we’d likely have created the next great generation — but we haven’t. At least not yet.”

The federal government gave schools $190 billion in COVID aid with $3 billion available for summer learning. Experts say the type and quality of the summer programming counts, while some researchers assert that even that unprecedented overall sum is not enough to reverse the level of learning loss.

Melodie Baker, national policy director at Just Equations, an organization that promotes math policies that support equity in college readiness and success, said students need engaging and meaningful content that helps them make sense of the material and retain what they’ve learned. This is true whether it’s delivered during the school year or the summer, she said.

“It’s also important to recognize the role of teacher diversity as a long-term strategy for improving student engagement and learning outcomes,” Baker said. “A diverse teaching staff can provide students with a range of perspectives and experiences that can enhance their understanding of the material and make it more relevant to their lives.”

Some 110,000 of New York City’s roughly 1 million students will participate in summer learning this year, a spokeswoman told The 74. NYC students slid nine points on the fourth-grade NAEP mathematics tests and four points on the eighth-grade exams.

One program, Savvas Summer Impact Math, will focus on grade-level instructional priorities for grades K-8, helping students build math foundations, fluency and conceptual understanding to support learning recovery, acceleration and enrichment, she said. It includes assessments meant to identify weaknesses and help teachers narrow learning gaps ahead of the upcoming school year. Other programs include project-based learning and financial literacy.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district, where fourth graders saw their math scores drop 13 points and eighth graders 11 on the 2022 NAEP exams, plans to grow its summertime math offerings for middle schoolers heading into ninth grade.

Mark Bosco, the district’s senior administrator for expanded learning and partnerships, said the four week-long program is expected to swell from 400 to 1,000 participants this summer.

“This is designed for students who find math abstract,” Bosco said.

Pre- and post-assessments reveal improvement: Children who stayed for the 16-day duration who could not answer a single pre-algebra question correctly at the start of the program could successfully answer five or six questions out of 20 at the end, Bosco said.

He described the summer program as hands-on and project-based. In one instance, he said, reflecting on last year’s program, students were made to go through the steps of finding and financing a car, learning about credit applications, compounding interest and loans.

“It really got them thinking about how math can be so important in everyday life,” he said. “The kids are applying concepts in pretty advanced ways.”

Chicago Public Schools is encouraging schools to implement math camps this summer for rising third and fourth graders in addition to programs for students in middle and high school, a spokesman said. Fourth graders in the district saw a 10-point decrease on math NAEP scores. The loss was worse for eighth graders, who suffered a 12-point decline.

More than 73,000 of Chicago Public Schools’ 322,100 students engaged in at least one summer program last year. Math enrichment at the district includes the Summer of Algebra and Math Camp programs. A group of elementary schools also will host a Computer Science/Engineering Camp for students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Despite the success of some programs, funding remains a concern: Canfora, of the Cleveland schools, said federal COVID relief funds likely will not be available for summer 2024. Her district is building next summer into this fiscal year’s general fund budget, which will be submitted to the school board this month.

Aaron Philip Dworkin, chief executive officer of the National Summer Learning Association, said districts should always work to establish and strengthen relationships with outside partners to build better programs and to secure funding so they are not as reliant on federal dollars.

“What do you do when the money runs out?” he asked. “We will figure it out. Everyone will contribute what they can and we will make it work.”

This article was published in partnership with The 74. Sign up for The 74’s newsletter here.

Marta Hulievska, a sophomore at Dartmouth College, saw her mother, Hanna, for the first time since leaving for college in America during a December reunion in Berlin. (Marta Hulievska)

It’s been nearly 11 months since Anastasiia Puzhalina and her family arrived in Tacoma, Washington, after a white-knuckled journey out of Ukraine. With no home, no income and no idea of how their children would adjust to a new school, they were consumed with worry.

But, a year after Russia invaded its neighbor, upending the lives of millions, the Puzhalina family has stabilized: Anastasiia and her husband were elated to find an affordable rental and were relieved to receive their work authorizations in January.

Central to their happiness, their children, ages 11, 10 and 7, are thriving: They felt welcomed by their new school and have made many friends. All have a penchant for mathematics and the eldest is no longer classified as an English language learner.

“They are doing well at school and making really good progress in English,” Puzhalina said. “Virsaviia, my youngest, reads in English better than in Ukrainian already.”

And there was another development that will make life in America much easier for the family.

“I am learning to drive,” Puzhalina said. “It was hard for me to overcome my fear: It was something that paralyzed me. But now I feel more comfortable. I just have to practice backing up, parallel parking and get that license.”

The family’s progress comes amid ongoing tumult in their home country. The invasion has left 100,000 soldiers dead or injured on each side, according to U.S. estimates. Some 5.9 million people are internally displaced in Ukraine, meaning they are running for safety inside its borders, and millions more have fled to neighboring countries and across Europe.

Illia Puzhalina, 11, stands behind his younger sister, Virsaviia, 7, as middle child, Yeva, 10, stands to the right. The children were enjoying homemade sushi, one of their favorite, meals in their new home in Tacoma last month. (Anastasiia Puzhalina)

There is no foreseeable end to the conflict. President Joe Biden’s visit to Kyiv Feb. 20 came just a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his plan to withdraw from the last major remaining nuclear arms control treaty with the United States. This latest move, met with disapproval from NATO, is among many policy changes that have left some Russians uneasy: Putin’s conscription effort has prompted thousands to seek asylum here.

Other Ukrainians, including Puzhalina’s parents, remain under siege. Puzhalina would love for them to join her family in Washington, but at 57 years old, her father is not permitted to leave the country.

Yana Annette Lysenko, working toward a Ph.D. in comparative literature and Slavic studies at New York University, is well aware of the war-time restrictions.

Lysenko, whose boyfriend lives in Ukraine and also cannot leave, visited the city of Odesa from mid-August until the end of November 2022. Reuniting with family and friends, she worked on her dissertation and volunteered. She plans to head back for a week in April and again in May, perhaps for a month.

“The last few weeks were probably the toughest,” she said. “That’s when the citywide electric outages started. Other than that, it’s surprising how in some ways things felt so normal, in others completely unlike anything before.”

Lysenko was moved by the solidarity of the Ukrainian people, and how they could find joy in the darkest of times.

“There’s a lot of concern about this potential spring offensive, but more than anything Ukrainians aren’t losing faith,” she said. “They trust their armed forces and believe in victory. I think most people understand this war will continue for a long time so there’s a certain despair in that regard, but there’s a refusal to give up. There is an amazing sense of community no matter how hard things get: Almost every evening there were musicians singing on the streets of the city center and people would join in and dance and sing.”

But there is one fear she can’t shake, that her boyfriend will be called to serve.

“That is a very real worry for me,” she said. “Every day they are mobilizing men, and one of the scariest things for me while I was there — even more so now — was seeing all of the soldiers walking around and going to people’s houses to give them military summonses. I’m terrified my boyfriend will encounter this soon.”

Marta Hulievska, a sophomore at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, has worried about her family ever since war broke out midway through her freshman year.

Hulievska, a history and English major, saw her mother, Hanna, for the first time since she left for college when the two reunited in Berlin in December. They spent four days traversing the city and exchanging gifts: Her mother brought Hulievska’s favorite loose leaf tea, Ukrainian chocolates and a hair dye she couldn’t find in the States. The sophomore sent her mother home with candies, a backpack for one of her sisters and a stuffed animal for the other.

“She was crying when she left,” Hulievska said of her mother.

Her family’s life is not easy. Her father and one of her sisters are staying in Zaporizhzhia, minding the family home while her mother and another sister are across the country in Lviv. Separated by a 24-hour train ride, the family does their best to endure.

Hulievska, who battles anxiety and depression, is often triggered by news from home. It’s hard for her to plan: She’ll occasionally miss class when she feels overwhelmed.

“Recently, the anniversary brought back a lot of memories,” she said. “We thought this was going to end a lot sooner.  A couple of days ago, I saw a video of Mariupol two days before the invasion with people singing the national anthem. I was emotionally numb for the rest of the day. I have a lot of problems organizing and scheduling.”

Hulievska, who studied the Holocaust in Berlin, came to a disturbing realization while abroad, that the Russian invasion will one day be memorialized in a similar way.

“I guess in 50 years, they are going to be talking about the Ukraine-Russian war, creating museums for the victims, commemorating what happened,” she said. “I’m going to be a part of history. But not necessarily the part of history I want to be a part of.”

Despite their heartache about conflict at home, she and the others persevere.

Puzhalina’s husband, Oleh, will soon become a maintenance technician, pending last-minute paperwork. But his wife has not yet found a job. 

“It is not easy to find something that will allow me to stay on the school schedule with my kids in the morning at least,” Puzhalina said. “But I’m not discouraged.”

Through all of the resettlement tumult, her children have latched on to their studies. At least two had a unique advantage: Illia, age 11, studied English in Ukraine, making his coursework easier to understand. Her youngest, Virsaviia, 7, became close friends with their landlord’s granddaughter, a native English speaker, so she had a partner with whom to practice upon arrival.

Middle child, Yeva, 10, is taking a little longer to learn the language.

“Her ELL teachers said she is doing really well, but her English is more academic,” her mother said. “What she needs is more like social English.”

Illia, now a sixth grader, loves basketball, volleyball and his English literature class. Yeva, a fifth grader, adores mathematics, particularly fractions.

Both children miss their family and friends in Ukraine.

“We call them in the morning,” Yeva said of her maternal grandparents. “I want them to come here.”

Virsaviia, who is in the second grade, has adjusted well: She cherishes her teacher. “She’s so nice,” the little girl said. “She’s very kind.”

Despite all they’ve gained here, Puzhalina doesn’t know if her family will stay in America.

“I am trying not to hope for anything — like living in the States forever,” she said. “The world is unpredictable. We have, at the moment, the right to legally stay here through October 2023 and then I don’t know.”

This article was published in partnership with The 74. Sign up for The 74’s newsletter here.

Gifted programming, already uneven across the country and prone to racial discrimination, has yet another blind spot: twice exceptional students. 

These advanced learners, who may also receive special education services, can languish academically, their skills overlooked. The same holds true for low-income children, students of color and those learning to speak English. 

Experts say most teachers have only limited training in gifted education and tend to focus on students’ limitations rather than their strengths, leaving twice exceptional learners particularly vulnerable. 

In some cases, these students’ disabilities can mask their aptitude. In others, their accelerated nature can hide their challenges. 

In both instances, they often go without the support they need and may come to feel unintelligent as their confidence wanes.  

Nearly 7 million children ages 3 through 21 were served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 2017-18, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. They represented 14% of the nation’s overall student population but only 2.8 percent of the 3.3 million children enrolled in gifted programming that year, the last for which such data was compiled by the U.S. Department of Education. That figure jumped to 7.2 million, or 15 percent, in 2020-21. 

Experts say schools’ failure to help these students reach their potential amounts to a loss not only for the child themselves, but for the community and nation. 

“If they are not identified and supported properly, gifted students are often in classes below their abilities,” said Megan Cannella, family services manager at the Davidson Institute, a Nevada-based nonprofit dedicated to profoundly gifted students age 18 and under. “The work can seem redundant, boring and slow. In these situations, students are typically not learning new information or growing their skills. Over time, this becomes discouraging, and they may underachieve … by rushing through work, doing the bare minimum or refusing to do work.”

Roughly 8% of the 846 students identified as gifted in the McAllen Independent School District in South Texas are twice exceptional. They have either a 504 plan, which provides for support services and accommodations, or are enrolled in special education classes, a district official said. 

Broward County Public Schools in Florida reported a slightly higher rate at 8.4%. Of the 1,364 students in Denver Public Schools’ gifted or highly gifted program in grades K-5, 131 have special needs, bringing the percentage to 9.6.

Children with either 504s or Individualized Education Plans, special schemes to help disabled students succeed in school, made up 10% of the 6,666 students in Florida’s Hillsborough County Public Schools gifted elementary school program, officials said. Orange County Public Schools in that same state came in at 9%.

Baltimore City Public Schools has made a concerted effort to include under-represented children in this group: It came in at the highest level with 358 of its 3,114 elementary-aged gifted and advanced students having a learning disability — nearly 11.5%.

Gifted and talented offerings across the country have been under fresh scrutiny since former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio moved, in October 2021, to end the program at the elementary school level because it perpetuated decades of discrimination against Black and Hispanic children. Eric Adams, who struggled in school himself with dyslexia and replaced de Blasio in January, decided to preserve and expand the program, despite its well-documented deficiencies. 

Deborah Alexander, of Astoria, Queens, recalls the frustration she and her son, Augustus, endured when he was in the first grade.

“He wasn’t learning to write letters properly,” she said. “His hand strength was not there. We had him evaluated by the school and they told us, erroneously, his grades were too good to qualify for services.”

Alexander, who has served on the Community Education Council for District 30 for a decade, is also a member of New York City’s Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum or PLACE, which is currently investigating how twice exceptional children are being treated.

She asked, back when her son was young, if he could type on a computer rather than write by hand, but the request was denied.

Augustus’s grades started to slip, but that all changed when he was allowed to type on a tablet in middle school. 

Augustus, diagnosed with “disorder of written expression,” a learning disability, and obsessive compulsive disorder, said the accommodation transformed his educational experience: The 15-year-old rising sophomore at the prestigious Bronx High School of Science said he no longer worries about his work being illegible. Finally, he could share all he knows, he said, adding that every child should be given the tools they need to succeed. 

“It’s really important that everyone can learn, not just for the larger benefit of society, but because it develops you,” he said. “Even just last year, if I had to write by hand, I don’t think I would be as prepared for next year or for college.”

Brandon Wright, editorial director at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative education policy think tank, understands this population.

“​​I had a bad stammer and was also gifted,” he said. “My school offered me a speech therapist, giving me the tools I needed to thrive in the classroom.”

But he knows not all children have this opportunity, which is why he advocates universal screening in which all students’ test scores are examined for standouts. 

But test results should be only one element, said Wright, who just launched a bi-monthly newsletter, Advance, to chart the progress of gifted education in America. Teachers should be better trained to spot these students and they should be admitted on a rolling basis with “constant on-ramps,” giving children multiple opportunities to join such programs as their skills develop. 

Yet Nielsen Pereira, associate professor of Gifted, Creative and Talented Studies at Purdue University, who instructs educators, said many of his students, including those who have been in the classroom for years, “are surprised these types of students even exist.” 

Many college and university programs don’t mandate proficiency on the topic: An educator’s exposure might amount to a single lecture buried inside another, unrelated course. 

A lack of funding for these programs, which are not mandated at the federal level, helps explain why they are available in some locations and not others — and why their quality varies so widely, he said. 

“We focus so much on making sure everyone is meeting the minimum standards that we forgot about how to bring kids … to their highest potential,” he said. 

And there are other characteristics among twice exceptional children that can make them hard to spot. Not all have high marks: Disillusionment with school coupled with the challenges of their disabilities can cause them to give up, further camouflaging their talents. 

Felicity Ross, who teaches mathematics to gifted children inside Baltimore City Public Schools, said it’s easy for teachers without proper training to correlate low test scores to low skills. 

“It can take years to diagnose kids with disabilities — and years to identify them as being gifted,” she said. “This is particularly tough for new teachers.”

But, she said, there are tactics that can help: When it comes to evaluating those children who have trouble writing, for example, educators should consider other factors.

“We need to listen to them verbally,” she said. “What they can tell us and explain might be at a different level than what they can write down or show. For math kids, they can’t explain it … but produce a correct answer.”

The problem there, she said, is that current standards around mathematics require students to show their progress and explain the strategy. 

“But that doesn’t align with their skills and abilities,” she said. 

Megan Roddie, 25, graduated high school two years early, earned two master’s degrees and enjoys a thriving career in cybersecurity. Diagnosed with autism at age 12, she didn’t recognize her own abilities for several years and the teachers in her Houston-area schools didn’t know how to handle her. 

“I talked a lot … and out of turn,” she said. “I was ahead of the curriculum I was given … and when I got bored, I acted out. They decided I wasn’t paying attention and that was an issue.”

But why pay attention when she already knew the answers, she reasoned.  

And, she said, her teachers didn’t always recognize her needs: When she scored stellar marks in mathematics in middle school, they moved her to the back of the classroom so the struggling kids could sit up front. 

“I felt like I was being punished, taken away from my favorite spot,” she said. “Especially as an autistic kid, you don’t mess with my routine.”

It takes time and communication for teachers to learn what their students need. And, experts say, teachers should remember children do not have to be advanced in all subjects to be considered gifted. 

“Some kids would benefit from advanced math but may not benefit at the moment from an advanced English class — though that could change in the future,” the Fordham Institute’s Wright said. “We don’t want to have exclusionary gifted services, but a spectrum of increased intensity that meets as many kids as possible where they are.”

Homero Chávez, the Early College Program director at Gadsden Elementary School District No. 32 in San Luis, Arizona, at the nation’s southern border, relies heavily on student test results to identify those who are gifted in mathematics. 

The highest scoring on standardized exams at each campus in the 5,000-student district are invited, starting in the fifth grade, to join a program that allows them to take for-credit college-level courses — and the ACT. 

Disabilities are not considered in the admissions process although students are accommodated as needed, Chávez said. 

“If they wish to be in a high-level class and they excel, why not?” he said. “They do have the right to be there.”

This article was published in partnership with The 74. Sign up for The 74’s newsletter here.

The report also indicates students’ behavior may have worsened this past academic year, echoing news accounts of young children regressing and older students acting out as a result of anxiety and depression and just-released federal surveys of 850 school leaders where roughly 1 in 3 reported an increase in student fights or physical attacks.

And, it notes, some schools have turned away from restorative justice programs that grew out of the Obama era to more punitive tactics, including out-of-school suspensions, which are particularly damaging to students: Research shows they harm academic achievement and can foreshadow incarceration in adulthood.

The Department of Education is in the process of revising its own disciplinary recommendations with a focus on these same student groups.

“This is perhaps one of the most urgent civil rights and social justice issues in education,” said Richard O. Welsh, assistant professor at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and the study’s author. “It is incredibly important in our effort to create a more equal and just society that we look at the school system and consider opportunities to learn and grow.”

Welsh cites two sources in his June 10 report: a 13,000-student district in the Atlanta metro area that allowed him to scrutinize its disciplinary records from 2014 to 2022 and news reports on student discipline culled from around the country.

Richard O. Welsh, assistant professor at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, found Black students and those in special education were disciplined far more often than their white and general education peers through the pandemic. (Dorothy Kozlowski)

He found that while suspensions plummeted at the Georgia district during the pandemic, Black students were still more likely to face punishment as compared to white and Hispanic students. News reports from across the nation back up the assertion.

Welsh learned that while the Georgia district’s office discipline referrals — such as a teacher sending a child to the principal’s office during in-person learning — declined in the 2020-21 school year, 82% of those referrals involved Black children, who made up only 48% of the student body.

Special education students accounted for 15% of the district’s overall population, but were 42% of the referrals that year. That number was not only disproportionate, it marked a significant spike from pre-pandemic years, when special needs students represented 29% of discipline referrals. Welsh found, too, Black children continued to be singled out in this category: Between 2015 and 2019, 23% of students referred for office discipline were Black students enrolled in special education. The figure jumped to 37% in 2020-21.

Disproportionality is a longstanding problem when it comes to school discipline.

American children lost 11.2 million days of instruction in the 2017-18 academic year because of out-of-school suspensions, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education.

While Black students made up just 15% of all U.S. students in 2017, they accounted for nearly 42% of the suspensions: Students with disabilities were 13.75% of all students and more than 24% of suspensions.

Too much punishment, or too little

Many school systems around the country have not yet compiled their disciplinary data for this past school year. But Welsh said interviews with staff at the Georgia district plus information gleaned from local news reports “points to an uptick in disciplinary infractions and consequences” in 2021-22.

Rohini Singh, assistant director at the School Justice Project for Advocates for Children of New York, said some schools are ratcheting up the punishments for incidents that would have been handled differently prior to the pandemic.

This is particularly true of on-campus fights, she said: A scuffle between two children that drew a crowd of onlookers might not have resulted in an out-of-school suspension in the past, but has stark consequences today — and not only for the students at the heart of the tussle. Onlookers are also being targeted, she said, charged with an infraction called “group violence,” a punishment previously doled out only to those who planned an attack in advance.

“The school is seeking a [lengthy] suspension for all of these students instead of looking at the individual circumstances, understanding what happened, the context,” Singh said.

New York City Department of Education Press Secretary Nathaniel Styer said he could not comment on specific discipline cases without knowing the names of the students involved. In 2019, the DOE moved to cap almost all suspensions to 20 days, restrict student arrests and train educators in alternative disciplinary practices.

At least one recent news story reports some NYC teachers and parents believe children are not being punished enough and that serious student misbehavior is often ignored. DOE data does show suspensions dropping dramatically, from 14,502 for the first four months of the 2017-18 school year to 8,369 for the same time period four years later.

The city school system has committed millions to restorative justice programs that focus on reconciliation over punishment to address long-standing racial disparities. Results are mixed but a 2021 California studyshowed children with the highest levels of exposure to restorative practices experienced Black–white discipline disparities five times smaller than those with the lowest levels of exposure.

Dana Ashley oversees a joint program between the United Federation of Teachers and the DOE aimed at changing the culture and climate in dozens of schools, moving them away from after-the-fact disciplinary tactics. She said teachers who have had continuous training on how to handle student meltdowns feel less discontented than those who have not.

“Teachers are frustrated when they are told they are supposed to know something, but are not given the resources to know it and do it well,” she said.

Elsewhere in the country, Chicago Public Schools saw a 16% increase in out-of-school suspensions for high school students in the first semester of the 2021-22 school year compared to the same time period two years earlier.

But, said Jadine Chou, head of safety and security at the 341,000-student district, it could have been far worse: CPS saw a 38% reduction in police notifications and a 50% drop in expulsions at its high schools during this same time period, which Chou attributes to the district’s long-standing commitment to restorative justice.

“We are very grateful to our school staff that they have signed on to this mindset,” she said, calling it, “the right thing to do.”

Pandemic-related trauma

Child advocate Andrew Hairston, director of the Education Justice Project at Texas Appleseed, said schools should consider the trauma students have faced before punishing them. (Kirk Tuck)

In the current climate, Andrew R. Hairston, director of the Education Justice Project at Texas Appleseed, said schools must factor in pandemic-related trauma when evaluating student behavior: Educators must remember many of these children lost loved ones, survived food and housing insecurity and endured unprecedented levels of isolation — and, in some cases, abuse — prior to returning to the classroom.

Their re-entry was botched, he said: Children needed greater flexibility and compassion.

“There is some lip service to social-emotional learning, but the investments don’t meet the needs,” he said.

Anell Eccleston, director of care and sustainability at the Student Advocacy Center of Michigan, said his organization’s helpline received nearly 300 calls this past school year from families concerned with disciplinary issues — up from roughly 150 prior to the pandemic.

“The majority of calls are from students who qualify for free or reduced lunch and single-parent homes, where their parent or guardian has also been impacted harshly by the pandemic,” he said. “Some schools are reimplementing zero tolerance practices and pushing out students at high rates.”

Out West, Paradise Valley Schools, which serves some 30,000 students in Phoenix and Scottsdale, also saw a jump in out-of-school suspensions, from 1,223 in 2018-19 to 1,356 last school year. In-school-suspensions dropped from 1,135 to 1,091 in that same time period.

School should have given younger students more time to play and older kids a greater opportunity to manage their emotions, perhaps allowing them to leave the classroom to cool off, said Meenal McNary, a co-collaborator with the Round Rock Black Parents Association in Texas. But a “return-to-normal” mindset won out, she said.

McNary pulled her three children, ages 5, 10 and 12, from her local public school district last year in favor of a small charter with a far higher percentage of Black and Hispanic children.

But even that didn’t spare them from what she believes is outsized punishment for minor infractions, like their failure to sit still and listen: When one of her kids was talking to another student in class while his teacher was delivering a lesson, the educator took away his Chromebook for a week as punishment, she said.

“They use that to learn,” she said. “How does that make any sense? Why can’t we do something different? OK, he’s bored, so what else can we do?”

Add high-stakes tests, pandemic-related stress for all and the constant threat of gun violence and both teachers and students are flailing, she said.

The roughest year of my life

Some states, recognizing the long-term damage of strict punishment, have tried to dramatically curb heavy-handed measures: Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2015 signed legislation aimed at making suspensions a last resort in an attempt to disrupt the school-to- prison pipeline. Several other states, including Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Louisiana and Nevada, have limited the grade levels in which out-of-school suspensions and expulsions can be used.

Denver Public Schools, which served 86,600 students last school year, started implementing restorative justice practices in 2005. A 2017 grant grew the program exponentially, prompting a 64% decrease in out-of-school suspensions overall, with a 77% decline for Black students and a 79% drop for children with disabilities, said Jay Grimm, the district’s director of student equity and opportunity.

But this past school year brought new challenges. The district saw a marked increase in what the state of Colorado dubs “detrimental behavior,” including student fights and bullying. In 2018-19, such behavior resulted in 1,155 out-of-school suspensions. Last year, the figure jumped to 1,754.

The district shrunk by roughly 4,000 students in that same time period.

Grimm said the school system remains committed to alternative forms of managing student misbehavior. There was a 41.5% reduction in expulsions this past school year compared to 2018-19, partly because the district changed the way teachers report classroom insubordination, which, he said, “could be subjective or have some bias.”

Nearly everyone who returned to the classroom last school year was at a disadvantage, administrators said. Teachers started the year burned out and those who were new to the profession, who joined the field when school was remote, had trouble managing their students.

Melissa Laurel, an educator for 21 years, said her South Texas charter school saw a four-fold increase in disciplinary referrals this past academic year. While fights remained relatively uncommon at her 6th- through 12th-grade campus, vandalism skyrocketed as children answered TikTok challenges that left her school’s bathrooms damaged.

Worse yet, she said, parents, who used to be allies in helping teachers manage their children at school, were suddenly unsupportive. A high-ranking administrator on the road to becoming principal, Laurel left the post to work at the charter’s regional office in part because of poor student behavior.

“It was the roughest year of my life,” said Laurel, who starts her new position in July. “The kids were just more aggressive.”

David Combs, former assistant principal at a Knoxville, Tennessee high school, said staff observed an increase in racial slurs among students and more vandalism than he had ever seen in his 23 years in education — combined.

Combs, who will start a new position at a different district in the fall, attributes the change to too much time at home and on the internet.

“It was as if they missed a stage in development and maturity,” he said. “But, toward the end of the year, that was starting to decline.”

McNary, the Round Rock parent leader, is empathetic to teachers, saying they had to manage an entirely new, fraught landscape: Not only did they have unruly students but they also had to abide by new Texas state laws restricting discussions of systemic racism and LGBTQ issues.

“Teachers not only have to make sure their kids are OK, but also to not say anything wrong,” she said. “When are they supposed to get to know the children?”

The survey was conducted electronically in May by The Harris Poll on behalf of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. It was a follow-up to the Alliance’s own 2021 enrollment study, which noted charter schools’ growth during the pandemic. While traditional public schools lost more than 1.2 million students during the pandemic, charters gained nearly 240,000 children during the 2020-21 school year: Their enrollment grew 7%, the largest increase in half a decade.

The Alliance commissioned Harris to do subsequent polling, it said, to gain deeper insights into the parental “behaviors, experiences, preferences and attitudes” that were fueling this trend. Debbie Veney, senior vice president of communications and marketing, told The 74 last week that one result, in particular, surprised her.

“I was blown away by the number of people who said they were willing to vote outside their political party for someone having the same position on education they do,” Veney said.

The polling doesn’t shed light on what positions parents would like candidates to hold.

But the pandemic has caused substantial shifts in how parents view education, making them more assertive about their own decision-making power in their children’s schooling. This has led to a rise in conservative parent groups and an increased interest in choice and alternative school models.

“While we can’t speak to the parent’s agenda or motivations, our research findings indicate that when it comes to children’s education, safety and quality of instructions are at the top of parents’ list, with 96% and 93% respectively, rating them as absolutely essential or very important,” said Anna Ginovker, vice president of research at Harris.

More than 4 in 5 respondents to the Harris poll said education has become a more important political issue to them than it was in the past: 2 in 5 strongly agreed with the assertion.

The Harris Poll

Among parents who vote in federal, state and local elections, education was second only to taxes when casting their ballot in state and local races, the survey showed. It ranked fourth, behind the economy, taxation, and health care, in federal elections. For the much smaller group of parents who only vote in state and local elections, education was also second, just behind the economy and ahead of health care.

The results reflected parents’ affinity for charter schools: Nearly 3 in 4 said they would consider sending their child to a charter if one were available in their area. The same amount would like more charter offerings nearby and support expanding the number of seats available in existing charter schools.

Results showed Black parents were particularly eager for an alternative to traditional public schools: 71% strongly agreed that “one size does not fit all when it comes to educating children.”

Harris found 70% of Black parents and 63% of Hispanic parents strongly agreed that families should have a choice in where their children attend school.

More specifically, 53% of Black parents and 40% of Hispanic parents strongly agreed they should have educational options outside their assigned or zoned district school.

The U.S. Department of Education is working on a new rule governing the $440 million federal Charter Schools Program that would give preference to charters that local school districts view as potential partners, while discouraging new applications in communities with voluntary integration efforts.

Charter supporters say it would make it more difficult to get charters approved in districts experiencing enrollment declines and the Alliance has said it would particularly harm single-site operators, often school leaders of color who are more dependent on federal funding. Nearly 65% of charter schools are single-site, it said.

There were 7,547 charter schools in the United States in the 2019-20 school year, up from 4,952 a decade earlier.

Public charter school enrollment jumped from 1.6 million in fall 2009 to 3.3 million in fall 2018, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. At the same time, the organization reported, the number of students attending traditional public schools decreased by 400,000.

This article was published in partnership with The 74. Sign up for The 74’s newsletter here.

bell hooks (Getty Images)

From reimagining the classroom to tearing down imposter syndrome, author, critic and fierce public intellectual bell hooks inspired women of color across generations to create a world in which all are free to reach their potential.

Born Gloria Jean Watkins in rural, segregated Kentucky, hooks graduated from Stanford University in 1974 with a degree in English literature. Throughout the course of her career, she wrote dozens of books under the name she adopted to honor her maternal great-grandmother. Each one helped cement her reputation as a great thinker, a woman whose observations about education, race and love would earn iconic status among the many students she taught through the years and the hordes of other college and graduate students assigned her work.

“To me the classroom continues to be a place where paradise can be realized, a place of passion and possibility, a place where spirit matters, where all that we learn and know leads us into greater connection, into greater understanding of life lived in community,” she wrote in her 2003 book, Teaching Community, a Pedagogy of Hope.

A feminist scholar and social activist, hooks was most recently a distinguished professor in residence in Appalacian studies at Berea College. She died Dec. 15 at age 69 after an extended illness, the Kentucky university announced.

Stephanie J. Hull is the president and CEO of Girls Inc., a national organization that serves — through programing and advocacy — more than 132,000 girls through a network of 80 local organizations across the U.S. and Canada. She was first introduced to hooks in graduate school at Harvard and later taught some of her work at Dartmouth.

“I never read or heard anything from her that I didn’t admire,” Hull said of hooks. “What she spoke was important. What she wrote was important. Her way of thinking and her approach was so transformative … and so challenging — but in a very productive way.”

Hull knew her own accomplishments were substantive, having risen to academic heights as a Black woman in the 1960s and ’70s. But, she said, she didn’t feel the weight of racism in her daily life, in part because of women like hooks.

“She broke that ground and made it less remarkable for me,” Hull said. “bell hooks meant for us to build on what she built. I don’t think she meant for us to stop at that point. Her work says, ‘Keep going.’”

That’s exactly what Ashley Rodriguez Lantigua, 20, hopes to do. A first-generation college student, she was particularly moved by hooks’s book Teaching to Transgress, Education as the Practice of Freedom.A student at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, she wants to one day work in education.

She said she drew inspiration from hooks’s assertion that love should be at the center of the classroom. If that were the case, Rodriguez Lantigua said, schools would look remarkably different.

“Without an ethic of love in a classroom, we can’t center wellness, especially in the schools I have gone through, public schools, with their focus on standardized testing,” Rodriguez Lantigua said, adding that hooks encouraged her to create something better. “I see it as a space for healing where children are reminded of their power and their ability to dream.”

But hooks’s work wasn’t just about helping others. Serena Natile, an academic and feminist activist, said Teaching to Transgress made her feel legitimized, allowing her to abandon the stereotype she had come to embrace as a standard for the field — one she did not fit.

“My strength was very different and was a great one and I had to use that — not to lecture behind the table, but create more conversations with students, changing the way they would approach me … and listen to them more,” said Natile, an assistant professor at the University of Warwick’s School of Law in the U.K.

An assistant English professor at the University of Central Florida, Cecilia Rodríguez Milanés admired hooks as a teacher, writer and critic.

“The one thing that stood out to me from the beginning was how directly she spoke to the reader — with no footnotes, no highfalutin’ academic lingo,” Rodríguez Milanés said. “She was writing in plain English and it was really impressive to me. It made me think, ‘I belong in academe, too.’”

There’s my baby @ItsDrLLM (in glasses) all grown up as a grad student at UK & meeting #bellhooks https://t.co/GhR7unsDBs

— Dr. Cecilia Rodríguez Milanés (@CeciliaMilanes) December 17, 2021

Rodríguez Milanés said hooks also helped her fight the imposter syndrome she’s battled throughout her career, her fear that someone might some day rip away the Ph.D. she worked so hard to earn. And while hooks might have, in her early works, appealed mostly to Black women, she later expanded to all.

“By the time we got to Teaching to Transgress and Feminism is for Everyone, she was reaching across different communities,” she said, adding that the Latin community started to quote her work, reflecting its universality.

Sarah Brown, senior educational specialist at the Center for Powerful Public Schools, an organization founded in 2003 to help schools create a more equitable and motivational learning environment, is dedicating the next year to rereading hooks’s works.

“There are just so many aspects of my different identities that she spoke to,” Brown said. “There is only one bell hooks, only one who could so eloquently and yet succinctly capture it all.”

Alicia Montgomery, the Center’s executive director, said hooks encouraged Black women such as herself to speak up and be heard no matter how their opinions are received.

“She would say things people would not like,” Montgomery said. “When you want to be authentically yourself, you have to do that knowing what it is going to cost.”

Hooks’s legacy will live on through those she’s touched, Montgomery said.

“We will speak her into existence,” she said, adding hooks’s work is no doubt inspiring other young Black and brown thought leaders in the making. “I’m waiting to see what that next bell hooks has to say.”

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Nearly 40 percent of 669 educators who serve English language learners around the world said they should have repeated last school year because of pandemic-related learning loss, according to a recent survey.

More than 56 percent of respondents said these students’ formal education was significantly disrupted, but they were not the only children to have suffered: Most did not believe they were disproportionately affected as compared to their English-speaking peers, despite evidence to the contrary.

The answers were gleaned from a survey conducted in October by Off2Class, a company that provides curriculum, assessments and professional development tools to ESL teachers. The seven-year-old for-profit is headquartered in Canada but serves more than 90,000 students in 120 countries.

Nearly three-quarters of survey respondents were teachers: The others were tutors. Roughly half live in the United States though many are Americans living and working in other countries.

Off2Class

Several of the questions were answered on a sliding scale though teachers were able to write their responses to open-ended queries. The results reveal their concerns about the long-term consequences of lower expectations for English language learners — and about their backsliding, especially in the area of grammar.

Some respondents were concerned about students’ mental health and the return of behavioral problems usually seen in elementary school — getting out of their seat at inappropriate times and name-calling — while others wondered whether students’ enthusiasm for school would return.

“Most of them just logged in on Zoom, left the computer and pretended not to care,” one educator wrote. “My main concern is that it has made them less interested in studying/engaging in future classes.”

Still others focused on the difficulty of learning a new language without close interaction with school staff.

“I think ESL learning is extremely difficult over the internet when it comes to pronunciation,” another educator said. “Students benefit from being able to mimic mouth movement and that can get lost on video chat.”

More than 44 percent of survey-takers said their schools supplied them with sufficient technology to weather the shutdowns. But more than a quarter disagreed.

It’s not surprising, then, that more than 62 percent of respondents paid out of pocket for some of the tools they needed to serve their students during the pandemic: They spent hundreds — or, in some cases, even thousands of dollars — on additional materials, including books, computers, routers, printers, webcams, headsets and memberships to online educational resources.

Off2Class

But no matter what they purchased, problems persisted. Motivation was a significant hurdle for students learning at home. Not only did they face a massive disruption in their lives because of school closures, but they also wrestled with a faltering economy and in many cases, lost wages for themselves or their families.

Educators said they, too, felt the strain: While many respondents reported an even greater passion for their work — one said the pandemic, “has only increased my desire to improve myself so I can be of further use to my students” — some were clearly overburdened.

Not all teachers received the help they needed from their schools. While more than 48 percent said they were supported by their employers during the crisis, nearly 20 percent strongly disagreed with the statement. More than 58 percent of respondents said their stress levels rose sharply during the crisis.

“The way we are treated, the amount of work versus pay, the disrespect and disregard of teacher’s mental health,” one teacher began, “I feel like quitting for good every single day.”

Despite the burnout, there were bright spots: Nearly half the respondents — 46 percent — said their confidence in online teaching skyrocketed during the pandemic. Kris Jagasia, CEO and co-founder of Off2Class, was glad to see teachers build their skills in this area.

“Looking forward, now that ed tech is here to stay, it’s really important that technology be considered very purposefully to make sure the right investments are being made for ELLs,” he said.

Some respondents were reached through a Facebook group founded by Off2Class while others were contacted by email through the company’s customer database. Most use its software and were incentivized to participate through T-shirt giveaways and/or a $25 credit toward the purchase of the company’s goods.

The 74 contributed several questions to the survey, including those on student retention.

The results, collected between Oct. 22-29, were telling: While some educators might have wished for English language learners to have repeated a grade, only 22 percent recommended this for their own students.

Off2Class

Tim Boals is the founder and director of WIDA, an organization that provides language development standards, assessments, and resources to those who support multilingual learners. Based out of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, WIDA has 41 member states and territories which use their language standards and follow their guidelines for teaching these children.

Boals is well aware of the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on traditionally underserved populations, including multilingual learners, but does not believe retention is the answer: He said schools should remember language acquisition takes time.

The real problem, he said, is some educators’ lack of faith in these children: If teachers label them unsuccessful, the children themselves will believe they are destined to fail.

“If we see kids as ‘behind their peers,’ the danger is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that denies them the future opportunities they need,” he said. “There are plenty of anecdotal examples of people going through most of their school careers at the bottom and then something happens that shows them their potential greatness and they turn it around.”

Success depends on a schoolwide buy-in, with every adult on campus working to create a welcoming and engaging environment for newcomer children and committing themselves to helping them learn English while they master content subjects. All this, Boals said, while respecting and building upon their students’ own languages and cultures.

“It’s a big job, but there are plenty of examples of schools that are succeeding,” he said. “We need to share those examples and ensure that educators have the resources and understanding to create and sustain those learning spaces for multilingual learners.”

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Christopher Ochoa of McAllen, Texas, has loved mathematics since he was a young child, his interest fueled by summer-time math camps and trips to Space Center Houston.

The high school senior’s strong work ethic helped him manage his ADHD, dyslexia, and sensory overload well enough to earn stellar marks and gain entry to Texas A&M University.

But during the pandemic, both his grades and his academic confidence plummeted.

“When you’re in the classroom, you can ask a question, go to the whiteboard with your teacher and he’ll work through it with you,” the 18-year-old said. “Now, when you ask a question, you have to unmute your mic and you can’t see the teacher face to face or make eye contact. It’s just not the same. There isn’t that physical interaction.”

Chris Ochoa sits at his family kitchen table on a recent evening. Ochoa, a solid math student already accepted to Texas A&M University, has struggled to keep high marks in the subject during the pandemic. (Carrie Manthey Ochoa)

Teachers say pandemic-related setbacks in mathematics will linger well into the coming school year, especially for students who suffered the most during shutdowns. Unable to peer over their students’ shoulders and correct their work, math teachers lost the ability to offer on-the-spot tutorials. The results showed: A November NWEA study of fall 2020 test scores for nearly 4.4 million children in grades 3 through 8 found they lagged 5 to 10 percentage points in math compared to students in the prior year.

Chase Nordengren, a senior research scientist at NWEA, said math-related learning loss in the upper elementary and middle school grades has been stark, mirroring what happened to students who suffered through Hurricane Katrina.

He’s unsurprised by the timing: It’s in the later elementary years that students tackle computational arithmetic and conceptual thinking — including fractions and ratios — for the first time. “It’s not hard to imagine those skills are more difficult to teach remotely,” he said.

(Jennifer Kennard/Getty Images)

Matthew Reames, a fifth grade math teacher at Daniel Morgan Intermediate School in Winchester, Virginia, said distance learning has hindered some students’ ability to build their skills.

“The way the standards are set up, the kids really need to master every single thing in that grade to be successful the next year,” Reames said. “Even if you are missing one little thing, it might amplify itself later on.”

Matthew Reames, is a fifth grade math teacher at Daniel Morgan Intermediate School in Winchester, Virginia, said a gap in students’ skills in mathematics will hinder their ability to learn new concepts. (John Westervelt)

Other subjects, including science, don’t face the same hurdles, he said.

“If you don’t understand the water cycle, that won’t put you at a disadvantage with magnets,” he said. “You might have gaps in what you know but it is not a specific skill. Math is a whole lot of skills and concepts that build on themselves from year to year. There is not really anything you can leave out. And that’s true whether you are in a pandemic or not. Each year, we look for these gaps.”

And there are other challenges, too, as the pandemic lingers and even worsens in some areas. Trevor Doyle, a middle school math teacher in Camino, California, remains on a hybrid schedule a year into the crisis. Students attend school in the mornings or afternoons for just three hours, four days a week, with Mondays reserved for planning and meetings. It’s simply not enough time to keep them on track, he said.

Doyle is not new to the profession. He’s taught mathematics for 18 years, including three at Folsom State Prison. But nothing could prepare him for the challenges brought on by distance learning.

He believes 80 percent of his students will have made up for what they lost during the next school year.

But he’s less optimistic about the remaining 20 percent. It could take that group twice as long because the school could not offer on-site remediation during shutdowns. Prior to the pandemic, struggling students were invited to school an hour early and for another 45 minutes after the last bell rang — in addition to working through lunch.

Now, a sizable portion of his students are floundering, including those who struggled in school prior to the shutdowns and whose parents are unable to hold them accountable for online coursework.

“It’s that middle-of-the-road kid who needs that extra push, who is the furthest behind,” he said.

Summer school might help, Doyle said. President Biden’s American Rescue Plan requires states to invest at least $1.2 billion in summer enrichment programs. Doyle’s own district saw a fourfold increase in such spending, and is planning an intensive summer program focused almost solely on academics.

But he does not expect it will make up for all that was lost.

“A lot of teachers are expecting to reteach material at the beginning of next year,” Doyle said.

Yvonne Calderon said it’s not only those children from disadvantaged backgrounds who are struggling during the pandemic. Even more well-off students have lost ground. Calderon teaches 7th grade mathematics at an affluent private school in Tempe, Arizona, one that has been in-person most of the school year.

All of her students have experienced at least some trauma related to the pandemic, she said. Several told her they suffer from anxiety and many are having difficulty retaining what they’ve been taught.

She’s found herself reteaching concepts these students should have mastered years ago.

“Despite wealth, these children still face challenges within their own families,” Calderon said. “I have years of experience in teaching math and I have never seen this before.”

Danilsa Fernandez teaches middle- and high school algebra at City College Academy of the Arts in New York City. Dubbed a master teacher by the non-profit Math for America, a New York City-based group that supports educators and improves retention, she stayed on task for much of the school year until a pandemic-related closure in mid-March.

But even after her students returned, she had reason to revisit concepts she’d taught before: The transition back to in-person learning allowed her to see more of her students’ work, which reflected their inability to master key concepts.

Danilsa Fernandez, who teaches middle- and high school algebra at City College Academy of the Arts in New York City, didn’t realize the extent to which her students failed to pick up key concepts in mathematics until they returned to school. (Danilsa Fernandez)

“Mistakes that were easily hidden behind a computer screen were now in full display,” she said. “I decided it would benefit the students to re-discover some topics without rushing through the material.”

Eighth grader Jaslyn Ovalles is one of Fernandez’ students. She struggled mightily with online learning: Her grades dropped sharply across every subject.

“It’s hard when you are at home because you are in your own environment,” said Jaslyn, 13, who spent part of each day looking after her four younger siblings. “Not all of your teachers require you to turn on your camera, so you can use your phone, watch TV while you’re sitting in your bed or on the couch. It’s easy to fall asleep.”

Once she returned to campus, Jaslyn’s grade shot up almost immediately.

“If I could just get my grades up in science, I’d be passing all my classes,” she said.

Nordengren, of NWEA, advises teachers to take the time to understand each child’s abilities and be sure not to waste precious time reteaching concepts they have already mastered or skipping ahead to topics for which they are unprepared.

He said parents can help, too, by incorporating math in their everyday life — grocery store check-out lines can provide a great opportunity to consider addition, subtraction, percentages and other, more complex topics — and by not speaking negatively about the subject in front of their children.

“If you have a parent that says, ‘I’m not a math person,’ or ‘We are not math people,’ that will put that deficit mindset into a kid’s brain,” Nordengren said.

Ochoa never had that problem, until now. He’ll spend his summer working with a tutor trying to undo it.

And while he was thrilled to gain entry to Texas A&M, he made a last-minute switch to the University of Oklahoma, a smaller school that would offer him far more academic support, something he values after such a difficult year.

“Whatever I missed in online learning, I can learn there and be better prepared,” he said. “I’d rather be ahead than behind.”

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Immigrants, including a 3 1/2 year old unaccompanied minor from Honduras, wait to be bussed to a U.S. Border Patrol facility after crossing the border from Mexico in 2019. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Thousands of English language learners could be headed for American public schools in the coming months due to recent changes in U.S. immigration policy and devastating natural disasters in Central and South America.

Their arrival could pose a challenge for local school systems, particularly poor districts that might not have enough teachers or space to support them. In recent years, several have turned these children away in violation of their legal rights.

“Some schools across the country have discouraged the enrollment of older immigrant students on the grounds that they are more likely to drop out, will not attend regularly, require significant language instruction or don’t have sufficient years to graduate,” said Maura McInerney, legal director of the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania. “This is discriminatory, unlawful and factually incorrect.”

The number of children fleeing Mexico and Central America on their own has seen a dramatic increase in recent months. Some 3,364 unaccompanied minors were referred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement in December, up from a low of 39 in May, according to government records. The spike has already prompted the new administration to reopen a controversial overflow facility to house up to 700 teens already cleared of COVID-19.

An advisor to president Joe Biden said these children and those separated from their parents at the border are a top priority as he crafts a new national immigration plan.

Biden has already undone several Trump immigration measures through executive order, but improving the byzantine asylum process and ensuring enough judges are available to handle the caseload will be far more difficult. Those measures will likely require buy-in from moderate Democrats and at least some Republicans.

Several more conservative members of Congress have already spoken out against some early proposals. Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, said Biden’s “radical immigration agenda” calls for “total amnesty,” and predicted that opening the southern border would bring in cheap labor at a time when many Americans are experiencing a financial free fall.

A federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked the president’s 100-day deportation moratorium after state attorney general Ken Paxton sued the new administration, citing “budgetary harms,” including added education costs. A similar suit was filed in Arizona Feb. 3 in what could be a harbinger of future litigation.

President Joe Biden makes brief remarks before signing several executive orders directing immigration actions for his administration in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 2. (Doug Mills-Pool / Getty Images)

“It’s going to be a battle,” said Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, a California Democrat and one of seven women who will shepherd Biden’s immigration reform bill through the House of Representatives. “It is not going to be easy to do a lot of these.”

‘An enormous opportunity’

The new president has inherited many challenges: Approximately 4,400 unaccompanied minors remain in government custody today, according to the refugee resettlement office.

They represent only a small fraction of the 234,000 such children who have made their way to America in the past five years.

Those who enroll this year will likely find a mix of open and closed schools as districts continue to grapple with the pandemic. Regardless of their status, schools are legally obligated to serve newcomer students in-person or through distance learning.

Donna M. Neary, a teacher in the Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Kentucky, has worked with dozens of these students in the past seven years. She said they face numerous hurdles, including a language barrier that can hide their true ability, landing even gifted students on an inferior track.

“So many of these kids are bright, educated and would be at the top of the class if they spoke English,” she said.

One piece of supporting evidence is an essay Neary kept, written by an unaccompanied student she taught in 2018. The teen, from Guatemala, fled the country after he was drafted into a gang against his wishes.

He wrote of his desire to become an American despite the obstacles he faced, including abuse from family members he lived with upon arrival and hostility from residents of his newly adopted country.

Still, he had no regrets about his decision to emigrate to the U.S, calling it “an enormous opportunity…even if it means coming illegally.”

Flores requirements

The plight of unaccompanied minors predates the Trump administration: Former President Barack Obama was criticized for housing these children in poor conditions in 2014.

But his successor’s immigration policies drew worldwide condemnation. The United Nations called one of them, family separation, a violation of international law. The American Civil Liberties Union, which fought to stop the practice, estimates more than 1,000 remain apart from their parents today.

Michael Garcia Bochenek, senior counsel for the Children’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch, said the United States has much to improve in its treatment of young migrants. He said the country must abide by standards established in the 1997 Flores settlement, which requires immigrant children in government custody to be held in safe, sanitary facilities with access to proper medical care and educational services, among many other conditions.

“Not only were these standards never really implemented for decades, but the Trump administration tried to dismantle them with bad faith regulations introduced in recent years,” he said.

Some 185,000 people were turned away at the border in 2020 as a result of pandemic-related restrictions alone, with some children waiting in Mexico so long that local volunteers created makeshift schools to serve them. Caesar Linares, 10, has lived in an encampment in Matamoros for more than a year after leaving Guatemala with his mother. A strong math student, the boy, who suffers from dermatitis, hopes to one day become a dermatologist.

Reached by phone last week, the child said he’s anxious to leave the border city: A bullet pierced the family’s tent on New Year’s Eve, landing on his mother’s bed as she and her son knelt in prayer.

“I’m sad all the time,” Caesar said through an interpreter. “It’s hard to live here. We don’t have a safe place to play.”

In this 2019 photo, child asylum seekers in Matamoros, Mexico, sit on the bank of the Rio Grande close to their encampment as cameras from an American surveillance tower look on from across the border. (John Moore / Getty Images)

Asked when he wanted to leave, the boy responded instantly: “Right now.”

Academic challenges

Emily Francis, a high school English language teacher at Cabarrus County Schools in North Carolina, said many of the unaccompanied minors who have passed through her doors have missed months or even years of school in their home countries.

Some students, particularly girls, drop out because it’s too dangerous to walk to campus, while others must work to support themselves and their families.

Emily Francis (University of North Carolina, Charlotte)

Those who prioritize school tend to overcome the academic loss. “They are so dedicated,” said Francis, who fled Guatemala with her own mother at age 15. “And they are so strong. Even if they experience gaps in their education, it doesn’t usually hinder them.”

But their journeys to America often take an emotional toll. Adrian Lira, a licensed professional counselor in Houston who has worked with unaccompanied minors since 2012, said many are devastated by the violence in their homelands and having to leave their parents and siblings behind.

Some have been robbed, raped, kidnapped, held for ransom or even murdered during their months-long treks.

“Many of the kids who survive intact physically have often witnessed similar crimes against other migrants,” he said, suffering depression and anxiety as a result.

Adrian Lira (Mark Moore)

Margie Kirstein, who taught several unaccompanied students in Boston in the 2017-2018 school year, recalls an affable 10th grader from El Salvador who was full of potential but whose education suffered because of his need to earn a paycheck.

“He made an effort and his work was good, he just didn’t have much in the tank,” she said of the teen, who worked nights in an auto body shop.

She’s unsure what became of him — many of these students are highly transient. Some have unstable housing or move around to find work, which can make them difficult to serve.

Despite their challenges, these students can succeed in school with proper support, teachers and advocates say.

“Even with the children who have gone through the worst of the worst, I can honestly say that this group, unaccompanied minors, are probably the most hopeful people I have ever met,” Lira said. “Their level of appreciation for the U.S. and opportunity is like none I have ever seen. They come here for a reason and they understand that at a very young age.”

This story was produced with support from the Education Writers Association Reporting Fellowship program.

Jo Napolitano is the author of a book about immigrant education, The School I Deserve: Six Young Refugees and Their Fight for Equality in America (Beacon Press, April 2021.) Maura McInerney, legal director of the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, was one of the attorneys she profiled.

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Luis Martinez, 11 and a fifth grader in Los Angeles, next to his mother, Tania Rivera, upon receiving an award two years ago. Luis, who has autism and is non-verbal, rarely missed a day of instruction prior to the pandemic. (Credit: Tania Rivera)

Luis Martinez, an 11-year-old fifth grader with autism, rarely missed a day of school before the pandemic. Though non-verbal, he delighted in seeing his friends and teachers, and his mother, who quit her job five years ago to care for him, was thrilled for his small gains in communication.

But that all changed during the shutdowns: Luis, a student in the Los Angeles Unified School District, has logged 14 absences since fall and no longer makes any attempt to interact with his peers online. After 10 months of remote education, he barely looks at his tablet during class and acts out nearly every day, scratching and biting himself and members of his family out of frustration.

“He almost never threw tantrums during in-person learning,” said his mother, Tania Rivera, speaking through a translator. “This has been a very difficult experience. He cries a lot. We both do.”

Rivera believes LAUSD should have done more for her son, and other parents within her district feel the same. Their complaints reached the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, which opened a flurry of investigations in the waning days of the Trump administration seeking to uncover whether the district — alongside school systems in Seattle and Fairfax County, Virginia, as well as the Indiana Department of Education — failed to serve disabled students during the pandemic.

The inquiries, announced January 12, just days after former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos left her post, reflect the anguish of those forced to watch their children regress at home, losing skills it took them years to build. Parents from coast to coast say their local school districts should either open their doors to these students or play a greater role in providing at-home care.

“We have heard similar complaints from all across the country,” said Denise Stile Marshall, head of The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc., a group that fights on behalf of children with disabilities. “Many parents are desperate and at their wit’s end. It’s been 10 months of getting nothing or going round and round with the district for even the basics…and getting nowhere.”

Four investigations

The civil rights office, in a letter to the Los Angeles school system, cited “disturbing reports” about possible discrimination against disabled children, noting that some students’ parents had already sued the district.

More than 67,000 children in LAUSD receive special education services, a tiny fraction of the national total of more than 7 million.

Luis Martinez, 11 and a fifth grader in Los Angeles, has struggled with distance learning since school closures began. (Courtesy of Tania Rivera)

At issue, at least on the part of some L.A. parents, is the district’s decision to remain closed.

Lisa Mosko, director of special education advocacy for the L.A.-based group Speak UP, which urges parents to fight for equity in their local schools, understands her county is in a difficult position because of a recent surge in COVID cases.

Even so, she said, LAUSD could make a greater effort to curb learning loss during the shutdowns.

“I need to see more urgency when it comes to the district and the teachers union,” said Mosko, who wishes the school system would connect families with behavioral aides who could work with them at home. “They need to be thinking more creatively about how they can really lift kids up during this time.”

School officials stand by their decision to remain shuttered as the virus continues to spread.

“Because of the dangerously high level of COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County, the Department of Public Health ‘strongly recommended’ on January 8 that all school districts in the County suspend in-person services until the end of the month,” a district spokeswoman said in response to the investigation.

On the other side of the country, Fairfax County Public Schools, which serves more than 28,000 students with disabilities, has asked federal investigators for more information about the allegations that prompted their inquiry and may conduct its own.

So far, a spokeswoman said, it has not been provided with additional details beyond the office’s claim that while the school system declined to provide in-person instruction for students with disabilities, it opened schools for in-person child-care for general education children.

Some parents have spoken out against its local teachers union, which have recently pushed for delays in re-opening.

The education department told Indiana officials it was “particularly troubled” by complaints alleging disabled students “have been forced by local school districts into virtual learning programs that were not individualized to meet those students’ unique needs.”

Kim Dodson, chief executive officer of The Arc of Indiana, which advocates for those with developmental and intellectual disabilities, said services are inconsistent from one campus to the next.

“Some schools figured things out and things went relatively well,” she said. “In other areas it seems that schools have thrown up their hands and are just trying to ride out the pandemic.”

More than 180,000 children in the state are identified as having a disability.

In Seattle, the district was rocked last fall by a jaw-dropping statistic: Only one student was receiving in-person special education services at the end of October compared to hundreds in neighboring districts.

The school system, home to more than 8,000 children with disabilities, was called out for allegedly telling its special education teachers “not to deliver specially-designed instruction,” prohibiting them from adapting lessons to meet each child’s needs.

District officials said they are trying to keep pace with changing requirements.

“Since March, every time state guidance has changed, the district has adjusted,” said spokesman Tim Robinson.

‘Parents have enough on their plates’

The education department said the initiation of the investigations does not prove these school systems are in violation. Investigators are simply trying to determine if these students were denied the free appropriate education to which they are entitled to under federal law.

Stile Marshall said the action is long overdue. She said, too, that it’s important for the department to be proactive in protecting students’ rights.

Her organization has fielded numerous complaints from parents since March, many focused on schools’ failure to implement their child’s individualized learning plans: In some cases, she said, districts are unilaterally changing the amount of hours of related services these students are entitled to receive.

Even more troubling, she said, some children with disabilities have been kept out of distance learning entirely.

“Parents have enough on their plates right now,” Stile Marshall said. “They don’t need to once again fulfill the enforcer role, too.”

Mason Hayes, 16, of Bloomington, Indiana, has Down Syndrome and autism. Much of his in-school education focuses on critical life skills that can help him navigate the outside world. These skills were nearly impossible to build through distance learning, his mother, Stacy, said. (Courtesy of the Hayes family.)

But that’s exactly how Stacy Hayes of Bloomington, Indiana, felt when she advocated for her 16-year-old son Mason, who has Down Syndrome and autism.

A significant portion of Mason’s education focuses on life skills, such as ordering food at a restaurant, visiting the grocery store, and using a communication board — in this case, an electronic device that helps him relate his thoughts to the outside world — none of which can be taught through distance learning, his mother said.

To complicate matters, Mason transitioned to a new school this fall. Because of the shutdowns, he was not able to visit the campus or meet with his new teachers prior to starting the ninth grade.

His mother wanted his school to either bring him back to campus safely or help pay for additional services at home.

“He has a short attention span,” she said. “He can only sit in front of a computer for a few minutes, depending what is going on on the screen. Virtual learning is no learning at all.”

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Landra Fair, a high school science teacher at Unified School District No. 232 in Kansas, was thrilled for the chance to participate in Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine trial this past summer, eager to further scientific research in this area.

It’s not the first time a member of her family has done so: Her mother was part of a landmark study on estrogen and breast cancer starting in the mid-1980s.

“I am pretty familiar with the science of vaccines,” said Fair, 49, who teaches biology and chemistry at Mill Valley High School, 45 minutes east of Topeka. “They aren’t something that scares me. This is such a catastrophe that we are living through – and they needed us.”

As the U.S. inches closer to greenlighting one or more vaccines, teachers have once again become a focal point in the nation’s battle against COVID-19.

Those eager to permanently reopen America’s schools are pushing hard for their high placement on the recipient list: Teachers given priority could receive the shots within weeks while those lumped in with the general population might wait months.

Many legislators, health care providers and economists believe that’s far too long. They say getting teachers back in the classroom is the only means to curb dramatic learning loss and jump start a lagging economy, freeing parents to focus on work rather than childcare.

Landra Fair (Elsa Fair)

FDA vaccines advisor Dr. James Hildreth said Sunday that Americans could start receiving the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine as early as Friday. Moderna’s could follow shortly after.

An advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently recommended that health care personnel and residents of long-term care facilities be offered the inoculation in the first round of distribution, Phase 1a, with teachers and other educational staff included in Phase 1b.

But much of the decision making will be left to individual states whose leaders have long been crafting dispersal plans, prioritizing certain groups — mostly following the panel’s guidelines — before others. Teachers generally rank high, typically in the first or second phase of distribution.

President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 vaccine czar said last week the country should be able to immunize 100 million people by the end of February. But it’s not clear how the vaccine will be received at a time when the virus itself has become politicized.

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Fair wanted early access so she would be prepared for her return to campus this fall. The money helped, too: She’ll be paid $2,000 over the course of two years for her participation in the trial.

But she worries others might not be so willing. Many members of her school community do not wear masks in public, continue to congregate in large groups and don’t seem fearful of the disease, despite a surge of hospitalizations and deaths, one that shows no signs of waning as Christmas nears.

More than 282,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the United States. Nearly 15 million have tested positive for the virus.

“The science teachers are all like-minded,” Fair said. “But there are a lot of people in the community who are not worried about this virus at all and might not be interested in the vaccine.”

Skepticism might also fall along racial lines: Some Blacks and Latinos, who have a long history of receiving substandard or no healthcare at all, are wary of the shots. They’re also more likely than whites to contract and die of COVID-19.

Former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama have volunteered to receive their injections on camera to boost public confidence in the vaccine.

Teachers also could help ease the nation’s fears about inoculation, according to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the National Education Association and several other prominent education groups whose leaders signed a letter late last month urging the CDC to prioritize educators.

“When asked, Americans have a higher degree of trust of teachers and of schools than they do of other institutions,” they wrote. “The education community could be a ‘trusted messenger’ to help ease anxieties and increase the trust factor.”

But before that can happen, teachers themselves must learn about the vaccine. Some education groups have already mobilized to spread the message about its safety and effectiveness.

Math for America, or MƒA, founded in New York City by Jim Simons, who along with his wife, Marilyn Simons, founded the Simons Foundation, is delivering a lecture on the topic to hundreds of teachers Monday night.

The talk is expected to cover the latest in COVID-19 vaccine developments, their safety and efficacy — and where New Yorkers and teachers might fall on the priority list to receive shots.

“Our job is to connect the teachers in New York City with scientists at the cutting edge of what is happening — and they should make their decisions accordingly,” said Michael Driskill, the group’s chief operating officer.

The 1.7-million member AFT sponsored a similar event Dec. 2.

Testing of children lags

But as distribution draws ever closer, one critical group has largely been left out of the vaccines’ development and testing: children.

Pfizer started testing their product on those as young as 12 back in October. Moderna said Dec. 2 that it soon will begin testing on children ages 12 through 17.

But it could take months before drugmakers can complete studies in this area. Sara H. Goza, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said children must be included, adding, “we know that children can and do spread the virus to household members, grandparents, teachers, and other children.”

But some teacher advocates and health care experts say elementary schools can re-open without children being vaccinated — and even before teachers themselves receive the shots, based on what scientists have learned about the virus’ transmission.

According to the journal Nature, data collected from across the globe has shown that schools are not hotspots for virus transmission. They can reopen safely when transmission is low and even when it’s not, as social distancing, hand washing and other protocols seem effective in warding off the disease.

Research has shown, too, that children younger than 12 are less susceptible to the virus than adults, and even when they do contract COVID-19, they are less likely to spread it.

Nonetheless, teacher advocates believe they should be among the first to receive the protection of a vaccine. Randi Weingarten, the AFT’s president, said her members should rank high alongside school staff and at-risk students.

“The vaccine must be readily available to them on site to allow for the safe, orderly and timely reopening of schools,” she told Politico.

State variance

States are just now discovering when the initial doses might arrive — and how many they might receive. Margaret “Maggi” Mumma, deputy press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, said there may be a limited number in the initial round, but that the first group will include teachers, “as they are considered critical workers.”

Rep. James Edward Banks, (R) Indiana, a member of the House Education and Labor Committee, recently asked the CDC to give teachers the option of early COVID-19 vaccination, saying the agency should do “everything possible to let teachers do their irreplaceable work safely and effectively.” Banks and a Republican colleague pushed to halt school’s federal funding earlier this year if they did not open for in-person learning in the fall.

Tony GiaQuinta, a long-time pediatrician in Fort Wayne, told The 74 he urged Banks to push teachers closer to the front of the line. GiaQuinta, a Democrat sometimes at odds with Indiana’s Republican leaders, said the profound negative impact of school closures on children prompted him to reach out to anyone who might help reopen the state’s schools.

“If we want our children to be healthy, they have to be in school,” said the doctor, credited by Banks for helping shape his position on the issue. “And they can’t be in school if our teachers are at risk, or unable to do their jobs because they’re quarantined or sick.”

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, in formulating his plan for vaccine distribution, asked the state’s school superintendents on Friday to prepare rosters of school personnel who are willing to be inoculated, according to the state’s education department.

Tony GiaQuinta, president of the Indiana chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics until his term ended in May 2020. (Tony GiaQuinta)

School board members in the Poudre School District in northern Colorado recently asked lawmakers in their state to prioritize school employees before the general population.

Board president Chistophe Febvre doesn’t know how the vaccine will be received by staff members, but is acutely aware of the stress they’ve shouldered by moving in and out of quarantine and levels of remote learning. His district, which serves some 31,000 students, was in hybrid mode until mid-November. It has since moved to distance learning after the virus caused a serious depletion in school personnel, from teachers to substitutes and custodial workers.

“Prioritizing K-12 teachers and staff, we do feel, would have a rapid and significant impact in allowing schools to stay more consistently open,” he said.

The implications for the economy are undeniable, according to Aaron Strong, an economist at the RAND Corporation. Shuttered schools force many working parents to abandon their jobs so they can provide in-home daycare for their children, disproportionately burdening working mothers, he said.

And distance learning is lackluster at best, he said, potentially widening the achievement gap among different groups of students. As a result, Strong believes teachers should be second in line for vaccination, immediately after the nation’s healthcare workers.

“Education provides the means for long-run economic growth,” he said, adding the learning loss suffered during the pandemic might have a life-long impact on children, not only in terms of their immediate academic success but also future college and career prospects.

A stunning rise in infections and hospitalizations out West has Frank Wells, spokesman for the California Teachers Association, focused less on the economy than on the health of his members and their students.

Educators who have not yet received the shots should have the flexibility of teaching remotely, he said.

“Teachers are on the front lines,” he said. “If they are going to be in the classroom, they should be among the first who have the vaccine. And until it’s safe to go back to school, they should continue to do as much remote teaching and learning as possible.”

As states share their vaccine dissemination plans, other questions mount about whether the shots should be required. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis already considered the issue, saying vaccines won’t be mandatory in his state.

“That’s going to be the choice of each and every Floridian,” he said late last month.

Julie A. Roberts

Florida prioritized hospitals, long-term care facilities, and then first responders and ‘critical infrastructure’ workers as the first to receive the vaccine. Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, hopes this means the state’s teachers will be high on the list. He’s unsure whether all of his members will agree to the inoculation.

“The Florida Education Association has not done any formal polling on teachers’ attitudes toward receiving a coronavirus vaccine, but my sense is that their attitudes vary like those in the general population,” Spar said.

Julie A. Roberts, 44, teaches several courses, including marine biology, environmental science and wildlife sciences alongside Landra Fair at Mill Valley High in Kansas. Prior to teaching, she was a research biologist and has faith in the vaccine, which is why she, too, volunteered for Moderna’s trial.

“My 19-year-old daughter and husband are participating as well,” she said. “If I had any doubts about the safety of the vaccine, that would not be the case.”

This article was published in partnership with The 74. Sign up for The 74’s newsletter here.

Eager to continue their education, asylum-seeking children waiting on the Mexican side of the border with their families study wherever and whenever they can. Many of those pictured here in Matamoros, Mexico, just a few miles south of Brownsville, Texas, attend The Sidewalk School, a nonprofit created in 2019 by two American volunteers who hope to prepare these children for the American public school system. But it is unclear if they will cross: The Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy and the pandemic have left families stranded. (Getty Images)

The Sidewalk School in Matamoros, Mexico, founded last summer by two American volunteers, defied convention from the start. Located just three miles from the border with the United States, it had no brick-and-mortar building, no buses, classrooms, blackboards or desks.

For months, its students, asylum seekers waiting with their families for permission to enter the country, met outdoors before moving to an abandoned tent — at least until the pandemic struck.

Then this school born of hardship, where children wrote while lying on the pavement before someone donated dozens of lapdesks, did something remarkable: It went virtual.

Teachers who for months delivered lessons in person adapted to distance learning, transmitting their instruction to students via 235 tablets bought by the school.

The switch is a major challenge for staff and students, but participating children are determined not to waste the opportunity. Each hopes to one day cross the border and enroll in an American public school.

The Sidewalk School’s co-founders, Felicia Rangel-Samponaro and Victor Cavazos, both of Brownsville, Texas, call their students’ dedication inspiring.

Victor Cavazos and Felicia Rangel-Samponaro stand outside a Matamoros encampment on a recent afternoon. The pair met in 2018, handing out food to those making their way north. They opened The Sidewalk School in August 2019. (Courtesy of Felicia Rangel-Samponaro)

“To go to school in that situation,” Rangel-Samponaro said, her voice breaking, “I couldn’t do it. And they keep turning in work and showing up day after day. That’s a strength a lot of people don’t have. Yesterday, when it was flooding, they still showed up. They are still thriving, wanting to learn.”

Rangel-Samponaro and Cavazos met in November 2018 while delivering food to a steady stream of newcomers making their way north. Back then, the faces changed daily and the pair were content with their roles, considering the turnover.

But that all changed when the Trump administration began requiring many asylum seekers to remain in Mexico until their cases are processed. The policy, implemented in late January 2019, has been hailed as a success by the White House as it’s kept some 60,000 people from entering the United States. It also has resulted in numerous encampments on the Mexican side of the border, including one in Matamoros that has swelled to 2,500.

“Suddenly,” Rangel-Samponaro said, “the faces stopped changing.”

Building a school

It was then that the former teacher, who lives just three miles north of the site in South Texas, was moved to do something more for the children, who often passed their days near the foot of the Gateway International Bridge playing with rocks and dirt or sitting idly through what should have been a day inside a classroom.

Rangel-Samponaro and Cavazos opened The Sidewalk School in August 2019. The nonprofit takes its name from its original location: With no real campus, children learned while sitting on the sidewalk near the encampment.

Its founders called on the asylum seekers themselves — there were teachers among them — to form its staff.

“I know there are a lot more opportunities there. Expectations are also greater, but I know I’m up for the challenge.” —Cesia Merary Mejia Bachez, 12, of El Salvador and a student at The Sidewalk School, on public schools in the United States

The school has grown in size and scope: The faculty has expanded from four to 11 teachers plus six teaching assistants and a librarian, all paid a modest salary of $12 a day. The Sidewalk School’s founders know it’s far less than they are worth, but it’s all the organization can afford while also buying books, pens, pencils, paper, art supplies and other items for its students.

The school has also employed five seamstresses since the pandemic who make hundreds of cloth face masks for $40 a week. The money, at first drawn from Rangel-Samponaro’s own savings, now comes from the school’s GoFundMe page.

Sidewalk School students, who study everything from math to science and English, range in age from 1 to 16. The organization used to offer day care services but discontinued the practice during the pandemic.

Its teachers’ work is not unlike that of their American counterparts. Instructors follow a curriculum, write lesson plans and select books they hope their students will find relevant and inspiring as they struggle to learn under the most challenging of circumstances.

“The school is really where our hearts are,” Cavazos said. “I know for my children to grow up in a world where they are seen as equal to their peers, I must stand up and fight for our people and do everything I can to give them a better future.”

View of a migrants’ camp on the Mexican border just south of the Rio Grande, in Matamoros, Tamaulipas state, Mexico, near the border with the United States, on Nov. 1, 2019. (Photo by Lexie Harrison-Cripps/AFP via Getty Images)

The Sidewalk School is not immune to the crime that has plagued the encampment from the start. Two staff members were kidnapped on the same day in October 2019, according to Rangel-Samponaro and Cavazos. Each was held for ransom and eventually returned after their tormentors squeezed money from their relatives abroad.

Such incidents are commonplace: Local crime syndicates are well aware that those who seek to make the journey north often have family in the United States. Some asylum seekers have been kidnapped more than once.

‘Let’s go virtual’

Prior to the pandemic, some 125 children met their teachers daily, crowding around several tables, with the school providing lunch, school supplies and other much-needed staples, including powdered milk, toiletries, vitamins and detergent.

Classes were supposed to have been canceled in mid-March when the virus was first detected in Matamoros. But Rangel-Samponaro and Cavazos didn’t want to just pack up and leave. Their students deserved better, they said: They deserved distance learning.

In addition to paying modest salaries to staff, The Sidewalk School also buys vitamins and other essentials, including toiletries, tents and detergent, for students and their families. (Felicia Rangel-Samponaro)

The organization had about $20,000 in its coffers, and Rangel-Samponaro knew exactly what to do with it.

“I said, ‘Let’s start buying tablets and let’s go virtual,’” she said.

Rangel-Samponaro and Cavazos hoped the children would adapt to remote instruction, but they refused to remain at home with their families. They wanted to be together, and nearly all of them showed up at the tent for class. They couldn’t understand why they were no longer permitted to meet in person: Despite the pandemic, the children played together all day long and lived just a few feet from one another, they reasoned.

Realizing they would not relent, Rangel-Samponaro canceled school for a week and devised a plan she hoped would keep them safe. She allowed a small number of students to study in the tent in shifts throughout the day — teachers’ aides, who live inside the encampment, were allowed on site — but only if they agreed to comply with strict guidelines.

All who entered were required to wear face masks, and their hands had to be sanitized by a staff member.

The school purchased 20 no-touch thermometers, two for each staffer assigned to monitor the students’ entrance, “so, if something happened to one, they had a backup,” Rangel-Samponaro said.

Staffers placed tape on the tables and benches so children knew where to sit in order to keep six feet apart. And they wiped down all surfaces with strong disinfectant multiple times a day.

Social distancing 

In many ways, circumstance forced The Sidewalk School to implement a plan that others around the world are only just now developing. As those schools might soon learn, safety remains a constant concern despite strict protocols.

“I don’t think people understand what an encampment is, how small it is, how people live in the woods, one on top of the other,” Rangel-Samponaro said. “Social distancing cannot happen. We try, but it is impossible inside an encampment. They have over 2,000 people living in a small place.”

Mexican officials prohibited the school from using the tent in May. They have, however, allowed staff to set up three tables in the open air to allow schooling to continue while curbing the spread of the virus. So far, no one inside the encampment has become ill from the disease, Rangel-Samponaro said.

She’s also implemented rules for the staff. The Sidewalk School’s teachers live off-site in an apartment building closer to downtown Matamoros, a busy city visited by locals and tourists alike. The teachers frequently travel to area shops and have more exposure to a wider swath of people, Rangel-Samponaro said. As a result, they are not permitted to come face to face with students: They all teach remotely, even though they are just a short walk from the encampment.

Sidewalk School students, pictured here in April, continue to focus on their education despite numerous obstacles. Though they are unsure when they might be able to cross into the United States, each is eager to enroll in an American public school and plans to come prepared. (Felicia Rangel-Samponaro)

Ray Rodriguez, 36 and from Cuba, taught at The Sidewalk School for months before crossing over to the United States in January. A former college professor who left his home country in part because the government was trying to influence his curriculum, he now teaches remotely from Washington, D.C.

He credits The Sidewalk School for allowing students a break from the reality of sleeping on the floor, of watching their parents fret about their future, of recounting the horrors of home in preparation for critical meetings with U.S. immigration officials.

“Living in that environment is not healthy at all,” said Rodriguez, adding that the trauma the students have experienced has taken an enormous emotional toll.

He recalls, back when he was living inside the encampment, asking a little girl to tell him a story as a way to stir her imagination. He thought the child, about 7, might recount a beloved fairy tale.

Instead, she told him of how her aunt was raped and murdered by police.

“That was not the story I wanted, but it was the one she memorized,” he said. “They think that is normal.”

“I don’t think people understand what an encampment is, how small it is, how people live in the woods, one on top of the other. Social distancing cannot happen.” —Felicia Rangel-Samponaro, co-founder of The Sidewalk School

Rodriguez hopes his students win passage to America, but for now, the possibility is remote. Not only did the United States effectively close its border with Mexico and Canada as a result of the pandemic, but it has delayed immigration hearings and turned away thousands of asylum seekers with minimal processing.

Wherever they land, Rodriguez said, he hopes his students have a chance to be children once more. Until then, he’s glad to help fill in the gaps in their education and prepare them for what comes next.

‘Up for the challenge’

Rodney Prepo, 27 and from Venezuela, taught at The Sidewalk School for several months before crossing the border and moving near Monterey, California, in March. He loves teaching civics because it helps children understand the importance of being good neighbors and working to keep the encampment as clean as possible.

“I wanted the kids to have respect for other people, for the rules, to live better,” he said.

Young asylum seekers who might otherwise spend their days in Matamoros playing with rocks and dirt inside their encampment can instead focus on their education at The Sidewalk School as they wait for an opportunity to cross the border into the United States. (Felicia Rangel-Samponaro)

Living better is the entire reason Nora Reyes, 32, and her family left El Salvador.

Her husband and eldest son fled the country in April 2019 and have since made it to Boston. Reyes and her two youngest children departed a few months later, in August.

“We didn’t have the money to leave together,” she explained in a telephone interview from the camp.

The family hoped for a speedy reunion, but she and the two youngest have been stuck in Mexico for nearly a year.

Though she laments their 13-month separation, The Sidewalk School has been a tremendous help through the crisis. Reyes’s son, 7-year-old Salomon, struggled with reading when he first arrived in Matamoros, but his ability has since improved, she said. Her little boy agreed.

“I’m learning consonants and vowels,” he explained, standing by his mother’s side. “I like learning new things.”

Reyes’s 4-year-old daughter, Milagros, also a student at the school, has already learned her numbers and the alphabet.

“She looks forward to her schoolwork,” her mother said.

A mural stands near shelters known as macro tents, recently constructed by the Mexican government, in the border town of Matamoros, Mexico. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Twelve-year-old Cesia Merary Mejia Bachez of El Salvador is thrilled to have the opportunity to learn English. Cesia, also reached by phone inside the encampment, is a gifted student. Her family left home for several reasons — they were being threatened by local gangs — but also so that she could focus on her education.

“We know my daughter is very advanced,” said her mother, Claudia, 39. “She has a lot of potential. We will encourage her to live up to it when we get to the States.”

Cesia has not yet decided on a career path, but she feels well prepared for the rigors of the American school system.

“I know there are a lot more opportunities there,” she said. “Expectations are also greater, but I know I’m up for the challenge.”

This article was published in partnership with The 74. Sign up for The 74’s newsletter here.

(Erik McGregor / Getty Images)

Fueled by protestors’ calls to remake urban police forces in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, officials from New York City to Los Angeles are trying to steer funds once earmarked for law enforcement toward education.

While the efforts face several obstacles — a move to transfer $4 million from the police to schools in Hartford, Connecticut failed Thursday — they have edged much closer to the political mainstream than they were just a few weeks ago.

New York City Council member Carlos Menchaca, a Democrat, wants to reallocate $1 billion of the police department’s budget, with a significant portion earmarked for city schools. He chided Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision to cut education funding in response to the economic fallout brought on by the pandemic, especially given the minor reductions proposed for police.

Menchaca is not alone: Several council members are calling for a steep reduction to the police budget. New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer called on de Blasio to axe $265 million from the department annually for the next four years.

Menchaca said the city must restore funding for critical initiatives, including the Summer Youth Employment Program that has provided jobs to tens of thousands of teens and young adults each year. Most of those involved in the program hail from communities hit hardest by COVID-19, he said.

“Instead of preserving or bolstering this program, the Mayor decided to eliminate it entirely, while barely touching the NYPD’s bloated $6 billion budget,” he said. “Having gone through the worst pandemic in American history and now experiencing the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression, we should be investing in education, housing and healthcare, not giving more money to a militarized and unaccountable police force.”

Council members will vote on the city’s budget by July 1, when it goes into effect.

Jedidah Pacheco, a junior in the New York City public school system who has participated in numerous protests since Floyd’s death, wants police removed from campus and its funding reallocated.

“Putting money into education is so vital,” Pecheco said. “It shows students that they matter.”

Across the country in Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti last week announced his intention to remove as much as $150 million from his city’s law enforcement budget so it can be invested “in jobs, in health, in education and healing,” with the money geared to better serving communities of color.

A 2019 Princeton University study found black students faced a higher rate of in-school arrests and law enforcement referrals compared to their white peers. Based on an examination of federal data covering 32 million students across 96,000 schools, researchers found the disparity only widens in counties with more racial bias.

School resource officers

The most immediate effect of the current push is likely to be felt in school districts that cut ties with local law enforcement. This is especially true in Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed May 25: The city’s public schools have already voted to remove “school resource officers” — armed law enforcement agents — from campuses.

The district was in negotiations for a new contract that would have cost $1.3 million annually for three years. Kim Ellison, chair of the school system’s board of education, does not know where the money will go, but said it could be used for added counselors or an alternative form of school security — one that does not involve law enforcement on campus.

As for what her district might do with possible money rerouted from the Minneapolis Police Department itself, she’d like to see it used for restorative justice, which would benefit not only the district but the city at large, she said.

“When a fight breaks out in school and we separate the characters fighting but don’t resolve the issue — when school gets out, that same fight leaks out into the community,” Ellison said.

Portland Public Schools in Oregon also has done away with police at its high schools and at least a dozen other districts are considering a similar move.

Despite calls to “defund the police,” as many protestors urge, the idea has received significant pushback.

Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, said severe cuts could leave police departments ill-equipped to handle the robberies, domestic violence calls and burglaries they respond to on a daily basis.

“I’m all for additional resources for education and children’s services,” he said, but it does not have to come at the cost of local police budgets or by kicking law enforcement off campus. “We want all students to graduate from high school. Good SROs are a constructive part of that process.”

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times / Getty Images)

In Hartford, an effort to transfer funds from police to schools failed despite the support of two members of its city council. The push was embraced by Joshua Michtom, a public defender who joined the council in December as part of the Working Families Party, which he describes as a working-class coalition fighting for “a more just society.” He wanted to trim $9 million from the police budget and to transfer more than $4 million to education.

Hartford Public Schools serve mostly poor black and Latino communities and had difficulty moving to online instruction during the pandemic because of a lack of devices and internet access for its 20,000 students. Mitchtom and fellow Working Party council member Wildaliz Bermudez wanted to see the money used to bolster technology, perhaps through the purchase of equipment or the creation of Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the city.

“Education is the biggest point of contact between city government and residents,” Michtom said. “It’s the place we have the greatest opportunity to make a difference. In a very poor city like ours, education is more than classes from 7:30 to 3. It’s meals, programs, social work support. It is our greatest — though still inadequate — tool to counteract the structural racism put on our residents, especially our kids.”

He and Bermudez also wanted more money for the Department of Children, Youth, Family & Recreation and Health and Human Services.

“We get together one day and hash it out and today is that day,” Michtom said Wednesday afternoon as some 75 protesters stood outside City Hall, waving “BLM,” “Defund” and “Abolish” placards.

But they lost the fight early the next day. Michtom said the Hartford Police Department will see only a $1 million loss with none of the money set aside for education.

“When government chooses coercion and criminalization over prevention and opportunity as the only way to ensure a safe community, it shows a lack of faith in its own people,” he said Thursday morning. “It sends the message that their poverty is not just an unfortunate circumstance, but an inherent characteristic, and that the only remedy is to contain and control them.”

Kevin Robinson, a 36-year-veteran of the Phoenix Police Department, believes law enforcement officials will initially resist the cuts, but ultimately will capitulate for two reasons: They might actually prefer to outsource services they struggle with — including those involving mental health — releasing them from liability in that area.

And they also don’t have the power to resist such demands.

“We have a saying in the police department: ‘Everybody has a sergeant,’” he said, adding mayors from across the country are acting in direct response to their constituents’ cry for change.

Robinson, who retired from the force as Assistant Police Chief in 2017, is now a full-time lecturer at Arizona State University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

He supports the idea of steering money toward education, possibly in the form of afterschool programs and said police departments have a unique opportunity to make positive change.

“People are clamoring for this,” he said. “I have never seen protests this large, this protracted and this diverse. Ever. That should tell everybody something. The smart police agencies are going to get out in front of that.”

This article was published in partnership with The 74. Sign up for The 74’s newsletter here.