ABQ/ Teachers Use Variety of Methods to Get Students' Reading Speed Up
By Hailey Heinz
ABQ Journal Staff Writer
October 9, 2012
Reading abilities in a first-grade classroom range from students who read with near fluency to those who don't know which letter makes the sound at the beginning of "he."
In a group with such variety, and with an increasing emphasis from state officials on ensuring all students can read by third grade, elementary teachers must use a whole host of strategies as they try to reach every student.
- "It is a lot of different things going on, and it's whatever will work," said Jami Jacobson, the executive director of curriculum and instruction at Albuquerque Public Schools. "And every classroom is different, the needs of the kids in a classroom are going to vary ... those days where we all sat at our desks and worked on one thing together, those days are gone."
In Yvonne Sanchez's first-grade class at 7 Bar Elementary, students spend part of their morning on separate reading and writing activities, giving Sanchez time to work with individual students. Sanchez assigns students to different activities, so they don't do the same one every time.
Some students went straight for the classroom computers - perhaps not intuitive to adults, but computers are part of reading instruction in 2012. Since there aren't enough adults in a classroom to read to each student, the computer "reads" while students listen through headphones and see the book's words and illustrations on the screen. Some of the illustrations even come to life.
Several pairs of students were assigned to read together. Sofia Gonzalez, 6, is a strong reader, so she helped her partner with words he didn't know. She said she likes reading in pairs.
Other students did "word work," with activities based on several assigned words to improve their understanding. They were practicing words with "short i" sounds, like hit and win. They had to write the word five times, draw a picture showing its meaning and use it in a sentence.
Lucia Garrett, 6, was working with the word "win," last week, and she used it in the sentence "I can win games every time." She said she enjoys reading, and immediately started talking about her favorite moment in the children's classic "The Polar Express."
"Some words I have to sound out, but some I don't, because I know them," she said.
The value of sounding out words, versus figuring them out from context, is an ongoing conversation in the world of reading instruction. Through the years, the pendulum has swung from strictly phonics-based methods that focus on sounding out letters to methods that emphasize "whole language" by encouraging students to figure out words from context.
Jacobson said the best way to teach reading is with a combination of both - teaching students how to decode their language, but also how to understand what they're reading.
- "You need to have a balance," she said. "You need children to have phonemic awareness. They need to understand how their language works, the mechanics of it and how to sort it out when they get stuck."
But she said if that's all students learn, they won't be strong readers.
- "What we find is we have kids who can decode until the cows come home, but they don't know what they're reading," she said. "They can sound out a 17-letter word, but they may not ever understand what it is, how to use it or to use it in context with anything else."
Rep. Jimmie Hall, R-Albuquerque, is passionate about making sure phonics are included in any reading program used in New Mexico. He unsuccessfully pushed a bill in 2011 that proposed defunding any college of education that doesn't teach reading instruction in line with "scientifically based reading research and the science of reading."
Hall said the bill meant to ensure that phonics are included in any reading program.
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Farmington/ School Grading Public Meeting to be Held in Farmington
By Jenny Kane
Farmington Daily Times
October 9, 2012
Everyone in New Mexico has questions about the state's new school grading system, but the answers start here.
In the first of a series of meetings held statewide, Secretary of Education-Designate Hanna Skandera will hold a question-and-answer session Thursday with local community members.
"Schools serve everyone ... Let's all be in the same room," said Skandera on Tuesday.
The meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the Farmington Municipal Schools CATE Center at 301 N Court Ave. in Farmington.
In advance, the secretary asked that all attendees fill out an online survey that will give her a better idea of what the audience wants to focus on in its discussion.
The seven-question survey can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NMPED_School_Grades_Survey_Farmington.
The survey is for attendees from all districts in the Four Corners, though similar or identical surveys also will be posed to communities prior to their own meetings.
Meetings already are tentatively scheduled in Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Roswell, according to Larry Behrens, spokesman for the Public Education Department.
Schools received grades based on the new A-F system for the first time this year.
The state graded based on test scores, ability to improve test scores, and also overall learning environment. Graduation rates and ability to prepare students for a college education or career also was incorporated into grades for high schools.
A total of 831 schools received grades, with only 35 schools receiving an A. Of the remaining schools, 190 received a B, 278 received a C, 256 received a D, and 72 received an F.
The grades and the system itself have garnered much discussion, among which is a bounty of criticism.
While educators have had multiple opportunities to discuss the grading system, parents and community members have had fewer opportunities, Skandera said.
The Farmington meeting is expected to last until 11 a.m. Thursday.
"We want the public to have plenty of time for people to ask questions," Skandera said.
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Shiprock/ Central Consolidated Education Association Pushes Back on Teacher-Evaluation Pilot Program
By Jenny Kane
Farmington Daily Times
October 9, 2012
The Central Consolidated Education Association filed a grievance against its own district last month with hopes of backing out of a statewide teacher and principal evaluation pilot program.
The district, in July, volunteered to take part in the pilot program, along with the Aztec, Bernalillo, Las Cruces and Truth or Consequences districts.
The program, which began in this fall, enables the 55 schools involved to partially evaluate teachers and principals based on student performances on standardized tests.
CCEA believes that the district did not appropriately confer with the organization prior to agreeing to participation. In effect, CCEA filed a grievance with the superintendent, though the superintendent denied the grievance shortly thereafter.
In a letter to district staff, CCSD Superintendent Don Levinski followed up with a letter, which stated that the state director of the National Education Association said school districts don't have to confer with local teacher unions.
- "All of our teachers and principals will have the opportunity to give input," wrote Levinski in a letter to district staff. "We can complain about the evaluation system philosophically and get it rammed down our throats, or we could go through the process and express what we liked and disliked."
Levinski added that the district's participation might make it more eligible for grant funding. Additionally, the training for the program is free, he said.
"This sounded like a no-brainer to me," Levinski wrote.
Still discontent, the district now has filed a grievance citing the Public Employees Bargaining Act and the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the district board of education.
Neither has been discussed yet during a general meeting, leading CCEA to proceed with a complaint to the New Mexico Labor Board.
The state NEA, on the other hand, has been nothing short of supportive of the pilot program-though one former teacher in Albuquerque is taking the program to court, according to New Mexico Public Education Department Spokesman Larry Behrens.
"No teacher organizations have expressed discontent over the pilot program," said Behrens.
State NEA Director Charles Bowyer even co-authored a supportive editorial in the Albuquerque Journal with New Mexico Secretary of Education-Designate Hanna Skandera in September.
"What about the teacher who inspires greatness in our children? Shouldn't they be acknowledged? What about the teacher who, though struggling can become exemplary with the right help and professional development?" the pair wrote.
The CCEA is hoping for a prompt response from the New Mexico Labor Board, perhaps giving it a chance to discuss the program further.
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Santa Fe/ Santa Fe For Students Partners with Communities in Schools to Expand Volunteer Aid
By Robert Nott
The New Mexican
October 9, 2012
About 15 years ago, Vickie Sewing, former principal of Salazar Elementary School, walked into the United Church of Santa Fe and asked parishioners for their help. Bill and Georgia Carson were just two of the volunteers who stepped forward and agreed to tutor students in reading. Thus was born The Salazar Partnership, later renamed Santa Fe For Students.
On Tuesday, Bill Carson announced that the organization, now active at both Salazar and Agua Fría elementary schools, would become the local and state affiliate of a national educational nonprofit, Communities in Schools.
According to Gary Chapman, the group's executive vice president,
- Communities in Schools has 5,000 paid staffers,
- 50,000 volunteers in about 3,400 schools nationwide and
- a budget of about $240 million.
- It typically spends about $200,000 in small, rural districts and up to $17 million in large, urban districts.
Santa Fe For Students, which will henceforth be known as Communities in Schools New Mexico, has operated on an annual budget of between $150,000 and $170,000 during the past few years.
"It's personally very gratifying," Carson said Tuesday morning. "And now this has the potential of impacting thousands of students in Santa Fe and all over New Mexico."
Carson said he first reached out to Chapman and Communities in Schools for support in the spring of 2011. Last autumn, Chapman came out to Santa Fe to meet with Carson and others in the Santa Fe For Students circle to discuss an affiliation.
Chapman said one reason Communities in Schools agreed to operate in New Mexico is because of how the volunteers built The Salazar Partnership into a viable community organization.
- "Usually some form of advocacy is in place, but not as strong as what Bill and Georgia Carson did," Chapman said.
Sometimes, he said, Communities in Schools pays people to start such groups, but that rarely works as well as when his organization begins working with an already-established group.
Communities in Schools will provide professional training, fundraising support and access to its network of contacts and best practices.
- The goal this year is to continue focusing on the two schools where Santa Fe For Students already operates and to collect data that show how this work leads to student success.
Chapman and Carson said they have met with Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Joel Boyd to discuss ways to expand this community-service model to other schools. After that, Chapman said, Communities in Schools hopes to expand into at least one other community in New Mexico within a few years.
Over the past 15 years, Santa Fe For Students has emphasized literacy
- by providing tutors, mentors and book donations to students.
- developed partnerships with district personnel, volunteers and community nonprofits including Cooking With Kids, the National Dance Institute and La Familia Medical Center, and
- raised funds to host on-site health care and dental screenings for kids.
"Children can't learn if they are sick or have a bad tooth. ... Once we address issues outside of the academic arena and get them taken care of, we can focus on academics," said Deborah Stump, a school health educator at both Agua Fría and Salazar since 2009. Her position is funded by Santa Fe For Students.
"Bringing all those services to a school ensures that we can reach both the kids and their families," Stump said.
Communities in Schools, Stump added, "means more support. It has a proven, tested model that works. Having Communities in Schools guide us will bring great benefit to the community. I think we will be able to reach more people."
On Tuesday evening, the Santa Fe Community Foundation honored Santa Fe For Students and the Carsons with its Visionary Award during the annual Piñon Awards Ceremony, held this year at La Fonda on the Plaza.
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ABQ/ CEPR Presents to Albuquerque Public Schools District Council Meeting
UNM-Center for Education Policy Research Report
Oct 5, 2012
The Center for Education Policy Research presented "Our Children, Our Challenges, Our Future" at the October 5th Albuquerque Public Schools District Council Meeting.
http://cepr.unm.edu/uploads/docs/cepr/APS%20Truancy%20Presentation%2010.5.12%20Final.pdf
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Santa Fe/ EDITORIAL: Many Choices for Mid-School Parents
The New Mexican
October 9, 2012
Little sends shudders down parents' backs than the prospect of deciding which middle school is a fit for their child. With middle school the transition period between cute child and cranky teen, Santa Fe's peculiar set up - generally two grades only for middle school - can cause public school parents, in particular, to consider taking out a second home mortgage to find alternatives.
It's no accident that the bulk of Santa Fe's charter schools, the free alternative to district middle schools, start at seventh grade. That's why, as parents of sixth-graders plan for next year, it's wonderful to learn about Rio Grande School's Seventh Grade Options Night taking place from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at the school, 715 Camino Cabra.
Rio Grande, an independent school that stops at sixth grade, has invited private and public schools to gather in one place - convenient - so parents can learn more about their choices. More than a dozen Santa Fe schools are represented. After a panel discussion, parents will have the opportunity to meet representatives from various schools. Waldorf, independent, Catholic, public middle, public K-8 and public charter schools all will be a part of the evening.
Open houses for middle schools are a rite of passage for Santa Fe parents looking to find the best place for their child to weather the turbulent tween and early teen years. What makes this night special is gathering so many choices under one roof - in fact, this is the first year that Santa Fe Public Schools will show what they have to offer right alongside such choices as St. Michael's High School, Desert Academy or Santa Fe Preparatory.
Perhaps, after learning about De Vargas Middle School's stellar mariachi program and its Citizens School after-hours enrichment, a parent will decide to leave a child in walking distance of middle school. Other parents might decide a charter school is their best choice, or opt for arts-based classes, or for an all-girls atmosphere at mid-school.
Best of all, the Seventh Grade Options Night will assist parents in learning more about the possibilities ahead - including ones that are free and open to all.
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Oakland CA/ California Program Takes Aim at 'Teacher-Diversity Gap'
An Oakland program emphasizes keeping mix of educators on the job
By Stephen Sawchuk
Education Week, Vol. 32, Issue 7 [Edweek.org]
October 10, 2012
As the country's K-12 student population grows more ethnically diverse, students of color face the troubling possibility of never having a teacher who looks like them.
According to federal data, more than 40 percent of students are nonwhite, compared to just 17 percent of teachers, and that mismatch appears to be on the rise.
But a new project here is taking a deeper aim at the factors contributing to what's sometimes called the "teacher-diversity gap." The organizers hope to encourage more adults from a variety of ethnicities and backgrounds to enter the profession-and stay in it.
- Teach Tomorrow in Oakland, begun in 2008, guides adults from the city as they fulfill credential requirements, pass their licensing tests, navigate the hiring process, and-crucially-negotiate the tumultuous first few years in the classroom.
- Its manager, Rachelle Rogers-Ard, calls TTO a teacher-development program-a distinction underscoring that the initiative is not focused only, or even primarily, on recruiting teachers.
- In fact, the program requires recruits to commit to teaching in the district for at least five years.
Since its inception, TTO has succeeded in helping a diverse mix of 70 adults become teachers in the 37,000-student Oakland district. It currently has a retention rate of 89 percent.
The program's recruits speak of it not in terms of its mentoring, professional development, or support. They speak of it as a family, one that continues to grow as more TTO teachers come in and increasingly take on leadership roles in their schools.
In the words of 6th grade TTO teacher Sabrina N. Moore, "It's a movement now."
- For one, a limited but mounting body of research suggests that students of color benefit academically from being taught by a teacher of the same race or ethnic background.
- Equally compelling, if less empirically verified, is the idea that such teachers can serve as role models for students of color-and help dispel stereotypes for white students and colleagues.
For Ms. Rogers-Ard, the issue of teacher diversity is fundamentally also about the nature of America's democratic ideals.
- "I sort of bristle when people say, 'We need people of color for children of color.' I think you need to represent all the different types of diversity so children have the opportunity to learn from all kinds of folks," she said. "We need to create a schooling environment that says the people who are in charge are not only white women."
Despite policy attention spanning three decades, the gap has proved to be remarkably stubborn.
- By late in the past decade, more than 30 states had established financial incentives, recruitment programs, alternative-preparation routes, or other strategies to help minority candidates enter teaching, according to a 2012 study by Ana Maria Villegas, a professor of education at Montclair State University, in New Jersey, and two colleagues.
- There's some evidence that such efforts have made a dent: Teachers of color made up about 17 percent of the teacher workforce overall in 2007, compared with 13 percent two decades earlier, the analysis shows. But that increase hasn't kept pace with the growth in the population of nonwhite students.
"No matter how much work we've done to increase the number and production of teachers of color, we haven't been able to keep up, and frankly, I don't think we'll catch up in the near future," Ms. Villegas said.
Factors that continue to contribute to the problem include:
- lower college-going rates overall among minority high school students;
- problems with the articulation between the two-year colleges many such students initially attend and four-year institutions;
- and the fact that minority students who do go on to college are often recruited into more-prestigious fields.
Staying Put
In addition, recent research shows the diversity gap to be more than a problem of supply.
A 2011 analysis of data from the federal Schools and Staffing Survey found that teachers of color moved to other schools and left the profession at a rate that outpaced that of white teachers-an annual percentage rate of 19 percent versus 16 percent for whites.
Working conditions seem to be a factor. The study's authors, Richard M. Ingersoll and Henry May, both scholars at the University of Pennsylvania, also found that more than half of such teachers nationwide were employed in urban schools, and nearly two-thirds were in high-poverty schools, in which working conditions such as autonomy and having a say in school decision making were reported to be less desirable. When the researchers controlled for those conditions, they found that the differences in the attrition rates between white and nonwhite teachers disappeared. Their conclusion: Programs to increase the sheer number of minority teachers have succeeded, but efforts to retain such teachers have not.
"There has been this thought, 'Let's bring these teachers in and we're done,' " said Mr. Ingersoll, an expert on teacher recruitment and retention. "The data indicate that it's only half the story."
The Teach Tomorrow in Oakland initiative focuses heavily on the retention side of the equation.
- It grew out of a community task force created in 2006 by Oakland's mayor at the time, Ronald V. Dellums.
- Topping the group's list of recommendations was an effort to help foster a teaching force with deep ties to Oakland that better reflected its student population, which is 94 percent minority.
- More than half the district's teachers are white; 40 percent are black or Latino.
The program's founders aimed to balance efficacy with expediency.
"Grow your own" programs that help graduating high school students and paraprofessionals earn bachelor's degrees in education have shown some success. But as Ms. Rogers-Ard noted, they take many years to produce a single classroom teacher.
"I realized that if I had to wait seven or eight years to get a teacher, I wouldn't have a program," she said.
On the other hand was the desire not to exacerbate teacher turnover. Data show that, nationally, alternative-route programs have helped increase the number of teachers of color. But Oakland task force members and even district officials said the district's reliance on national teacher-recruiting programs came with a cost.
- "We've been very successful getting qualified teachers, but we have had an extremely high turnover rate," Brigitte J.A. Marshall, the Oakland district's associate superintendent for human resources, said about such efforts. "Children benefit from consistency and stability."
Systems of Support
The sweet spot for TTO staff was working in partnership with community groups and teacher colleges in the San Francisco Bay area to craft a program in which interested local residents could make a transition to a career in teaching relatively quickly.
"I just wanted to contribute to the youth of Oakland, to give them some hope,' " said Cicely Day, an elementary teacher who studied fashion design and worked in child care before catching the teaching bug.
Ms. Moore, the 6th grade teacher, recounted a harrowing story of growing up amid Oakland's 1980s drug wars and not learning to read until a determined 5th grade teacher refused to put her out of class for bad behavior. As an adult, it took several years for her to heed mentors' and friends' advice to become a teacher-a path she took only days after winning an award at her previous job as a market-research analyst.
A majority of the TTO recruits enter the profession through California's "intern" teacher route.
- To qualify for an intern certificate, they must take at least 120 hours of coursework.
- Typically, recruits take evening classes at one of the program's three partner teacher colleges beginning in January, followed by a seven-week summer course provided by the program.
- Candidates receive tutoring and financial support to fulfill licensing-test requirements.
- After securing teaching positions in the fall, they receive up to eight weeks of daily, intensive mentoring from a retired educator, while
- they continue coursework toward a preliminary teaching credential.
The community partnerships, meanwhile, help the program get the word out and identify promising adults who might consider applying.
Support continues throughout the teachers' first few years in the form of monthly professional-development meetings, at which they're given the chance to work with colleagues in the same grade level and subject.
In all, Ms. Rogers-Ard estimates, only about 25 percent of TTO resources are spent on recruiting; the other 75 percent is spent on retention. The program costs about $10,000 per teacher, she said, and so far has received two federal Transition to Teaching grants amounting to some $4 million in all through 2016.
Most of the teachers can easily count the ways in which the program has helped get them through rough times. That's certainly the case for Michael G. Williams, an elementary teacher who had a rocky year after being assigned a disproportionate number of students with a history of discipline problems. (He says he was able to establish a good relationship with them, but test scores didn't rise as much as his principal had hoped.)
"I thrive in a family environment. When I feel like I'm loved, it helps translate into the classroom," he said of TTO.
Precious James, a 3rd and 4th grade teacher in the district and one of the first crop of TTO recruits, also described a difficult first year on the job. But her students' scores increased across the board, she established a good relationship with her principal, and now she's serving as her building's math coach.
"If I didn't have these people, and God, I wouldn't have made it," she said about TTO. "It wasn't an easy year; there were challenges after challenges, but it was successful not just because of test scores but because my children were able to see success in their work, in their actions."
Asked about the five-year teaching commitment, most of the teachers reported that they hadn't even given that factor much consideration. After all, Oakland is home, they said.
"For me, the five-year commitment means that TTO is going to be committed to me for the next five years," Mr. Williams said.
Informing Recruitment
Though only 4 years old, the program has already helped shape the Oakland district's ongoing human-resources efforts, district officials say.
"We've raised the bar, and now we're focused on learning from the work, the philosophy, and the grassroots community emphasis that is represented in TTO," said Ms. Marshall. "It's been a huge influence on the overall district recruitment strategy."
There are still worries about the future. Continuation funding for the program after the federal grants expire remains a concern, even as Ms. Rogers-Ard works to refine an evaluation tool that produces data on TTO teacher performance, based on feedback from principals, parents, and students.
Still, every day, the need for the program hits close to home.
"My daughter said to me recently, 'Mama, I haven't had any Latino teachers,' " Ms. Rogers-Ard said. "And I said, 'Yeah. I need to start working on that.' "
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Washington DC/ Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
More than 82,000 young illegal immigrants have applied for a work permit under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). But the November elections could be key to what happens next.
By Stacy Teicher Khadaroo
CSmonitor.com
October 9, 2012
When Jessica Lopez's mother brought her to the United States illegally from Colombia, she was 6. She grew up in East Boston, constantly reminded that she had to hide her background.
Now 19, her future is anything but certain. But she's confident enough to take a course toward becoming a medical interpreter - a career aspiration that was totally impractical just a few months ago.
Ms. Lopez is among more than 82,000 young people who have already applied for protection from possible deportation - and a work permit - under the new program announced by President Obama in June. Officially called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), it's been colloquially known as DREAM Act-lite.
Awaiting a criminal background check and final approval, Lopez is expecting to receive permission soon to stay and work in the country for two years, and then possibly renew and stay longer.
"At the end of the day ... we shouldn't be known as illegal immigrants, because we didn't choose to come here," says the part-time student at Quincy College in Massachusetts. "I've lived in this country for 13 years, and it's as much a part of me - you can double the amount of time I was in Colombia, and it's still more [time spent] here."
Caroline Carlson, a 19-year-old student at the University of Maryland (UMD) in College Park, says she has some sympathy for children brought here by their parents, but the new policy of giving them work permits doesn't sit well with her.
"It makes me a bit nervous because the economy is in such a bad situation right now that I don't even know if I'd be able to get a job when I graduate," says Ms. Carlson, who is studying business and politics and is a vice president of the UMD College Republicans. "I think preference should be given to US citizens first before we give [illegal immigrants] an advantage when it comes to entering the workforce."
- For proponents, DACA is a common-sense way to remove the fear of deportation for young people who came here through no choice of their own and essentially feel American. It's also a watershed victory that encourages them to push a broader agenda.
- For opponents, it's a type of "amnesty" - akin to hanging a big welcome sign at the border and undermining the basic rule of law.
The debate shows once again how divided Congress has been on immigration issues.
- An operational memo from Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano set up DACA after Congress, in 2010, defeated the DREAM Act - legislation that would create a pathway to citizenship for young people who were brought here at a young age and pursued an education or joined the military.
Now the November elections could be key to what happens next.
- If Democrats gain seats in the House and retain control of the Senate and the presidency, the prospects for comprehensive immigration reform - which lawmakers attempted but failed to accomplish in the mid-2000s - are much greater.
- But if Republicans retain the House or if Mitt Romney becomes president, "it's hard to say where this will come out," says Robert Pastor, a professor of international relations at American University in Washington.
"This is one of those issues, like the 'fiscal cliff,' where everything turns on the election," he says.
About 1.26 million people are immediately eligible for DACA, and another half million could qualify in the future, according to the Migration Policy Institute. That's just a fraction of the estimated 11.5 million people living in the US illegally, but the program's ripple effects could be much wider.
To be eligible for DACA, a person must have been under age 31 on June 15, show that they came to the US before turning 16, have continually resided here for the past five years, meet educational or military-service requirements, and not pose a threat to public safety or national security.
The acceptance of applications through the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) started Aug. 15, two months after the policy announcement. It's been a steep learning curve for potential applicants and the nonprofits, employers, and educational institutions that can help them document their eligibility.
- The Los Angeles Unified School District, for one, has posted a section on its website to help students get their records together to show their educational and residential history for the DACA application.
- Thousands of people have shown up for free legal clinics in Los Angeles and Miami, and more than 70 such clinics have been organized all around the country by groups such as the Boston-area Student Immigrant Movement (SIM). This is partly in response to reports of lawyers offering to help people for exploitative fees of $1,000 or more.
- At a clinic organized by SIM at North Shore Community College in Lynn, Mass., about 30 came for one-on-one legal advice on a recent Friday afternoon. "People are excited about the opportunities that this opens up, but a lot of people are really cautious," says Conrado Santos, a SIM coordinator wearing a T-shirt that declares "Education not Deportation."
One of the most common questions has been whether applicants or their family members might be targeted for deportation once the government has collected all their information. Both USCIS and advocacy groups have assured them that a DACA application would not in and of itself trigger such moves. Also, those over 18 don't have to identify parents on the application.
Despite the uncertainties, about 7 percent of those eligible applied for DACA in the first month, according to Lorella Praeli, the Washington-based policy coordinator for United We Dream, a network run by undocumented youths - compared with 3 percent who applied in the first month after Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986, which granted amnesty to certain illegal immigrants.
As of Sept. 26, more than 1,600 DACA applications were ready for final review, and about 63,000 people had biometrics appointments scheduled, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official says.
Lopez has already completed her biometrics appointment, which she describes as a brief, easy process that includes answering some basic questions and having her photo and fingerprints taken.
"Such a quick turnaround for these amnesty applications raises serious concerns about fraud and a lack of thorough vetting," said Rep. Lamar Smith (R) of Texas in a statement. "While it took the administration less than three weeks to process several amnesty applications, it can take several months for some legal immigration benefit applications to be approved."
In response, a DHS official told the Monitor that the average length of time to process a DACA request is expected to be four to six months.
'No, we're not going to give up'
Lopez's transformation from a shy only child to an activist came when the Senate Republicans blocked the DREAM Act in 2010.
"When I saw the faces of the people that were there [to push for the DREAM Act],... people in tears saying, 'No, we're not going to give up,'... that's when I was like, I need to do something. Because if these people are brave enough to stand out and say something, why am I not?" says Lopez, who was taking a break from working at the free legal clinic for DACA applicants in Lynn.
But Mr. Obama's decision to take action that didn't involve Congress irked critics such as Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates tightening borders and limiting immigration. "You have a president saying, 'Since you didn't pass [the DREAM Act], I'm just going to go ahead and do it,' " he says.
He and other opponents worry that it will encourage others to cross into the US - even though DACA applies only to people who arrived at least five years ago.
"If you reward illegal behavior, even if you do so indirectly, through the children of the people who broke the law, you encourage people to do it," Mr. Mehlman says.
Professor Pastor and others point to what happened with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986: The employment verification requirements that were supposed to discourage future illegal immigration didn't turn out to be very effective. "Congress said they'd never do that again, because if they did, it would just be an encouragement to larger and larger waves," Pastor says.
Despite Obama's insistence that DACA is not an amnesty, critics see it as exactly that. "Let's not kid ourselves: They're not going to leave," says Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, who also objects to the nonlegislative nature of DACA.
If the rationale is that it's for children who grew up here and are essentially "American," it should have tighter guidelines, Mr. Krikorian says - applying to kids brought here at age 7 or younger, for instance. And to avoid attracting new undocumented immigrants, it should have some offsetting policies accompanying it, such as making mandatory the E-Verify system for employers to check employee immigration status, which is currently voluntary unless required by a state.
Giving hope to young immigrants
For immigrant advocates, DACA is indeed seen as a first step - one that's worth pausing to celebrate because it gives hope to many young people who worried about whether their education would lead to anything worthwhile.
"It has been a life-changing moment ... to see the culmination of the organizing work we've done for years now and the risks DREAMers took when they shared their stories," Ms. Praeli says. "We are committed to making sure that ... this victory infuses energy into the undocumented adult population [as well], so that our community can really realize the power they have and continue to fight for broader relief."
Several of the 29 applicants that were approved by mid-September have spoken to media outlets, including a Mexican man in Tucson, Ariz. He can now get a job in software systems engineering, for which he has a master's degree, instead of working in construction and landscaping.
Such stories, supporters say, will motivate more students to complete high school and pursue higher education.
Programs leading to high school equivalency degrees will probably grow to accommodate people who want to qualify for DACA, says Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute's office at New York University School of Law. The challenge will be "to make sure they are monitored so that they don't become diploma-generating mills," he says.
For Lopez, it's reassuring that her struggles to pay the out-of-state tuition of $750 per class at her college are now more likely to be worth it. "I'm taking a medical interpreter course now, and that's a step I wouldn't have taken if I didn't get this hope of getting a work permit," she says. Currently she's paid a stipend for working with SIM.
Obama's new policy doesn't allow for federal financial aid, nor does it affect tuition policies, which are set by states and individual colleges.
In Maryland, a state DREAM Act is a referendum question on the ballot in November. It would allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition if they have attended high school there and their families have paid taxes. Carlson says she doesn't think it's fair for noncitizens to have a tuition advantage over out-of-state citizens. There's a lot of activism on her campus supporting the state DREAM Act, and while the opposition is less visible, she says, "I've met a lot of people who are upset with the bill."
Other states are looking for ways to limit DACA's impact. Nebraska and Arizona have announced they will continue their policy of not providing driver's licenses or other state benefits to illegal immigrants, even those approved under DACA. The states justified their stance by saying that the new program doesn't make approved applicants "legal citizens." But it seems at least in part a challenge to federal law, since the 2005 REAL ID Act lists deferred action recipients as eligible for driver's licenses.
Election worries DACA supporters
One big question on people's minds probably can't be fully answered until November or later. "A lot of people are worried about the pending results of the elections - what that could mean for DACA, since it is a discretionary program," says Mr. Santos, the SIM coordinator.
It wasn't until early October that Mr. Romney articulated his position on DACA. In an interview with The Denver Post he said that young people who have already received DACA approvals would not be deported if he is elected. His campaign then elaborated to The Boston Globe that he would issue no further approvals.
Romney has criticized Obama for setting up something temporary, saying he would work with Congress on a bipartisan, permanent solution before any work permits expire. He's in a tricky spot, politically, as he tries to appeal to the conservative base of his party and at the same time avoid alienating the 23.4 million Hispanics eligible to vote.
If a President Romney indeed takes steps to undo the DACA program, "we're going to do what it takes to get it back," Lopez says. She hopes that "instead of just judging me because I'm undocumented, [people opposed to the DREAM Act are] going to be able to see [I'm] a hard worker ... and maybe they can change their concept."
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Los Angeles CA/ Sparking Conversations with Creativity
By Marshall Heyman
Wall Street Journal
October 9, 2012
This week, the Los Angeles Fund for Public Education (LA Fund) and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) launched a huge public art project called "Arts Matter" using the work of Barbara Kruger to address the importance of arts education in Los Angeles public schools. The program was produced by For Your Art.
Ms. Kruger's work, with slogans like "Support public art or face catastrophe" and "Give your brain as much attention as you do your hair and you'll be a thousand times better off" can be seen on 12 public city buses as well as multiple billboards and bus shelters for the next 30 days. Work by three other artists will follow in the coming months.
Ms. Kruger's work, with slogans like "Support public art or face catastrophe" can be seen on 12 public city buses as well as multiple billboards and bus shelters for the next 30 days.
The program is the brainchild of Megan Chernin, the CEO of the LA Fund.
- "We were encouraged to think outside of the box," she said, noting that 80% of kids in the public school system live in poverty. "I spend a lot of my time saying, 'Why is it so hard for people to understand how bad things are?'"
Ms. Chernin started by calling Les Moonves, the CEO of CBS, knowing that the network controls some outdoor billboard space.
Eight months later, she had also secured some from Clear Channel and a "host of others." Ms. Kruger signed on early, too, to create "this very provocative messaging," said Ms. Chernin. "Some of it is depressing, some of it is humorous. But her words are powerful and she puts them in your face."
The second artist's campaign will be more about "creating problem solvers, risk takers and dreamers," said Ms. Chernin. And another element is a social-media campaign led by Justin Bieber.
Culturally and socially, "our No. 1 asset is creativity and we're getting further away from that," said Ms. Chernin. "It's a tremendous opportunity to have this conversation.
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Medford MA/ OPINION: Long Live Paper
By Justin B. Hollander [Assistant Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University and author of "Sunburnt Cities: The Great Recession, Depopulation and Urban Planning in the American Sunbelt"]
New York Times
October 9, 2012
Last week, Education Secretary Arne Duncan declared a war on paper textbooks. "Over the next few years," he said in a speech at the National Press Club, "textbooks should be obsolete." In their place would come a variety of digital-learning technologies, like e-readers and multimedia Web sites.
Such technologies certainly have their place. But Secretary Duncan is threatening to light a bonfire to a tried-and-true technology - good old paper - that has been the foundation for one of the great educational systems on the planet. And while e-readers and multimedia may seem appealing, the idea of replacing an effective learning platform with a widely hyped but still unproven one is extremely dangerous.
A renowned expert on reading, Maryanne Wolf, has recently begun studying the effects of digital reading on learning, and so far the results are mixed. She worries that Internet reading, in particular, could be such a source of distractions for the student that they may cancel out most other potential benefits of a Web-linked, e-learning environment. And while it's true that the high-tech industry has sponsored substantial amounts of research on the potential benefits of Web-based learning, not enough time has passed for longitudinal studies to demonstrate the full effects.
In addition, digital-reading advocates claim that lightweight e-books benefit students' backs and save schools money. But the rolling backpack seems to have solved the weight problem, and the astounding costs to outfit every student with an e-reader, provide technical support and pay for regular software updates promise to make the e-textbook a very pricey option.
As both a teacher who uses paper textbooks and a student of urban history, I can't help but wonder what parallels exist between my own field and this sudden, wholesale abandonment of the technology of paper.
For example, when cars began to fill America's driveways, and new highways were laid across the land, the first thing cities did was encourage the dismantling of our train systems. Streetcar lines were torn up. A result, for many cities, was to rip apart the urban core and run highways through it, which only accelerated the flow of residents, commerce and investment to the suburbs.
But in recent years, new streetcar lines have been built or old systems extended in places like Pittsburgh, Jersey City and Phoenix. They are casting aside a newer technology in favor of an older one.
This lesson of technology-inspired extinction can be retold in many other domains of life: the way phonographs nearly disappeared when the music CD was invented; the rejection of bicycles in the middle of the 20th century; the shuttering of Polaroid factories with the advent of digital cameras.
My point is not that these are all pernicious or reversible developments. On the contrary, we have all benefited from new advances in medicine, communications and computing, even those that displaced familiar technologies.
The Polaroid is a wonderful device for what it is, but it will and should remain a technological novelty. On the other hand, few higher-tech formats deliver the lush sound quality of the vinyl record, and younger generations have recently returned to the format.
In other words, we shouldn't jump at a new technology simply because it has advantages; only time and study will reveal its disadvantages and show the value of what we've left behind.
Which brings us back to paper. With strength and durability that could last thousands of years, paper can preserve information without the troubles we find when our most cherished knowledge is stuck on an unreadable floppy disk or lost deep in the "cloud."
- Paper textbooks can be stored and easily referenced on a shelf.
- Data are as easy to retrieve from paper as reaching across your desk for a textbook.
- They are easy to read and don't require a battery or plug.
Though the iPad and e-readers have increasingly better screen clarity, the idea that every time a person reads a book, newspaper or magazine in the near future they will require an energy source is frightening.
The digitization of information offers important benefits, including instant transmission, easy searchability and broad distribution. But before we shred the last of the paper textbooks, let us pause and remember those old streetcars, and how great it would be if we still had them around.
