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New Study: Not One State Adequately Supports Immigrant Students
Not a single state in the union adequately supports newcomer students, according to an analysis by The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank focused on educational equity. In a report released today, the foundation and its offshoot, Next 100, scored state education departments on whether and how they define immigrant students, collect and report data on their educational progress and fund programs that support them. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter They assigned grades to all 50 states and Washington, D.C., based upon their findings: None won a mark above a C+. Forty-two states scored between C- and D- and five — Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Montana and West Virginia — earned an F. The results come as the Trump administration continues to zero in on this vulnerable student population as part of its multibillion-dollar immigration crackdown: Young people have been arrested, detained — in the case of one Los Angeles teen this month, at gunpoint — and deported. The federal government also recently rescinded rules directing schools to accommodate English learners. Immigrant advocates are pleading with state lawmakers to push back by showing their support for these students and better preparing teachers to meet their needs. 'We are witnessing a sinister daily attack on our immigrant neighbors from a federal government bent on stripping immigrants' access to work, health care, educational opportunities, and even their sense of safety,' said report co-author Alejandra Vázquez Baur, a foundation fellow who heads its National Newcomer Network. 'All students show up with a twinkle in their eye, excited to learn — newcomers included — and states need to do more to support them.' Related The Century Foundation, founded as the Co-operative League in 1919, recommends states develop specific and consistent definitions for this population, which includes refugees, asylum seekers, unaccompanied minors and migratory children. In an effort to better serve this diverse and largely growing student body — there are more than 1 million immigrant students inside the nation's K-12 public schools — agencies must also collect and publish data on key indicators about their educational experiences, including years in the United States, English proficiency, home language, prior schooling and academic outcomes. Such data points might include school engagement, participation in clubs and sports and any behavioral issues that could arise in school, the foundation concludes. State education agencies should use the data to inform funding formulas, the report recommends, and to create a newcomer-specific funding structure that supplements federal money. This additional aid should provide support for students in their first few critical years in the public schools system, 'with transparent reporting on its use and impact.' The report highlights the scattershot nature of data collection across the country: 17 states collect no discernable data on immigrant students at all. Twenty-two compile such information to determine eligibility and maintain compliance with federal Title III funds earmarked for English learners. Eight states collect data that might include newcomers, but it isn't differentiated or used to determine how supports are allocated. Only four have clear definitions of the term 'newcomer' and consistently collect robust data about these children. Oregon requires all districts to submit what it calls Recent Arrivers data and uses the information for federal reporting and to allocate Title III funds, according to the analysis. Kentucky collects disaggregated immigrant student data annually and later divides it by subgroup, while Washington state, according to the researchers, requires districts to track all eligible English learners in their student information systems and report key data points like birth country and U.S. school enrollment date. But North Dakota outdoes them all, the study shows: It publicly reports disaggregated English learner data by year, including counts and percentages of immigrant, refugee and migrant students, among other groups, and breaks down this data by district, home language and ethnicity. The state, population 779,094, had less than 28,000 immigrant residents in 2023. Nearly 84% were of working age. 'This is exemplary,' the report notes of North Dakota's approach, adding it allows for a clearer understanding of the diverse needs within this student population and supports targeted interventions for many children, including those with limited or interrupted formal education. The report cites the unevenness of young immigrants' educational experience, as they sometimes move between districts striving for stable housing. 'When these programs differ across district lines within a state, this group of often highly mobile marginalized students may not qualify for comparable services when they move, and their new schools may not receive the resources they need to properly serve them,' the report reads. 'State education agencies have the unique opportunity to address these inconsistencies to best support all students, including newcomers.' English learners nationally had a 71% high school graduation rate, as of the 2019-20 school year, compared to the 86% national average. At a moment when anti-immigrant fervor was beginning to build in this country, The 74 last year tested the enrollment practices of more than 600 high schools, attempting to register a 19-year-old newcomer who spoke little English and whose education had been interrupted. More than 300 schools refused to register him — including 204 denials in the 35 states and the District of Columbia where high school attendance goes up to at least age 20. Related Vázquez Baur said newcomer students are here to stay and their presence predates the laws guaranteeing them educational access, including the 1982 Supreme Court case, Plyler v. Doe. The quality of their education, she said, will determine not only their opportunity but the health and well-being of their communities. 'Newcomers students are in our classrooms regardless of what our president says,' she said. 'They are valuable neighbors and students. They become valuable leaders in their communities. Especially at this moment, it is the states that are on the front line against the federal government.' Solve the daily Crossword
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Executive director of Regional University System of Oklahoma departing after one year
The Regional University System of Oklahoma will be looking for another leader, as its executive director, Brandon Tatum, has announced his departure. Tatum said he will begin working as the executive vice president at America Achieves, a New York-based nonprofit that has launched the Good Jobs Economy initiative, an effort designed to help local communities integrate and advance strategies for marrying economic growth and economic mobility. Tatum said he will continue living in Oklahoma. Tatum began serving in the RUSO role in August 2024. RUSO is the state's largest four-year university system, serving more than 40,000 students through six institutions: East Central University in Ada, Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford and the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. The executive director serves as the chief executive officer of the RUSO Board of Regents and as a liaison between the regents and the university presidents. 'The RUSO system plays such a key workforce role in the state of Oklahoma,' Tatum said. 'As a system, we serve the most undergraduate students in the state and produce the most nurses and teachers in Oklahoma,' Tatum said. 'It has been a privilege to work with the RUSO Regents and all six of our university presidents to expand opportunity and impact.' Before starting with RUSO, Tatum served as Gov. Kevin Stitt's chief of staff, starting in November 2022. He has held previous roles in both K-12 and higher education, including serving for a time as executive vice president for Oklahoma Christian University in Oklahoma City. While with RUSO, Tatum championed an 'Affordability and Transparency Framework' for the system, which required each of RUSO's universities to develop a three-year strategic plan, detailing how they will address both rising tuition costs and ensuring affordable access to higher education for Oklahomans. 'Dr. Tatum has made a significant impact on RUSO during his time with us,' said Jane McDermott, the chair of the RUSO regents' board. 'We have made significant strides as a system under his leadership and wish him the very best as he takes on this exciting national role.' McDermott said RUSO will accept applications for its executive director's role through Sept. 19. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Executive director of Oklahoma's regional university system is leaving Solve the daily Crossword
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The Texas House OK'd GOP-favored redistricting. California intends to counter with map of its own
The national redistricting battle enters its next phase Thursday as California Democrats are scheduled to pass a new congressional map that creates five winnable seats for their party, a direct counter to the Texas House's approval of a new map to create more conservative-leaning seats in that state. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has engineered the high-risk strategy in response to President Donald Trump's own brinkmanship. Trump pushed Texas Republicans to reopen the legislative maps they passed in 2021 to squeeze out up to five new GOP seats to help the party stave off a midterm defeat. Unlike in Texas, where passage by the Republican-controlled state Senate and signature by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott are now all that's needed to make the maps official, California faces a more uncertain route. Democrats must use their legislative supermajority to pass the map by a two-third margin. Then they must schedule a special election in November for voters to approve the map that Newsom must sign by Friday to meet ballot deadlines. The added complexity is because California has a voter-approved independent commission that Newsom himself backed before Trump's latest redistricting maneuver. Only the state's voters can override the map that commission approved in 2021. But Newsom said extraordinary steps are required to counter Texas and other Republican-led states that Trump is pushing to revise maps. 'This is a new Democratic Party, this is a new day, this is new energy out there all across this country,' Newsom said Wednesday on a call with reporters. 'And we're going to fight fire with fire.' Texas Democratic lawmakers, vastly outnumbered in that state's legislature, delayed approval of the new map by 15 days by fleeing Texas earlier this month in protest. They were assigned round-the-clock police monitoring upon their return to ensure they attended Wednesday's session. That session ended with an 88-52 party-line vote approving the map after more than eight hours of debate. Democrats have also vowed to challenge the new Texas map in court and complained that Republicans made the political power move before passing legislation responding to deadly floods that swept the state last month. A battle for the US House control waged via redistricting In a sign of Democrats' stiffening redistricting resolve, former President Barack Obama on Tuesday night backed Newsom's bid to redraw the California map, saying it was a necessary step to stave off the GOP's Texas move. 'I think that approach is a smart, measured approach,' Obama said during a fundraiser for the Democratic Party's main redistricting arm. The incumbent president's party usually loses congressional seats in the midterm election, and the GOP currently controls the House of Representatives by a mere three votes. Trump is going beyond Texas in his push to remake the map. He's pushed Republican leaders in conservative states like Indiana and Missouri to also try to create new Republican seats. Ohio Republicans were already revising their map before Texas moved. Democrats, meanwhile, are mulling reopening Maryland's and New York's maps as well. However, more Democratic-run states have commission systems like California's or other redistricting limits than Republican ones do, leaving the GOP with a freer hand to swiftly redraw maps. New York, for example, can't draw new maps until 2028, and even then, only with voter approval. The struggle for — and against — Texas redistricting Texas Republicans openly said they were acting in their party's interest. State Rep. Todd Hunter, who wrote the legislation formally creating the new map, noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed politicians to redraw districts for nakedly partisan purposes. There was little that outnumbered Democrats could do other than fume and threaten a lawsuit to block the map. Because the Supreme Court has blessed purely partisan gerrymandering, the only way opponents can stop the new Texas map would be by arguing it violates the Voting Rights Act requirement to keep minority communities together so they can select representatives of their choice. House Republicans' frustration at the Democrats' flight and ability to delay the vote was palpable during the Wednesday vote. House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced as debate started that doors to the chamber were locked and any member leaving was required to have a permission slip. The doors were only unlocked after final passage more than eight hours later. Republicans issued civil arrest warrants to bring the Democrats back after they left the state Aug. 3, and Abbott asked the state Supreme Court to oust several Democrats from office. The lawmakers also face a fine of $500 for every day they were absent. ___ Riccardi reported from Denver. John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, and Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contributed to this report.
