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In the aftermath of teacher strikes, more Americans support educator raises, poll finds
Following strikes this spring in which teachers in six states demanded higher salaries, a new poll finds a sharp uptick in Americans’ support for increasing educators’ pay. The national poll, last week by the journal Education Next, which has been surveying Americans on high-profile education issues for more than a decade, also found growing support for...
By Mark Keierleber | August 28, 2018
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Living in deportation’s shadow: How one Los Angeles charter school grapples with immigration enforcement
Every time Ana Ponce drives down the highway between Los Angeles and San Diego, she’s haunted by a childhood memory: her night in lockup — the sterile white room, the sounds of crying, and the fear she might be lost. Born in Mexico, Ponce moved to the U.S. when she was 4, and, even as...
By Mark Keierleber | August 20, 2018
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Child immigrants in federal custody are entitled to an education. Here’s how it works
At a repurposed Walmart just north of the U.S.-Mexico border, the freezer aisles, toy department, and everyday low prices are nowhere in sight. Instead, the former shopping center that now dons a “Casa Padre” sign houses dorm-style bedrooms, a cafeteria — and classrooms. The facility in Brownsville, Texas, which houses more than 1,400 immigrant boys,...
By Mark Keierleber | June 25, 2018
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‘The Unafraid’: With DACA’s future uncertain, new film offers intimate look at the struggles of undocumented youth as they fight to attend college
Since the Trump administration announced last year it would end a program that offers protections to undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country as children, their fate remains in limbo.Si Amid the political gridlock in Washington over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Dreamers must keep pushing forward. Among them are the young...
By Mark Keierleber | June 19, 2018
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Does the March 5 DACA deadline still matter? 5 things to know about a meaningless Monday — and why Dreamers should still be worried
All eyes have been on March 5 since the Trump administration announced last September that in six months it would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has provided work permits and deportation relief to hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. That timeline, the Trump...
By Mark Keierleber | March 4, 2018
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California inflated its high school graduation rate by 2%, federal audit finds
California education leaders inflated the state’s high school graduation rate by 2 percentage points in 2014, according to the results of a federal audit announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Education. The Department’s Office of Inspector General found that California education officials inaccurately calculated its graduation rate and failed to provide “reasonable assurance” that...
By Mark Keierleber | January 17, 2018
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A half-million U.S. kids attend school in Mexico. Educators are working together across the border to help them learn
In the desert just south of San Diego, towering 18 to 30 feet in the air, are eight prototypes for the wall President Donald Trump has promised to build along the 2,000 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. But as the administration tests designs for keeping undocumented Mexicans out of the U.S. and cracks down on...
By Mark Keierleber | October 27, 2017
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74 Interview: DACA-mented California teacher on what Trump’s immigration policies will do to undocumented kids
Diana Montelongo’s immigration story resembles those of a lot of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients. She remembers living in a small town in Mexico and walking to the alfalfa fields from her grandparents’ house. She doesn’t remember a whole lot else. That’s because a “coyote” drove her across the U.S.-Mexico border when she was...
By Mark Keierleber | October 26, 2017
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The city Amazon should choose for its next headquarters (if it’s looking for college grads with STEM degrees)
Ever since Amazon announced it would open a second headquarters — a proposal that’s expected to generate up to 50,000 new jobs for the winning municipality — cities across the country have been rushing to show the online retail giant that their locale has the goods. Just about as quickly, journalists and data analysts have been trying to...
By Mark Keierleber | September 28, 2017
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How Trump’s immigration crackdown is traumatizing students across the U.S. — including many born here
This is the third article in a series produced in collaboration with The Guardian examining the climate affecting immigrant school children and their parents as the new school year begins. See a version of this article at TheGuardian.com. Gathered around a camera in their family’s kitchen, the four Duarte children pleaded for help. When their undocumented...
By Mark Keierleber | August 25, 2017