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  • Parents of English learners in the dark about their children’s language progress

    Parents of English learners in the dark about their children’s language progress


    Este artículo está disponible en Español. Léelo en español.

    Yosadara Carbajal Salmerón was always a very involved parent, from the time her children were in Head Start.

    She would volunteer in the classroom and sign up for parent committees throughout elementary and middle school.

    But Carbajal Salmerón didn’t realize that her children, who attend school in Pomona Unified, were still considered English learners after years of school, or how that might affect them. Then one day she received notification that her son had been reclassified as fluent and English proficient when he was in eighth grade.

    Her first question was, “Why hasn’t my daughter reclassified?” 

    Carbajal Salmerón’s daughter Mia Mirón was younger and had never learned to speak Spanish fluently, in part because she had always spoken English with her older brother.

    “I couldn’t understand it,” Carbajal Salmerón said in Spanish. “My son was the first born and he only spoke Spanish when he entered school. But why would my daughter still be an English learner, if she had had a harder time learning Spanish?”

    Courtesy of Yosadara Carbajal Salmerón

    Yosadara Carbajal Salmerón (right) with her children Andrew and Mia Mirón at Mia’s eighth grade graduation.

    Parents of English learners are often unaware of their children’s progress learning the language, according to advocates from the Parent Organization Network, based in Los Angeles.

    The organization is launching a campaign to help parents learn to monitor their children’s progress and advocating for changes in how districts communicate the information to families.

    Students are classified as English learners when they first enroll in school if their parents speak a language other than English at home and they do not score high enough on the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC). English learners have to continue to take the test every year, until they show proficiency in English, in addition to meeting other requirements, such as meeting grade level on state standardized tests in English language arts. At that point, they are reclassified as “fluent English proficient.”

    As long as students are classified as English learners, they must take English language development classes in addition to their regular classes. If they are not reclassified before middle and high school, those language classes can take up so much of their schedule that they cannot take as many electives as other students, and they may not be able to access as much academic content in other classes.

    Araceli Simeón, executive director of Parent Organization Network, said that parents often rely on report cards to monitor their children’s academic progress. “If they’re getting A’s and B’s, they don’t look at anything else,” she said.

    Districts have to send information to parents of English learners every year about their children’s progress on the ELPAC, but the reports are often sent in the mail, separate from a child’s report card. Even when parents do receive the scores, they do not always understand what they mean or what their children need to do in order to be reclassified.

    In addition, more and more districts are using online portals to share students’ scores on state standardized tests in reading, math and English language proficiency, Simeón said. Often, those portals can be difficult to navigate for parents who don’t speak English or aren’t as comfortable with technology. 

    “If you don’t know how to navigate that, then essentially years go by without you receiving a note about your child’s progress on the test,” Simeón said.

    Last year, staff from Parent Organization Network trained more than 80 parents in three districts – Los Angeles Unified, Long Beach Unified and Pomona Unified.

    In one of those trainings, Carbajal Salmerón learned for the first time about the process for students to be reclassified.

    “For the first time, someone explained to me the exam that they have to take once a year and that they have to learn how to write, listen, speak and read. The teachers had never told me that my daughter had a 3 in reading, for example, or a 2 in writing. No one had ever told me that,” said Carbajal Salmerón.

    Maribel Bautista is another parent who took the training. She has 14-year-old triplets in Long Beach Unified. All three were classified as English learners when they entered kindergarten because the family speaks Spanish at home. When Bautista would receive reports on how her triplets were doing in English, she assumed it was in English language arts, rather than learning the language itself. 

    When Bautista took training with Parent Organization Network and began to analyze the reports she had received, she realized that one of her triplets was reclassified in second grade and another in third, but one had never been reclassified, and he was in eighth grade.

    “I think the most important thing is explaining to parents what the classification of English learner means, why their kids are being placed there, and what steps they need to take to pass the exam before they go to middle school,” Bautista said in Spanish. “It’s about communication.”

    Courtesy of Maribel Bautista

    Triplets Nick, Jeson and Kendrick Figueroa attend school in Long Beach Unified.

    Asked what steps they are taking to help parents understand the reclassification process and their children’s progress, the districts where Parent Organization Network trained parents responded in different ways.

    The superintendent of Pomona Unified, Darren Knowles, said that collaborating with Parent Organization Network “led to a complete overhaul of the documents that we use to inform parents about the reclassification process.”

    Knowles said over the last four years, Pomona Unified redesigned a resource page for parents about reclassification criteria in English, Spanish, and Mandarin. The district also conducts regular presentations and training for parents about what students need in order to reclassify. In addition, he said the district is printing ELPAC score reports to give to families during parent-teacher conferences. Recently, he said the district sent out information about ELPAC scores to parents and offered in-person meetings if they wanted to review their children’s progress. He said 92 parents from 18 different schools requested an in-person meeting.

    Spokespersons from Los Angeles Unified and Long Beach Unified shared fewer details. “Our families have various opportunities including notification and consultation letters,” said the LAUSD statement. “The District also offers over a dozen meetings throughout the year where families can deep dive into their student’s educational journey. In addition, families are welcome to call and set up a school visit with the English learner designee or school principal.”

    “Long Beach Unified is dedicated to ensuring parents of English language learners receive student progress and reclassification information,” said Long Beach Unified School District spokesperson Evelyn Somoza. “Parents of students who have not yet been reclassified receive information on their student’s English language proficiency at the start of every school year through U.S. mail and our online portal. Parents receive phone calls and emails when test scores from assessments completed during the school year become available.”

    Both Bautista and Carbajal Salmerón attended universities in Mexico and want their children to go to college, too. They want their children to be able to enroll in the college preparatory classes they need in high school, which can be hard for students if they are still classified as English learners.

    After understanding the process, they began to push for more help for their children and encourage them to work on their English reading and writing skills to improve their scores on the ELPAC. 

    Carbajal Salmerón’s daughter Mia took a summer school intensive English class, began to attend English classes on Saturdays, and started focusing on improving her reading.

    Finally, in the first semester of ninth grade, she was reclassified, allowing her to stop taking English language development classes and freeing up her schedule to take more electives.

    Now a sophomore, Mia hopes to go to college to study ethnic studies. She credits her eighth grade English language development teacher, who spoke with her and other English learners and explained to them that they had to pass the English proficiency test in order to be reclassified as fluent. 

    “She was a teacher that really wanted everybody in the class to reclassify, and she put in the energy and time to really create a connection with every single one of us,” Mia said. “I feel like personally it’s all in the teacher. If they motivate you and make you see that you personally are capable of doing and achieving and reclassifying, it’s the greatest compliment ever.”





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  • Parents have a powerful role in improving literacy education

    Parents have a powerful role in improving literacy education


    Two students in a combined second- and third-grade class read together.

    Credit: Allison Shelley for American Education

    After Emily Hanford’s “Sold a Story” podcast sent shockwaves through American public education by revealing how countless schools had been duped into teaching reading in a way that doesn’t actually work, Gov. Gavin Newsom was among those who stepped in.

    With the encouragement of State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond, he proposed a new $1 million “literacy road map” for school districts.

    But despite its good intentions, the voluntary road map lacks teeth, since the state “imposes no requirements on districts regarding how to teach reading.” In other words, we have yet to see whether this much-talked-about national “reckoning” on reading will translate into meaningful changes in local policies and classroom practices in California.

    Meanwhile, the most recent statewide test scores show that our literacy crisis persists: Less than half of fourth and eighth graders are proficient in reading. These results have not moved much in the past decade. The Los Angeles Times editorial board recently posed a powerful question for state education leaders: “We know how to turn students into better readers. Why doesn’t California do it?”

    This month Families in Schools launched “Read LA! Literacy and Justice for All,” a campaign calling on California’s largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, to fully implement what’s known as the “science of reading” — a vast body of evidence-based research that shows us how kids actually learn to read and what effective literacy instruction requires. But education leaders and teachers are not the only ones responsible for ensuring every child learns to read.

    Parents have a critical and multifaceted role to play.

    Unfortunately, many parents are unclear about their children’s literacy development. One poll found that 92% of parents wrongly think their children are academically on track in reading (as well as math). For a forthcoming report on the California literacy crisis, we commissioned a poll (full results will be published soon) that found most parents have no idea what curriculum their child’s school uses. That poll also revealed that 1 in 3 parents are completely unfamiliar with the science of reading.

    In our research, we also spoke at length with dozens of parents. We encountered a wide range of perspectives and experiences concerning their role in helping their children become literate.

    Some parents don’t realize that literacy starts even before their children are old enough to hold a book. They aren’t aware of the abundance of research showing that by speaking to their infants, parents help them learn words and develop the neural patterns necessary for language comprehension. As their children grow, the research says, parents should engage in nurturing talk and interaction to help build their babies’ brains, which sets the foundation for all learning.

    Of course, many parents we spoke with knew they had a crucial role to play in their children’s literacy and relished it. “Her face always lit up with excitement every time we read together, and she always had the book picked out for us, so I know she loved it as much as I did,” Sylvia Lopez told us, describing the countless hours she spent reading with her daughter.

    However, economic and time constraints make it difficult for some parents to be as involved as they would like. “As a full-time working single mom, finding time to read with my son was sometimes a challenge,” Mary Lee said. When she was busy juggling work, dinner and other responsibilities, she got creative: “We often turned to rhyming stories that involved singing to make reading more enjoyable. This not only made reading fun but also boosted his recall abilities over time.”

    Some confessed they didn’t know how best to help their children with literacy development — an issue that is perhaps more acute among parents for whom English is a second language.

    “I have worked a lot on self-healing and personal development so I could provide better support to my son’s development, particularly in the context of literacy, which was a difficult process,” Hilda Avila told us. She sought help from a program in Los Angeles that supports bilingual parents and says it helped her “learn many techniques for supporting my son’s reading proficiency.”

    While parents should do all they can to support their children at home, they also can’t ignore what’s happening at school or what their children’s reading scores tell them. When a child is floundering, parents often need to advocate.

    Watching her child struggle with reading comprehension, Sonia Gonzalez was frustrated. “I thought that schools were experts at knowing how all students learn to read!” she told us. But Gonzales persisted, seeking out different programs at the school and monitoring the results. “Unfortunately, it took many years and attempts to figure out which reading programs were helpful to my child,” she said. 

    In the fight to ensure literacy for all kids, which many of us consider among the greatest civil rights efforts of our time, perhaps parents’ greatest asset is their collective strength. By coming together to demand that policymakers and educators make literacy instruction a top priority and adopt bold policy and practice changes that align to the science of reading, parents can help end California’s literacy crisis once and for all.

    ●●●

    Yolie Flores is the CEO of Families in Schools, a nonprofit organization that works with low-income, immigrant, and communities of color to ensure families/caregivers can effectively advocate for their children’s education.

    The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • Immigrant parents report faulty, slow translation of special education documents

    Immigrant parents report faulty, slow translation of special education documents


    Carmen Rodriguez, seated right, and other parents meet with state Sen. Anthony Portantino in the State Capitol.

    Credit: Courtesy of Innovate Public Schools

    Este artículo está disponible en Español. Léelo en español.

    When Los Angeles mother Tania Rivera signed a crucial document for her son Luis’ special education program in 2022, she was hoping he would be able to return to in-person classes after two years of distance learning. 

    But the individualized education program, or IEP, required for all children who need special education, was available only in English. Rivera’s first language is Spanish.

    Later she was told Luis, who has autism, would have to continue with online learning because the document did not specify that he needed in-person classes. In addition, she says, the document removed his occupational therapy for handwriting because a language interpreter erroneously said she objected.

    “It is a big disadvantage that we have, because I have some English, but it is very basic,” Rivera said in Spanish. “If we’re talking about educational terms or legal terms, the meaning can be lost with just one word” mistranslated.

    Monthslong waits and faulty or incomplete translations of special education documents are widespread across California for parents who speak languages other than English, according to special education advocates. They say these problems violate parents’ rights to participate in their children’s education plans under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the federal law that regulates special education. 

    A proposal in the state Legislature, Senate Bill 445, aims to solve some of these problems, but its fate remains uncertain because of concerns over potential cost.

    “I’ve never seen a timely translation and I’ve never seen all documents being fully translated,” said Lisa Mosko Barros, founder of SpEducational, an organization that works to educate parents to be advocates for their children with special needs and improve their access to high-quality education. Mosko Barros has worked with dozens of families in Southern California, including Rivera, and trained hundreds of others on navigating the IEP process.

    She said she has heard the same complaints over and over.

    “I literally spoke to one parent this morning in the Inland Empire who a couple of years ago signed an IEP and didn’t realize she was signing consent to eliminating speech services for her child who is non-verbal with autism,” Mosko Barros said. “It really can make or break a child’s access to a free and appropriate public education.”

    Rivera’s son Luis, now in eighth grade, remained in online classes since fifth grade until this fall and regressed as a result, his mother said.

    In total, he lost three years of in-person classes, first in 2020-21 when all students had distance learning, again in 2021-22 because he has chronic asthma and his pediatrician recommended he stay home since vaccinations against Covid-19 were not yet available for children. Then, in 2022, the translation problems kept him out of in-person schooling for another year.

    “He has had academic setbacks, and socially, he regressed a lot because it was three years without interaction,” Rivera said.

    When asked how long the district takes to translate special education assessments and IEP documents, the Los Angeles Unified School District communications team wrote that “the District works to parallel the IEP timeline for consistency and return the translated document within the same 30-day timeframe.” They declined to comment on Rivera’s case.

    Rivera and almost 200 other people attended an online meeting in September with state Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Burbank, at which parents shared how long wait times and poor-quality translations have hurt their children with special needs. They expressed their support for Portantino’s bill, which would require IEPs to be translated into a parent or guardian’s native language by a “qualified translator” within 30 calendar days of an IEP meeting or a later request.

    Current federal and state laws require that school districts “take any action necessary” to ensure parents understand IEP meetings, and state law requires they translate a student’s IEP at a parent’s request, but no time frame is specified.

    “I believe strongly that parents can best advocate for their children when they have the knowledge to do so. Not being able to read an IEP because of language barriers is unacceptable,” Portantino said. “We must find a way to translate IEPs more quickly.”

    Portantino said the issue is personal for him because he struggled with dyslexia and ADHD as a student and received limited help from the schools he attended.

    “I largely depended on developing my own learning methods, which included lots of repetition and good listening skills,” Portantino said. But he wants to make sure other children can get the help they need.

    The bill passed the Senate, the Assembly Education Committee and the Assembly Appropriations Committee with no opposition. But an analysis by the Assembly Appropriations Committee found that the bill could cost the California Department of Education $409,000 annually and could cost school districts between $6 million and $16 million, which might also have to be reimbursed by the state. Believing there was a risk the bill could be vetoed this year because of those costs, Portantino said he chose to make it a “two-year bill,” giving it more time to be discussed in the Legislature and with Gov. Gavin Newsom.

    San Francisco Unified School District passed a policy in 2022 to ensure “every effort shall be made” to translate special education documents before meetings so that parents have time to read and understand them. It also requires meeting times to be extended to allow for interpretation.

    Carmen Rodríguez is one of dozens of parents who pushed for that policy. Rodríguez has two children with disabilities. Before the San Francisco Unified policy passed, she said, she waited eight months for a written translation of the first assessment of her older son, who has anxiety and a learning disability, and a year for the IEP for her younger child, who has dyslexia. 

    “If it’s not in my language, how am I going to understand the document? How do I know that it really says here what my child needs?” Rodríguez said in Spanish.

    In addition, she said IEP meetings were often cut short because the district limited them to one hour, with no extra time allowed for interpretation.

    Belén Pulido Martínez, senior community organizer for Innovate Public Schools, an organization that worked to get the San Francisco policy passed, said the policy empowers parents.

    “Now in San Francisco, the district is training their special ed teachers on the policy, and we’re super happy about that because it’s not just a piece of paper that’s going to die in an office. It’s being implemented,” Martínez said.

    Matt Alexander, the San Francisco Unified Board of Education commissioner who worked with parents to write the policy, said school districts have to prioritize translation and interpretation if they want parents to be engaged.

    “In our district, over half of our families don’t speak English at home. So if we care about communicating with our families, we have to provide interpretation,” Alexander said. “Step one is, have a clear policy. Step two is, make sure you’re being accountable to families who are directly impacted. Is it working? How do we make it better?”

    Rodríguez said since the San Francisco policy passed, several other mothers have thanked her. She said she would love for SB 445 to pass so parents in other districts can also benefit.

    “So many children in many different places, many different schools, are not receiving the support they deserve, and their parents have to battle to get an evaluation and to get documents translated, and they find it really hard,” Rodríguez said. “It’s a really, really long document, and it’s a long process. And if it’s in our language, then it will be much easier for us parents to process and understand the document and the evaluation given to our children.”





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  • LAUSD receives mostly ‘B’ grades from district parents, survey reveals

    LAUSD receives mostly ‘B’ grades from district parents, survey reveals


    Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho, right, with students at Miles Avenue Elementary School in Huntington Park.

    Credit: Twitter / LAUSDSup

    Parents and guardians of students in the Los Angeles Unified School District offer mixed reviews of the nation’s second-largest school district, scoring it low on how it disseminates information and considers parents’ perspectives but generally high on the quality of education their children are receiving. Specifically, less than a quarter give the district an “A,” according to the Family Insights survey, conducted by GPSN and Loyola Marymount University’s Center for Equity for English Learners.  

    The 2023 survey also marks the second year of the district’s four-year strategic plan under Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who garnered approval from two-thirds of survey respondents. 

    Forty-one percent of parents in the survey give district schools a ‘B’ overall — and 43% give the same grade to their children’s individual campus. 

    “Families generally feel positive about the quality of teaching and instruction in their direct school and their own child’s academic performance, but gave mixed results on the district’s overall performance,” according to the report.

    “Raising up family perspectives on the state of the district and its performance is key this year when we may expect to see progress from the many investments made to address learning loss and other impacts of the pandemic on students.” 

    The Penta Group, an independent research firm, surveyed a random sample of more than 500 district parents and guardians between Aug. 22 and Sept. 14, 2023 — asking them about the district’s progress and what they would like to see LAUSD focus on. 

    The survey sample was representative of Los Angeles families “with students attending district, magnet, pilot, and both affiliated and independent charter public schools, and aligns with key demographic variables of enrollment by grade level, race/ethnicity, school type, English learner status, language spoken in the home, board district enrollment, and family income level.”

    Academics 

    According to the report, parents throughout the district say they are satisfied with their children’s education and would like to see LAUSD invest in more enrichment opportunities and individualized support. However, many do not understand how their child or the district as a whole is performing. 

    Specifically, 82% of parents surveyed say instruction at their children’s school is “good” or “excellent.” 

    Parents’ broader perception of LAUSD’s academic performance, however, paints a different picture. A little more than half of parents think the majority of district students perform at grade level in reading and math. 

    Three-quarters of LAUSD parents surveyed also think their own child is performing at grade level in core subject areas. 

    In reality, however, 41% of students in the district met state standards in English language arts this past year, while 30.5% met state standards in math, according to state standardized test scores. 

    “As a family member, a parent or a guardian, you’re looking for the basic thing: Can my kids read? Can they do math at whatever level you think that’s appropriate?” said Ana Teresa Dahan, GPSN’s managing director. 

    “But … what type of words you’re reading and what your comprehension is really what differentiates having a basic skill versus being at grade level, and I think that’s like a nuance families don’t always understand.” 

    Families that make more than $60,000 are more likely to believe their child is performing adequately, the survey found. In contrast, only 28% of low-income families and 27% of families of English learners have the same confidence in their child performing at grade level. 

    “When you’re sending your kids to your neighborhood public school, there’s a trust that … the school is delivering on getting your kids at grade level,” Dahan said. “Unless someone is telling them that that’s not happening, I think they just inherently are trusting that it’s occurring.” 

    In previous years, the survey revealed a high demand for additional academic support as well as after-school and summer enrichment opportunities. And this year, the number of parents calling for that assistance — including one-on-one tutoring — increased even more.

    Parents “recognize and respect the challenges schools are facing and teachers are facing” in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dahan said. “You can’t just expect a teacher or the school to solve the entire challenge of what the pandemic brought to students and families and communities.” 

    Fifty-six percent of parents name high-quality tutoring as their top priority for the district as a whole —– marking a 25 percentage point increase over the past two years. Meanwhile, 54% say they want to see LAUSD offer free, widely accessible summer programs. 

    And specifically at their child’s school, 85% of parents — and 93% of English learner families — say they want one-on-one or group tutoring on campus.

    More than half of parents surveyed also voiced strong support for enrichment programs, including arts programs, sports and coding. 

    “We’re also seeing, for students in particular, what those 18 months of isolation did,” Dahan said.

    “Families are recognizing (that) impact (on) their students, whether that means not wanting to go to school or not being happy at home. … They know that straight learning at school isn’t going to bring back the joy, right? So, it’s the enrichment opportunities that do that.”

    Emotional support 

    Additional support for students’ mental health is also a top concern among the parents, with 45% of respondents naming counseling and therapy as their third priority for the district overall. 

    In comparison, 32% of parents made the same request in 2021, and 44% called for the same in 2022. 

    Food assistance 

    For the first time in the survey’s history, 38% of families called for food assistance to be more readily available on their child’s campus. 

    “The district has done a lot in the years (to feed students)” Dahan said. 

    “We know that the people most impacted coming out of the pandemic … continue to be families in low-income households. And, as different government financial support has faded away, I think we’re starting to see the effects of that in LAUSD.” 

    Internet connectivity 

    During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, LAUSD promised to provide a laptop to every student and provide free internet access to families in need. But now, nearly three-quarters of the families surveyed said they experience a barrier to consistent, quality internet access. That number, however, marks a 10% improvement since 2021. 

    This year, 42% say the cost of internet is a barrier, while 34% said their challenges had more to do with securing a good quality connection. 

    Twenty-six percent, however, attribute their challenges to their geographical area.

    Community involvement and communication 

    Parents also said they feel their input is increasingly insignificant to the district — and that they would like communication from LAUSD to improve, especially concerning academic standards. 

    Specifically, the number of parents who feel their thoughts matter “a great deal in school and district decisions” decreased by 9 percentage points, only accounting for 40% in 2023. That drop was even larger for low-income families, the study found. 

    Meanwhile, most families applaud LAUSD for timely and accessible communications, but more than half also say it “takes a lot of effort” to understand the messages. 

    Forty-eight percent of parents say they want to receive district communications via an app, while 44% said they prefer email. 

    More than half of the parents also say they want more information about academic standards and a better idea about what their child is learning in the classroom. Fifty-two percent also said they want to know whether district students are performing at grade level in the main subject areas. 

    “We want to ensure that families receive accessible and understandable information that aligns with their expectations and needs,” Dahan said. “That’s also going to be a factor not only just accessing programs, but their understanding of where their child is.” 

    A future in LAUSD 

    Despite mixed reviews in various areas, about 90% of families said they would likely keep their children in the district until they graduate from high school. 

    Respondents who said they are “extremely likely” to keep their children enrolled in the district, however, dropped by about 18 percentage points in the past year from 53% to 35%, according to the study. And the number of families who are “not very or not at all likely to stay” in LAUSD has increased from 3% to 8%.

    Forty-two percent of families that voiced an interest in leaving the district — which included disproportionate rates of low-income families, families of English learners and white families — said they would most likely pursue a charter school. 

    Private schools lagged in popularity for those considering leaving the district and would be the first choice of roughly 32% of families, while 28% said they would take their child to a public school in another district altogether. 

    “Whatever perspective families had about communications, or even their policies, the district (and the superintendent) really did rate high,” Dahan said. 

    “Effective leadership plays a pivotal role in driving school improvement and meeting the diversities of our community. I think that is a signal that families think that the district is going in the right direction. It also underscores the importance of sustained leadership support in fulfilling these aspirations of our families and kind of fostering a thriving educational environment.”





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  • What parents of English learners need to know | Quick Guide

    What parents of English learners need to know | Quick Guide


    Third grade teacher Patty Lopez helps a student at Frank Sparkes Elementary in Winton.

    Credit: Zaidee Stavely / EdSource

    Este artículo está disponible en Español. Léelo en español.

    When your child is an English learner, it can be confusing and difficult to understand whether they are progressing normally toward proficiency in the language and what they need to do to be reclassified as fluent and English proficient. Here’s a quick guide to how schools classify students as English learners, what they have to provide for students to help them learn English, what criteria they take into account in reclassifying them as proficient in English, and why reclassification matters.

    Why was my child classified as an English learner?

    When children are first enrolled in school, their parents or guardians are asked to fill out a survey about which language the child learned when they first began to talk, which language they most frequently speak at home and which language parents and guardians use most frequently when speaking with them. 

    If a language other than English is spoken in the home, the school is required to assess the student’s level of English within 30 days after enrollment by giving them a test called the English Language Proficiency Assessment of California.  The test measures students’ abilities in reading, writing, speaking and understanding spoken English.

    If the test results show the child speaks, listens, writes and reads English fluently, at an age-appropriate level, the school classifies them as “initial fluent English proficient.” If the test results show that they do not speak, listen, read and write English fluently, at an age-appropriate level, the school classifies them as an English learner.

    Students classified as English learners must retake the ELPAC each spring until the school determines that they have reached proficiency in English.

    You can read more about the ELPAC and take a practice test here: https://www.elpac.org/resources/practicetests/#practice-training-tests. 

    Students who have significant cognitive disabilities are given a different test, the Alternate English Language Proficiency Assessment of California.

    What kind of instruction must the school provide to English learners?

    Schools are required to provide English learners instruction to help them learn English, called English language development. 

    English language development must be provided both while teaching other subjects in the classroom (this is called integrated ELD) and during a specific time during the school day focused just on learning English (this is called designated ELD). The state does not mandate a specific number of minutes, instead expecting schools to decide that based on the student’s needs.

    You can watch some videos here of English language development for different grades, prepared by the California Department of Education.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UThKEg5Tdos

    How will the school decide when my child is proficient in English?

    Schools must use four reclassification criteria to decide whether a student is proficient in English. Students must achieve an overall score of 4 on the ELPAC, or, if they have significant cognitive disabilities, 3 on the Alternate ELPAC.

    In addition, the district or charter school must take into account both the teacher’s evaluation and parents’ opinion and look at how the student is doing in academic subjects such as math and English language arts, compared to English-speaking peers. Each district or charter school makes its own rules about how to measure these last three criteria.

    How long should it take for my child to learn English fluently?

    Research shows it normally takes students between four and seven years to learn academic English proficiently.

    What if it takes longer for my child to learn English?

    If it takes longer than six years for a student to be reclassified, they will be classified as a long-term English learner. Long-term English learners often struggle in school, because while they often know how to speak English, they have not yet mastered writing and reading academic English. 

    As long as a student remains classified as an English learner, the school is required to provide them with English language development classes. If they are in middle or high school, they may not have time in their schedule to enroll in elective classes like art and music or Advanced Placement courses.

    What will happen when my child is reclassified?

    When a student is reclassified as “fluent English proficient,” they are no longer considered an English learner and will no longer be required to take English language development classes. The child’s school must still monitor their academic progress for the next four years.

    My child is enrolled in a dual-language immersion program. How will that affect their English language development?

    Research has shown that dual-language immersion programs can be very effective at helping students learn English. Sometimes these programs take longer to teach students English, but by the end of elementary school, more students in these programs have achieved fluency than in English-only programs. 

    In addition, dual-language immersion programs help students keep their home language and learn to read and write academically in their home language, making them bilingual.

    What can I do as a parent to make sure my child is learning English?

    Look for your child’s ELPAC scores, which should be sent by mail to your home or can be found on an online district portal. Pay attention to all four parts (listening, speaking, reading and writing).

    Talk to your child’s teacher about how your child is doing with listening, speaking, writing and reading in English, which skills they should work on, and what kind of English language development they are receiving at school.

    Ask when the ELPAC will be given, and remind your child of the importance of trying their best on this test. Sometimes students get tired of taking the test, especially when they are older, and they don’t understand the importance of doing well on it so they can be reclassified as fluent in English.

    Keep reading, speaking and singing with your child in your home language. This will help them with skills they can transfer to English, and will help make them fully bilingual.





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  • As White House wavers on visas, Chinese students at California colleges face uncertainty and worried parents

    As White House wavers on visas, Chinese students at California colleges face uncertainty and worried parents


    Top Takeaways
    • About 18,000 Chinese students are enrolled at the University of California, 2,600 at California community colleges and 850 at California State University.
    • Chinese students have increasingly chosen colleges outside the U.S., including closer to home in Hong Kong and Singapore.
    • Like all international students, Chinese students can be a valuable source of tuition for public universities, since they pay more than California residents.

    A flurry of at-times contradictory White House pronouncements are stoking confusion and concern among the 50,000 Chinese nationals who are studying at California’s colleges and universities — and potentially steering students away from further work and study in the U.S.

    Recent shifts in U.S. policy toward China have cast a “cloud of suspicion” over Chinese students, said Gisela Perez Kusakawa, the executive director of the Asian American Scholar Forum, an advocacy group.

    “Let’s say you invested all this time, money and energy and years of your life studying to get into a prominent university here in the U.S.,” she said. “You get in, [but] now it’s no longer guaranteed that you could actually finish that degree.” 

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a two-sentence statement on May 28 that the U.S. would “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.” He also pledged to “enhance scrutiny” of future visa applications from China and Hong Kong. 

    But the proposal for stronger visa enforcement appears to have been short-lived. On June 11, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would allow Chinese students into colleges and universities as part of a trade truce with China. 

    The flip from crackdown to rapprochement is one of the latest flash points in a volatile period for Chinese students. Even before Trump’s second term, fewer Chinese students were coming to American universities, data show. International students on U.S. college campuses have experienced a tumultuous spring term as the Trump administration first terminated and later said it would restore thousands of international students’ records in a federal database. The State Department in May paused new student visa interviews but said Wednesday it would resume processing and require applicants to make social media accounts public for government review. 

    V., a Chinese national student at UC Davis, who requested that EdSource withhold his full name in light of uncertain U.S. immigration policy, said the reelection of Trump has made him “a little bit afraid of speaking out.” 

    “I’m more conscious about, if I speak online or on social media, maybe I’ll get deported,” he said, even though he generally avoids posting anything political online.

    Though he hopes to continue working in the U.S. when he graduates this summer, V. knows several Chinese students who also attended American colleges as undergraduates and initially intended to pursue graduate degrees in the U.S., but are now continuing their education in other foreign countries instead.

    The ebb and flow of Chinese students is of particular interest to higher education institutions in California. China accounts for 36% of all international enrollment in the state, according to the Institute of International Education, making it California’s single-largest country of origin for international students. Nearly 18,000 Chinese international students are enrolled at the University of California, almost 6,000 at the University of Southern California, about 2,600 across the state’s community colleges and roughly 850 at California State University. 

    Those students bring with them coveted tuition dollars, a boon to the state’s public universities, where international students pay a premium over the rate charged to California residents.

    California universities responded to the Trump administration’s statements on Chinese student visas with expressions of support for international students from China. A written statement from the UC system on June 11 said the public university system “is concerned about the U.S. State Department’s announcement to revoke visas of Chinese students.” The statement said international students and scholars are “vital members of our university community and contribute greatly to our research, teaching, patient care and public service mission.”

    If Chinese students were to stop attending U.S. colleges and universities, their absence would be felt across academic disciplines. More than a fifth of Chinese students in the U.S. studied math and computer science, roughly 17% pursued engineering and almost 13% sought degrees in business and management, according to 2023-24 data from the Institute of International Education. 

    Chinese students are most heavily enrolled in U.S. graduate programs. Roughly 123,000 Chinese nationals studying at U.S. colleges and universities — about 44% of all Chinese students in the U.S. — are graduate students.

    Sources interviewed for this story emphasized that Chinese students are weighing not only the immediate twists and turns of U.S. foreign policy, but longer-term concerns about cost of living and the draw of preferable options closer to home. They also noted that restrictions on Chinese students are consistent with policies Trump pursued during his first term.

    ‘Our parents are super, super worried’

    A Chinese international student at the University of Southern California who graduated from a Ph.D. program in May said he has become accustomed to exchanging concerned text messages with friends whenever news of possible changes to U.S. immigration policy breaks. EdSource agreed to withhold his full name due to his concerns about increased scrutiny on international students. 

    “I’ve gotten texts from people saying, ‘Oh, are you OK? Are you safe?’ I’ve got people checking on each other, asking them, ‘So what can happen to the current visa holders? And if I already scheduled [a visa interview], will I still be able to go?’” he said.

    Already, he added, peers in China are contemplating pursuing their degrees in the United Kingdom or Australia as alternatives to the U.S. The student himself is applying for Optional Practical Training, which allows eligible international students to extend their time in the U.S. after completing an academic program.

    Meanwhile, at UC Davis, V. has found something like a second home. He has joined a sports team, pledged a fraternity and played an instrument in a school-affiliated band. Contrary to the stereotypes of U.S. cities as plagued by gun violence and crime that are common in Chinese media, he has found Davis to be peaceful, diverse and open-hearted. 

    But with the latest vacillations in U.S. immigration policy, concern is growing at home among Chinese students’ families. “Our parents are super, super worried,” he said, something evident whenever he checks a group chat where the parents of Chinese students in the U.S. share their questions and concerns. 

    A gradual slide in Chinese students at U.S. colleges

    There are ample signs that Chinese students have been cooling on American degrees long before Trump’s return to office this year.

    Data from the Institute of International Education show that the number of Chinese students in the U.S. increased rapidly during the 2000s, a trend that continued at a slower pace through the early years of the first Trump administration.

    But the number of Chinese internationals at U.S. institutions began to drop with the onset of Covid-19 and has continued to fall since. As of the 2023-24 school year, there were more than 277,000 Chinese students in the U.S., down more than 95,000 students from pre-pandemic levels in 2019-20.

    Several experts interviewed for this story framed the Trump administration’s recent statements about Chinese students as the latest of several policy changes that may discourage Chinese students from attending college in the U.S.

    As early as 2018, U.S. consular officials said they would shorten the duration of visas to Chinese students studying advanced manufacturing, robotics and aeronautics from five years to one, forcing students to seek annual renewals instead. Then, in 2020, Trump signed a presidential proclamation suspending the entry of Chinese students and researchers deemed to have links with the Chinese military, prompting the U.S. to revoke the visas of 1,000 Chinese nationals. 

    After Trump left office in 2021, Biden administration Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken struck a more conciliatory tone regarding Chinese students in the U.S., saying in a May 2022 speech that the U.S. “can stay vigilant about our national security without closing our doors.” And during a November 2023 meeting, former President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping expressed a commitment to more educational exchanges.

    But the Biden administration initially continued a Department of Justice (DOJ) initiative launched under Trump in 2018, which targeted Chinese researchers accused of stealing American intellectual property. The Biden DOJ ended the program in 2022 following concerns about racial profiling.

    And in March 2024, before Trump’s return to office, reports surfaced that more than a dozen Chinese students were denied reentry into the U.S. despite holding a valid visa, while others reported being searched and questioned for hours at the U.S. border. The State Department told The Washington Post at the time that the number of Chinese students found to be inadmissible for entry had been stable in recent years.

    ‘We are still hoping it’s getting better’

    Geopolitical concerns are not the only reasons some Chinese students may think twice about studying at U.S. colleges and universities. 

    Al Wang, the general manager of Wiseway Global, which recruits Chinese students to study in other countries, said that Chinese students may not apply to certain U.S. institutions because rankings of the best universities in the world tend to score institutions in countries like the United Kingdom and Singapore above U.S. rivals. In addition, he said, Chinese students may choose to stay home for college, seeing joint-degree programs in China with U.S. universities like Duke as a more economical option.

    Wang nonetheless anticipates that the U.S. and China will continue cooperating on education and cultural exchange programs, something the Chinese Ministry of Education has encouraged. He predicted that more Chinese students will study abroad in the U.S. for a school term or summer intensive, rather than enrolling in degree programs. “We are still hoping it’s getting better, but we don’t know where it’s going,” he said. 

    The Chinese international student at USC suggested that U.S. universities aiming to maintain their international student population should focus on providing legal support, security and a sense of belonging. Failing that, he added, it won’t take long for current students to warn would-be classmates. 

    “They’re going to tell their peers from high school, or they’re going to tell people from home, ‘Oh, don’t come,’” he said.





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  • Hanford program supports teen parents while they finish high school

    Hanford program supports teen parents while they finish high school


    File photo of a student in the HOPE (Helping Our Parenting Students Excel) program. At varying levels, HOPE is a part of nearly 50 Learn4Life centers in California. Some schools only provide donations for baby supplies and access to support groups while larger schools have separate classrooms for its HOPE students, including the Hanford campus.

    Photo courtesy of Learn4Life

    Pregnant in high school, 14-year-old first-year high school student Giselle Meza said she feared she’d be judged by her peers. She was one of only two pregnant teens at her school and felt isolated. She missed a lot of classes, falling behind. 

    Statistically, Meza has about a 50% chance of dropping out of school altogether. She hasn’t; instead, she withdrew from Hanford High to participate in Helping Our Parenting Students Excel at Kings Valley Academy, a Learn4Life campus — a network of dozens of public charter high schools across the state and nation. 

    The HOPE program and Learn4Life structure empowered her to walk onto the campus without feeling alone. The program provided her with peer support from other pregnant and teen parents, a personalized learning plan, and the ability to bring her daughter to school. 

    In a designated HOPE room at Kings Valley Academy, shelves stocked with children’s books line the walls. Educational toys, playpens and swings cover the floor. 

    The room is a home away from home, where Meza could nurse, tend to or play with her daughter, Desirae, while continuing her high school education and gaining skills to better herself. 

    Teen parents have thrived in that environment, including Nevaeh D. who earned a full scholarship to UCLA after graduating from Learn4Life. “While I did my lessons, she was sleeping or playing alongside me,” Nevaeh said in an April media release announcing her graduation from Learn4Life. For student privacy, the school did not disclose Nevaeh’s last name.

    “So many of them think they’re the only ones in this position,” HOPE founder Staci Roth said. HOPE, however, creates an environment where pregnant and parenting teens feel seen, safe and supported, Roth told EdSource. 

    After more than a year in the program, Meza, now 16, no longer feels isolated, and is comforted by “being surrounded by people going through the same thing.” 

    “We take away the shame and the stigma,” said Christianna Percell, assistant principal at Kings Valley Academy. 

    How HOPE started 

    Seven years ago in 2016, while working at Learn4Life Panorama City in Los Angeles, Roth noticed that pregnant and teen parents struggled to attend class. She started a group with teen moms to learn what obstacles were preventing them from coming to and staying in school. 

    Schools needed to do more to support them, she said. She designated one classroom for the group of teen parents and brought in swings and bouncers, diapers and wipes. 

    “Just made it their safe space,” she said. 

    By 2018, HOPE had grown from eight to 63 students in the Learn4Life schools, as word spread that parenting students could bring their kids to campus. 

    At varying levels, HOPE is now a part of 48 Learn4Life centers in California. Some schools only provide baby supplies and access to support groups, while larger schools have separate classrooms for its HOPE students, which, to Roth, has been the best way to achieve the organization’s goal of creating a safe space for parenting students to feel supported. 

    Learn4Life’s Hanford location adopted the program three years ago with about a dozen parenting teens. Today, the program serves almost 60 teen parents, said Lindsey Hoskins, the supervising teacher who oversees the HOPE program in Hanford. 

    “I was a teen parent,” Hoskins said. “There was no place I could take my baby.” She said she remembers having the choice of dropping off her child while she was at school or staying home to nurse the baby.

    As a result of HOPE, Hoskins said student parents aren’t dropping out like they were before the program’s implementation. 

    Being supported 

    The HOPE program allows students with children to bring their kids to school, so they can work toward a high school diploma at their own pace while receiving mentorship, supplies and peer support. Students have access to essentials such as diapers, car seats, strollers, cribs, clothes and toys, so the teens don’t feel pressured to work as much or to spend their earnings on baby supplies.

    Instead, the student parents can focus on their education and their children, Roth said. 

    The program provides resources by connecting the teens to community partners, providing transportation when needed or simply offering encouragement. 

    “We may be providing diapers and formula now while they’re at school,” Roth said, “but at the same time, connecting them to where they can get that in the future if they need it.” 

    The peer support ensures the parenting teens don’t feel alone and allows them to learn from each other, Roth said. 

    In the HOPE room, parenting teens often step in and help with a crying baby that has colic, Roth said. Or during a support group meeting, they’ll bounce ideas off of one another to treat a rash. “They’re their best teachers to each other.” 

    Teen parent Nevaeh earned a scholarship to UCLA after graduating from Learn4Life, which allowed her to continue her studies while bringing her daughter to the Hanford campus.
    Photo courtesy of Learn4Life

    Students also learn life skills, such as financial planning, lessons about child development, health and nutrition, as well as job readiness and career skills.

    Over time, HOPE programs have added elective classes to teach parenting skills; Roth said students can learn to be better parents while gaining needed credits to graduate.

    Created based on student input, skills classes range from preparing for childbirth and breastfeeding to building healthy relationships and co-parenting. Hoskins said students can pick a topic that’s specific to their life or situation. Some of Hoskins’ students have completed classes for potty training and teething — which has allowed them to gain confidence and address the challenges they currently face as a parents. 

    “They feel so empowered to take care of their little ones,” Roth said.

    According to a 2010 study of women in their early 20s, 53% of women who became moms as teenagers graduated with a high school diploma, in contrast to 90% of women who did not become teen parents. 

    Such statistics, Roth said, were the driving force behind HOPE’s goals: teaching teens how to parent and to support their family while encouraging and equipping them to go to college or find a career after high school. 

    Students supported by the HOPE program graduate at a 6% higher rate, according to Learn4Life and HOPE statistics. 

    Addressing the whole child

    Several parenting students said they joined HOPE because they no longer felt comfortable at their traditional schools after becoming pregnant, the Learn4Life staff said. 

    “We’ve heard the stories from our students (about) how they felt at their school when they found out they were pregnant,” Roth said. 

    To break that cycle, HOPE staff builds supportive relationships, Roth said. 

    “We say we’re going to be here, and we are here,” she said. “We say we’re going to support them, and we do support them. It’s life-changing for them to have someone who asks about their day (and) to call your teacher in emergencies.” 

    HOPE students can be teen mothers or fathers as well as students who help care for their siblings. Kristen Cooper, 17, nearing the completion of her sophomore year, brings her one-year-old brother to the program while her parents work. She said she gained trusting relationships with adults because of the program. 

    The HOPE and the Learn4Life school model allows staff to build lasting, meaningful relationships with students by addressing all their needs. 

    The school’s model focuses on one-on-one instruction, flexible scheduling and personalized learning, said Ann Abajian, a spokesperson for Learn4Life. Students, including those in HOPE, have the option to work virtually or spend minimal hours at school. 

    A “team of teachers” manages students’ action plans and goals as they get “layers of support” through tutoring; one-on-one, small group and traditional class instruction; three school counselors and an onsite therapist; resiliency programs, such as yoga, meditation and classes that teach organizational skills and coping mechanisms; and an alumni support group. 

    That support helps students navigate their challenges, including not being able to attend a traditional school because they’re dealing with social-emotional trauma, working every day, helping care for a sibling or raising a child. 

    Staff members are trained to be trauma-resilient education professionals who provide tools to build the resilience to face their past, present and future, said Roth, who is also the school’s coordinator of trauma-resilient education. 

    Students who take part in the HOPE program, Roth said, come to the Hanford campus for one-on-one instruction with their teachers. The difference for HOPE students is the designated space to bring their children. 

    Meza, the student who joined HOPE to avoid judgment at her traditional school, spends a lot of time on campus because she feels more comfortable there than in her own home, she said. There’s more room for her one-year-old daughter to play, and she gets the help she needs from staff. 

    “I’ve been doing better than ever, honestly,” Meza said about now being nearly finished with her first year of high school. 

    HOPE is ‘different’ from other youth parenting programs

    Schools in California have operated youth parenting programs for decades. Currently, programs are under the umbrella of Cal-Learn, a state program designed to encourage pregnant and parenting teens to graduate from high school or gain the equivalent, become independent and form healthy families. 

    Sixty percent of teenage parents who are currently receiving welfare will depend on government aid for 10 or more years, according to research noted in the legislation that established Cal-Learn to address the “unique educational, vocational, training, health, and other social service needs” of teen parents. 

    The Youth Parent Program in Clovis Unified, for example, serves parenting teens who are trying to graduate. 

    With a 91% graduation rate, the parenting program supports students on their journey to finishing high school and helps them gain basic parenting skills, district spokesperson Kelly Avants said. 

    The program is meant to “come alongside” students who are teen parents, ensuring they have access to transportation, nursing, counseling, academic support, encouragement to “stay in school, pass their classes and ultimately graduate,” and the skills to “parent well,” Avants said.

    Through the program, teen parents can learn areas such as basic infant CPR, lessons on childhood development and ways to be engaged parents.

    But HOPE is different, Hoskins said, because it’s on Learn4Life campuses, where educators can give students what they need with specific programming, such as personalized learning and the elective classes picked by students.

    “We meet them where they are,” Hoskins said. 

    ‘Impacting generations’

    The percentage of teen parents who do not finish school contributes to high incidences of their own children not graduating.

    The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the children of teenage mothers are more likely to drop out of high school, give birth as a teenager and face unemployment as a young adult, among other findings.

    Generational impact on kids

    A child who comes to campus sees their parent studying — something HOPE staff believe will foster a child’s love for school and can break the cycle of dropping out.

    Mayra Hernandez, 18, said her 2-year-old son Sebastian loves his preschool and isn’t shy like some of the other kids because he attended HOPE with his mom for the first two years of his life. She said Sebastian eagerly plays with and communicates with his peers.

    Parenting teens, Hoskins said, are “bringing their child who is exposed to books (and) exposed to mom reading,” Hoskins said. “They’re exposed to literature, structure, education, other peers and social behavior and norms.”

    “(Teen pregnancy) has such a generational impact,” Roth said. “This population has its own obstacles and trauma that go along with (being a teen parent).”

    Acknowledging those “high statistics,” Roth and Hoskins said the aspects of the HOPE program — bringing kids to campus, graduating from high school, gaining life and parenting skills and learning about careers — are “impacting generations.” 

    “I would be struggling still,” 18-year-old Mayra Hernandez said in hindsight. Her mom, also a teenage mother, didn’t graduate from high school. Hernandez, considered an 11th grader, said she is better able to manage her time as a mother and student because of HOPE’s and Learn4Life’s model. She is dual enrolled in high school and the West Hills Community College District and works two jobs to pay her bills. 

    She considers herself on track to graduate and pursue a career. Hernandez gained nearly 60 credits in just a month at Learn4Life,  has completed a semester of college through dual enrollment and plans to either become a traveling nurse, ultrasound technician or a medical professional in the Navy. 

    Hernandez said it will be “inspiring” for her son to see her graduate.

    Meza said she once viewed the military as her only option after graduation, but now after high school, her goal is to become an ultrasound technician — all because HOPE expanded what she viewed as her choices. 

    “A lot of our students will tell you, ‘I would not graduate high school if it wasn’t for Learn4Life and the HOPE program,’” Hoskins said. “Things that are deemed not possible are happening.”





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  • We must champion our student parents

    We must champion our student parents


    San Diego State University, Hilltop Way.

    Credit: Jazlyn Dieguez / EdSource

    As we honor the dedication and love of father figures this June, it’s critical to spotlight a demographic in urgent need of support: student parents. Between balancing coursework with child care, these parents are pursuing better opportunities for themselves and creating a foundation to uplift their families. And they are doing so while facing dubious odds as they navigate a higher education system built without their unique needs in mind.

    More than one-fifth of undergraduate students in the U.S. — about 3.7 million — are parents. However, only 37% of student parents graduate within six years, compared with nearly 60% of their peers without children.

    In California, the proposed GAINS for Student Parents Act (Assembly Bill 2458) aims to address this disparity. The bill would adjust student parents’ cost of attendance to account for child care and improve data collection on student parents — two vital pieces of the puzzle for identifying and addressing the unique hurdles faced by students with children. 

    I recently spoke with a student parent on the cusp of graduation about his experience. Larry, 40, is raising nine children, six of whom are still at home. That’s a heroic feat for any father, but Larry also graduated from CSU Bakersfield with degrees in sociology and communications just in time for Father’s Day this year. His story, while inspiring, highlights systemic issues in higher education that make success stories like his much too rare.

    Larry sits at the intersection of many identities: father, veteran and previously incarcerated. Through these identities, he has experienced bias, stigma, and barriers to opportunities that others on campus take for granted. His experience is not unique. A national survey found that 40% of parenting students feel isolated on campus, and 20% feel unwelcome.

    “My children have dealt with a lot. I’ll have my kids on campus while I’m in class, but since I’m older, people think I should have things figured out. If there was someplace for them to be or something for them to do while they were on campus — what am I supposed to do when I don’t have child care?” Larry said.

    According to a New America survey, nearly 40% of student parents who stopped out of college cited caregiving and school work as significant reasons. However, the number of colleges with accessible on-campus child care has declined. When it does exist, long waiting lists and high costs are serious barriers. This exacerbates time poverty, forcing student parents to make sacrifices that impact their academic outcomes and their children’s future opportunities. Passing the GAINS for Student Parents Act is critical to addressing these hurdles. 

    California has made strides with legislation like AB 2881, passed in 2022, granting student parents priority class registration to accommodate their demanding schedules. But there is still much room for improvement. 

    The GAINS for Student Parents Act can help create an education system that uplifts families. The bill aims to standardize the financial aid process across institutions, making automatic adjustments to the cost of attendance for student parents, who are often first-generation students of color facing additional financial burdens not covered by existing aid programs. Since colleges and universities currently lack a systematic approach to identifying student parents, the bill would also improve the collection of data to facilitate more targeted support for these students.

    Co-sponsored by the Michelson Center for Public Policy, along with The California Alliance for Student Parent Success, Cal State Student Association, Generation Hope, and uAspire, this bill made it out of the Assembly and moved on to the Senate where it was passed in the Senate Higher Education Committee. It is now waiting to be heard in Senate Appropriations.

    When asked about graduation, Larry said: “I didn’t think I was going to finish this. I’m blown away. I’m graduating with a degree — what is that? A college degree!”

    Father’s Day graduation success stories like Larry’s should be more common and less fraught with tribulations. Student parents are resilient and strive to do what is best for their children. But as policymakers, leaders, administrators and practitioners, how can we build a more equitable system for parenting college students nationwide?

    By supporting student-parent success, we ensure the success of their children and future generations. So, this Father’s Day, how will you join the movement to ensure every student father and every student parent has the support they need to succeed?

    •••

    Queena Hoang is the senior program manager for Michelson 20MM Foundation’s Student Basic Needs Initiative. The initiative aims to tackle the real cost of college, especially the nontuition costs that place students in positions of housing insecurity, homelessness, food insecurity, and overall financial instability. 

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • If undocumented parents lose Medi-Cal, California kids could suffer, advocates say

    If undocumented parents lose Medi-Cal, California kids could suffer, advocates say


    A family gets information at Fort Miller Middle School’s Health and Wellness Fair in Fresno.

    Photo courtesy of Eric Calderon-Phangrath

    Children’s health advocates are sounding alarm bells about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to freeze public health insurance enrollment for undocumented adults. 

    They say the move will put those adults’ children at risk of poor health care and well-being.

    California has gradually expanded Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance for low-income people, to undocumented immigrants, including those with temporary status such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. First, undocumented children were included in 2016, then young adults 19-25 in 2019, then seniors 50 and older in 2022, and finally those ages 26-49 in January 2024.

    Before the expansion, undocumented immigrants only qualified for Medi-Cal in emergencies, during pregnancy, and for long-term care. California is paying for the expansion on its own, without federal dollars.

    Now, faced with a deficit, Newsom is proposing to freeze new enrollment in Medi-Cal for undocumented immigrant adults and charge current undocumented enrollees a $100 monthly premium starting in 2027.

    The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have been pressuring states like California to stop providing benefits to undocumented immigrants, saying tax dollars should not be used for people who are in the country without permission.

    In announcing the proposed cuts, though, Newsom said they were to balance the budget. He said his beliefs have not changed. He touted his promises to expand health care to all, regardless of immigration status, both as mayor of San Francisco and governor of California.

    “It’s my value. It’s what I believe, I hold dear. I believe it’s a universal right. And I have for six years championed that,” Newsom said. “This is a tough budget in that respect.”

    He said there are now 1.6 million undocumented adults enrolled in Medi-Cal, about 5.3% of total enrollment.

    “Our approach was not to kick people off and not to roll back the expansion, but to level set on what we can do and what we can’t do,” Newsom said.

    Though undocumented children would not be affected directly by the changes, advocates say that restricting health insurance for undocumented adults will affect their children, the vast majority of whom are U.S. citizens. An estimated 1 in 10 California children have at least one parent who is “undocumented” or has temporary protections from deportation, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty.

    “We are disheartened,” wrote Avo Makdessian, executive director of the First 5 Association of California, an organization that represents the state’s county commissions supporting children in the first five years of life, in a statement released after Newsom’s announcement of his revised budget. “When Medi-Cal coverage is scaled back for adults without legal status, children in those families suffer. Decades of research are clear: Healthy parents lead to healthy kids.”

    Ted Lempert, president of the nonprofit organization Children Now, said, “Children Now is deeply concerned with the proposed cuts to Medi-Cal.”

    “We urge the governor and Legislature to consider that when parents lose coverage, kids are less likely to get the health care they need, so the proposal to hurt parents hurts kids as well,” Lempert said.

    Mayra Alvarez, president of The Children’s Partnership, an organization that advocates for children’s health equity, said studies show that when parents become eligible for Medi-Cal, they are more likely to learn about health insurance options available to their children and enroll them.

    “This ‘welcome mat’ effect can lead to a noticeable increase in the number of children covered by Medi-Cal or similar programs, even without changes in their individual eligibility,” Alvarez said. “Conversely, when a parent or family member is sick and unable to work or provide care, kids suffer as a result.”

    Dolores, 65, is a grandmother who enrolled in Medi-Cal under the expansion for undocumented immigrants. She said losing it would affect not only her but also her children and grandchildren. She did not share her last name because of fear of immigration enforcement.

    Months after enrolling three years ago, Dolores suffered a stroke. 

    “If I hadn’t had Medi-Cal, I don’t know how I would have gotten health care,” she said in Spanish. “It helped me then, and it is still helping me so much.”

    Her enrollment in Medi-Cal has also helped her family, including her grandchildren, who live with her, she said. At a health center in Victorville, she has been able to take nutrition classes and Zumba, and she has learned about healthy foods to cook for her family. She said her 4-year-old granddaughter follows her every move, exercises with her, and has benefited from her grandma’s improved health.

    “You know children are like sponges — everything they see, they absorb,” she said. 

    Dolores said she could not afford to pay $100 a month for Medi-Cal, as proposed by Newsom. She has lived in the U.S. for more than 30 years, but after the stroke, she has not been able to return to work.

    Alvarez added that when state residents are uninsured, that creates other costs in emergency health care.

    “Cynically discriminating against our state’s immigrant communities by rolling back Medi-Cal eligibility is not only unconscionable, but doing so will only result in costs being shifted elsewhere,” she said.

    Alvarez recommended that the governor and Legislature balance the budget in other ways, such as “closing corporate tax loopholes and making the wealthy pay their fair share, drawing down reserves that exist for times like this, and scaling back spending in more appropriate places, such as the state’s bloated prison budget.”





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  • How can parents make their voices heard at school? | Quick Guide

    How can parents make their voices heard at school? | Quick Guide


    Parents read a math book at the Lighthouse for Children Child Development Center in Fresno.

    Photo: Zaidee Stavely/EdSource

    Este artículo está disponible en Español. Léelo en español.

    Students are heading back to school or starting school for the first time in districts across California. Parent involvement is key to student success, and many get involved by volunteering in the classroom, tutoring or chaperoning field trips. But there are also other ways for parents to get involved. State law requires that schools and districts establish several committees to ensure parent voices are heard when making policy and funding decisions.

    This is a quick guide to the different committees parents can join to have a say in school governance.

    School Site Council

    All schools must establish a School Site Council if they receive “categorical funding” from the federal or state government for programs like Title I (designated for low-income students), Title III (for English learners and immigrant students) and others. This council is made up of parents, teachers, staff members and the principal. High schools also include students on their site councils. 

    The School Site Council assesses needs in the school, including analyzing student test scores, and decides on goals to meet those needs. They also develop the School Plan for Student Achievement, which includes how funding will be spent to meet the goals. A school site council might decide, for example, to hire a reading intervention teacher, if they notice that reading scores are particularly low, or they might decide to focus on professional development for teachers, or instructional aides for English learners. These plans are ultimately submitted for approval by the school district.

    The council meets regularly throughout the school year to ensure the plan is being carried out and evaluates the progress made toward goals.

    English Learner Advisory Committee

    All schools with 21 or more English learners must establish an English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC). This committee is made up of parents, staff and community members, but parents or guardians of English learners must make up at least the same percentage of the committee as English learners represent within the student body. This committee advises the principal and staff, helps develop a school plan for English learners and reviews how well the school is serving English learners.

    Parents and guardians may also be elected at their school-level ELACs to join the District English Learner Advisory Committee (DELAC) in every district with at least 51 English learners. Parents or guardians must make up at least half of the members of the DELAC. This committee helps develop a district master plan for serving English learners and ensures the district is complying with laws regarding English learners. This committee also reviews and comments on the district’s policies for deciding when students are proficient enough in English to no longer be classified as English learners.

    LCAP Parent Advisory Committee

    California’s local control funding formula directs money to schools based on the number of students enrolled who are low-income, English learners, foster youth or homeless. Under state law, all districts that receive local control funding from the state must get input and advice from the Parent Advisory Committee on how to spend the money for these groups. The committee reviews and gives feedback on the district’s Local Control Accountability Plan, which details how the district plans to spend the funding. 

    Community Advisory Committee (for special education)

    Every Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) — which could be one district, a group of districts, or include a county office of education — must have a Community Advisory Committee. They are made up of parents, teachers, students and adults with disabilities, as well as representatives from agencies that work with people with disabilities. These committees are focused on making recommendations and giving feedback on how districts are serving children with disabilities.

    Migrant Parent Advisory Council

    All districts that receive funding for migrant education programs must also establish a Migrant Parent Advisory Council, to plan and evaluate migrant education programs. Migrant education programs serve children whose parents or guardians are migratory workers in agricultural, dairy, lumber, or fishing industries and whose family has moved during the past three years. The goal is to reduce problems caused by repeated moves.

    The council members are elected by parents of children enrolled in the migrant education program, and two thirds of the members must be parents of migrant children.

    In addition, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction also has a State Parent Advisory Council to evaluate the statewide migrant education program. Two thirds of this statewide council must also be made up by parents of migrant children.

    Parent Teacher Association or Organization

    Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), Parent Teacher Student Associations (PTSAs) and Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs) are organizations based at schools that help organize volunteers for classrooms or for school events, raise funds for school supplies, field trips and extracurricular activities, and even help with communication between schools and families. PTAs and PTSAs are affiliated with the state and national PTA. PTOs are the same type of group but not affiliated with the larger organization.





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