National University President Mark D. Milliron, right,,congratulates a graduating student at the university’s 2023 commencement.
Courtesy: National University
In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision to end race-conscious college admissions, the predicted impact has become a troubling reality. Many selective universities are reporting significant decreases in Black student enrollment this fall. This latest development continues a broader trend of declining Black postsecondary enrollment, which since 2010 has fallen at all U.S. colleges by nearly 30%.
These dire enrollment reports are emerging now as a growing number of states are eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs and services — and just four years after a nationwide reckoning on racial injustice. Whether colleges have become even more exclusive or if Black students are turning away from higher education, the results are the same: Our nation’s colleges and universities are becoming less diverse — and yet another barrier has been erected on the road toward increasing the number of Americans able to go to and graduate from college.
Despite bleak national trend lines, the state of California has just enacted a creative policy solution that will shine a spotlight on institutions that excel in educating and serving Black students. Senate Bill 1348, also known as the “Designation of California Black-Serving Institutions Act,” creates a state-level designation (BSI) to recognize the state’s public and independent colleges and universities where at least 10% or 1,500 students are Black.
The BSI designation is not just about enrollment numbers. It requires institutions to commit to providing essential services and resources to foster Black students’ academic success and meet their basic needs. For this reason, this proposal is a sound and logical policy prescription for California, which has the country’s fifth-largest population of Black people. It’s also a legislative innovation that other state and national policymakers should consider as American higher education is struggling to close completion and equity gaps and college demographics continue to grow more diverse.
The BSI concept draws inspiration from the success of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) — postsecondary institutions established before 1965 with the principal mission of educating African or Black Americans. Today, the nation’s 107 HBCUs have an impressive track record. They have graduated 40% of the nation’s Black engineers, 50% of America’s black lawyers and 80% of Black judges. Perhaps more than any other institution in this country, HBCUs have helped create economic and social mobility for millions of Black Americans.
However, most HBCUs are at least 75 years old — the majority were established in the 19th century — and are rarely found outside the South. For newer colleges and universities outside the South that serve diverse populations, a BSI designation would strengthen institutions and communities in multiple ways. It would offer a state seal of approval to institutions that are committed to serving Black students and willing to hold themselves accountable for the results. It also would help policymakers identify colleges and universities to receive targeted financial support and other resources.
This shift is particularly relevant given the changing demographics of today’s college students. Nontraditional, working and military students are fast becoming the norm. A third of today’s undergraduates are 25 or older. A quarter of them are raising children. About 40% of full-time students — and three-quarters of part-time students — are working while they’re in school. Because so many students are older, working full-time or raising families, it’s essential that institutions adapt to this new reality by offering flexible schedules, stackable credentials and comprehensive support services.
The BSI designation could be a valuable tool for states beyond California. In states with substantial Black populations but few or no HBCUs (California has just one HBCU, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science), it could help increase college access, improve completion rates and build a more skilled and educated workforce to fuel economic growth.
California’s proposal to recognize Black-serving institutions is a necessary — and long overdue — step toward acknowledging their critical role in reversing the decline in Black student enrollment and increasing access to higher education for historically underserved communities. Just as HBCUs have broadened access to education, California’s Black-serving institutions bill will reward colleges and universities statewide that are doing the vital work of serving the underserved students our economy and society need.
By investing in institutions committed to supporting Black students and other underserved groups, states can help foster stronger, more inclusive colleges and universities. Ensuring that more Black learners are on track to access and complete higher education will help California and other states produce the talented and inclusive workforce they need to compete in today’s fast-changing economy.
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Mark D. Milliron, Ph.D,is president, National University, a nonprofit private university based in San Diego with campuses across California as well as online. Thomas Stewart, Ph.D, is executive vice president and co-chair of the Social Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council, National University.
The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the authors. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.
As anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ+ policies and rhetoric spread across the nation in the wake of Donald Trump’s re-election for presendent, the Los Angeles Unified School District board affirmed its commitment to members of these communities by unanimously passing four resolutions on Tuesday.
“The district will continue to do everything in its power to protect and defend the kids in our care,” one of the resolutions reads. “Doing so is the responsibility of all LAUSD employees.”
Here’s an overview of LAUSD’s efforts from Tuesday’s regular board meeting and what to expect in the two months leading up to Trump’s inauguration.
LAUSD as a sanctuary district
After Trump vowed to declare a national emergency and bring in the U.S. military to facilitate mass deportations, the district passed a resolution reaffirming that it will remain a sanctuary and safe zone for families.
“We survived the pandemic because we stood together,” said Mónica García, who authored the original sanctuary resolution in the 2016-17 academic year and previously served as the president of LAUSD’s board. “… It is so important that, as we may see policies that we do not support … that we stand together in response to the times.”
Tuesday’s action comes about eight years after the original sanctuary resolution passed; it also requires district Superintendent Alberto Carvalho to present a plan to the board within 60 days, in time for implementation by Jan. 20, when Trump returns to the White House.
The resolution says Carvalho’s plan should involve training LAUSD educators, administrators and staff on responding to federal agencies and anybody else who seeks information or attempts to enter a campus.
Meanwhile, the resolution insists that LAUSD will “aggressively oppose” any laws forcing school districts to work with federal agencies and personnel involved with immigration enforcement.
“The good news is that we have seen it before, and we are in a position to act,” García said at Tuesday’s meeting. “The challenge … [is] there are families who are separated and who are traumatized because of the fear of what is to come. And we will continue to ask them to come to school and give us their very best.”
She added, “Whether it is two years or it is four years, it is every day that we exercise love and the power of this institution on behalf of children and families.”
A safe place for LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities
The second resolution would require LAUSD to add gender identity and expression to the list of groups covered by its “To Enforce the Respectful Treatment of All Persons” policy and require the district to update district policy bulletins as needed.
It also calls on the district to support legislation backing immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities — and to provide educational and mental health resources.
A response to Project 2025
A third resolution passed Tuesday promises that LAUSD will remain “inclusive, safe, and welcoming” for all communities in the face of any “immediate, incalculable, and irreparable harm” to public schools caused by Project 2025, a set of detailed policy proposals authored long before the election by hundreds of high-profile conservatives in the hope that Trump would push them if elected.
It states that LAUSD will defend all students’ right to a public education and protect them from potential harm.
Carvalho will have to report back to the board within 60 days — and present an overview of the potential impacts of Project 2025 as well as a district response, the resolution states.
“This resolution is a bold and necessary shield against the looming threats to public education — a public good that we must protect fiercely and defend,” board member Rocío Rivas said Tuesday.
A new political education course
The fourth resolution emphasizes the importance of turning LAUSD students into critical thinkers capable of discerning facts from falsehoods and ready to participate in the American political system.
“We’re not talking about [being] a Democrat or a Republican,” said board President Jackie Goldberg, who authored all four resolutions, during her last full board meeting Tuesday. “It’s about understanding the actual way the government works — as opposed to what the Constitution says. And there’s a big difference.”
The resolution asks Carvalho to look into creating a high-level political education course and report back to the board in 160 days.
His considerations, according to the resolution, would include whether the course would serve as a requirement, areas that the curriculum would cover, the types of professional development that would be needed and the ideal grade levels to teach it.
The resolution also asks Carvalho to consider any other curricular changes in the grade levels leading up to the course to make sure students are prepared.
Anely Cortez Lopez, student board member, said at Tuesday’s meeting, “The understanding of the political landscape of the United States is vital in our schools as we continue as the change-makers of tomorrow.”
West Contra Costa Unified School District administration building.
Credit: Louis Freedberg / EdSource
TOP TAKEAWAYS
West Contra Costa Unified anticipates it will receive only about $600,000 of $4.2 million it was awarded last year.
The cut is part of a big push by the Trump administration to roll back or eliminate funding to support student mental health in schools across the nation.
The district was one of only three school districts in California to be awarded grants from the Mental Health Professional Services program.
The West Contra Costa Unified School District is the latest school district in California to feel the direct impact of the Trump Administration’s elimination of a range of grant programs approved by the U.S. Department of Education during the Biden administration.
At its meeting on Wednesday night, Interim Superintendent Kim Moses told board members, who were caught unawares by the news, that she had received a letter the previous day from the department of education indicating that the five-year, $4.2 million grant awarded last fall will be cut to one year.
The letter stated that the grant was no longer “aligned with the current goals of the administration,” she said.
As a result of the cut, the district anticipates it will only receive about $600,000 of the funds it was expecting, all of which must be spent between August and December of this year.
Board president Leslie Reckler summarized her reaction in two words: “Total bummer.”
The district was one of three in California to receive a five-year grant last fall. They were among 46 grants awarded last year under the Mental Health Services Professional Grant program begun by the Biden Administration.
The grant was supposed to enable the San Francisco Bay Area district to address the mental health needs of its students by placing graduate student counseling interns in its schools, in collaboration with San Jose State University and St. Mary’s College in Oakland.
The goal of the program, as described in the Federal Register, is “to support and demonstrate innovative partnerships to train school-based mental health services providers.”
Interim Superintendent of West Contra Costa Unified, Kim MosesCaption: Courtesy West Contra Costa Unified
Moses said she was taken aback by the news of the drastic reduction. “Of all the things that I am worrying about being reduced or taken away, I didn’t have this grant in mind,” she said in an interview after the meeting. “The grant is to build our workforce (of mental health workers). How could building our workforce and supporting students with their mental health needs be against what the administration stands for?”
School board member Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy described the funding cut as “atrocious.” “This is just another way they (the Trump administration) are going to start hurting our kids, our staff, our school district, because of what we stand for, because of what we look like.”
The drastic grant cutback comes as a blow to the district, which has made significant progress over the past year in cutting major budget deficits and averting the prospect of a state takeover. Especially since the pandemic, educators have realized that addressing the mental health needs of students is essential to their ultimate academic success. A particular challenge has been to boost the number of school mental health professionals, especially those reflecting the backgrounds of students.
The reduction appears to be part of an aggressive drive by the administration to eliminate mental health programs serving schools. On the same day West Contra Costa heard about its grant reduction, the Associated Press reported that the U.S. Department of Education is moving to terminate $1 billion in mental health grants to schools, signed into law by President Biden after the school shooting massacre in Uvalde, Texas in 2022.
The district applied for the funds in the spring of 2024 and was awarded them in the fall. It had been working on signing a Memorandum of Understanding to begin implementing the program this fall.
The funds were designated to be spent in “high-need” school districts like West Contra Costa Unified, where nearly two-thirds of its almost 30,000 students qualify for free and reduced-price meals.
Program probably targeted because of emphasis on diversity
What almost certainly caught the Trump administration’s eye was the emphasis on diversity in the grant application guidelines, a term the current government is using as a rationale to cut federal funds to education institutions at all levels.
One of the goals of the program, according to the guidelines, is to “increase the number and diversity of high-quality, trained providers available to address the shortages of mental health services professionals in schools served by high-need districts.”
The mental health professionals serving students in those districts, according to the guidelines, “shouldreflect the communities, identities, races, ethnicities, abilities, and cultures of the students in the high-need districts, including underserved students.”
“We considered appealing, but the reality is that they just erased this whole grant, and everybody is in the same boat,” interim Supt. Moses said. “This isn’t a case of ‘we picked on you because you’re doing something wrong, we picked on you because the grant is going away.’”
Looking forward, board member Gonzalez-Hoy said, “We must just continue to reassure our students that even if we have less resources, we are here to support and protect them, and we will give them what we can with what we have.”
Other districts that received grants under the program are Trinity Alps Unified and the Wheatland Union High School District, both in Northern California. Also receiving grants are the Marin County Office of Education, Cal State East Bay and the University of Redlands, as well as two charter schools, Entrepreneur High School in San Bernardino and Academia Avance in Los Angeles.
“I find it most helpful for summarizing readings and just making really menial and time-consuming tasks a lot easier,” Miglani said. A premium ChatGPT subscriber, he said he regularly checks his math problems with the chatbot, though it often can’t handle the complex equations and concepts used in some of his classes.
Miglani said the preliminary models of ChatGPT were “pretty rudimentary,” struggling to produce quality written answers and useful for mainly short-answer assignments and creating outlines for his essays. Now, ChatGPT and other AI tools, including Microsoft Edge and Gemini, are Miglani’s near-constant companions for homework tasks.
For the first few semesters after ChatGPT’s debut, Miglani said students used it fairly freely without much concern about getting caught, as AI detection software didn’t yet exist. Now that commonly used submission programs like Turnitin allow professors to scan assignments for evidence of AI use, Miglani said he’s been more conscientious about writing essays that won’t be flagged.
“I have not gotten caught using AI yet,” he said. “In fact, now, as I take higher level courses, professors understand that people are going to use AI, and so I have started asking them, ‘Do you approve of AI use in and in what capacity?’”
Some of Miglani’s professors have allowed AI use for research and basic summarization, but many draw the line at using chatbots to generate citations or write essays.
The national rhetoric regarding the value of attending a college or university has reached a fever pitch. Being “better off” goes well beyond politics and the price of milk and eggs or an understanding of how tariffs work. Let’s face it: Education provides opportunity, and making higher education work for everyone must be a priority if we are to be a thriving, civilized society.
Let’s start with the current disruptive notion that poses the discomfiting question: Is a college degree worth it?
Many of us working in postsecondary education felt that question didn’t go far enough in looking for the opportunity to improve in new and better ways when the stakes are higher than ever.
So, we took that question on as a challenge and expanded it to ask: What is college worth, and how do we measure and improve its value, especially for low- and moderate-income learners? Answers to such questions should prove fruitful, especially given that a new Gallup survey reports Californians overwhelmingly value postsecondary degrees or credentials, particularly because of their career-related benefits. Yet, we know that many are hesitant to enroll in college or university because of the perceived unaffordability of earning a credential or degree.
This led our organizations to explore what kind of return on investment higher education institutions — part of a stale, antiquated system that does not always deliver on its promise of economic mobility and equity — provide to their learners. The ensuing report produced more nuanced data to inform continuing conversations on the value of postsecondary education, which, frankly, helps learners and their families make decisions on where they want to make a higher education investment from a value and return-on-investment perspective.
Our first step was to look at the value that California institutions offer their low- and moderate-income learners. We also wanted to know if certain college programs or credentials made a difference.
After all, learners who choose a postsecondary education should end up better off for it, right?
The good news we found was, yes, most students were better off for the most part. The troubling news, though, was that for some students, it was not always, and sometimes, never.
We’ve also learned that sometimes a student’s college major can matter just as much for an economic return-on-investment — if not more — than the institution itself. Some programs provide a strong return, but some offer none whatsoever, even leaving some degree or credential graduates making less than a high school graduate.
For example, we found that almost all programs (97%) offered at public institutions in California show their graduates being able to earn back the costs of obtaining a degree or credential within only five years. Essentially, these graduates earn enough of an “additional income” because of their college degree to make their college program worth it.
And, also impressive, nearly half of public college programs (48%) allow this within one year’s time. Programs at private nonprofit colleges in California generally take students longer, as only 7% enable graduates to recoup their costs within 12 months. And worrisomely, for-profit colleges show their graduates struggling to recoup their college costs, and nearly a fifth of their programs (17%) show no economic return whatsoever.
This work is not a denouncement of any specific program or desired area of study, but rather an opportunity for further research to understand why and how these institutions and college programs produce these outcomes and where there may be policy and practical implications.
A simple example of such a practical change may be for institutions to provide a clearer picture to students before they enroll of how much a specific program will cost — and provide information on how much former students typically earn. Another may be more geared toward college administrators to ensure that they are equipping students with the right skills — and necessary credentials — to pursue and succeed in careers within the geographic region where the institution is located.
Institutional leaders and elected officials must lean into discussions that are happening right now about the value of a college education and how it ties to learners’ futures and where improvements can happen.
While more questions must be answered — and more research will follow — one thing has become abundantly clear: Our higher education system can no longer be enabled by a “this is the way we do things” mentality in places where it is not working.
Postsecondary attainment must be tied to value, economic mobility and equity, as this is essential to creating a higher education system that drives a robust, inclusive economy that works for all Californians.
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Eloy Ortiz Oakley is president and CEO of College Futures Foundation, whose mission is based on a belief in the power of postsecondary opportunity.
Michael Itzkowitz is founder and president of the HEA Group, a research and consulting agency focused on college access, value, and economic mobility.
The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the authors. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.
EdSource receives funding from many foundations, including The College Futures Foundation. EdSource maintains sole editorial control over the content of its coverage.
The international students office at Grossmont College in El Cajon,.
Amy DiPierro
Top Takeaways
About 14,000 international students attend California’s community colleges, many of them in the Bay Area.
Community colleges charge international students as much as 10 times resident tuition.
The Trump administration said it is restoring abruptly revoked international student visas, but anxiety persists.
As Kaung Lett Yhone finished high school at home in Myanmar, he knew he wanted to go to college in the U.S. So to find the perfect fit, he did what anyone would do: He searched online.
“I looked up on Google, ‘best community college,’ and De Anza showed up as No. 1,” he said. So he soon enrolled at De Anza College, a two-year school located in Cupertino, in the heart of Silicon Valley, which has an international reputation for preparing students for transfer into their dream universities.
Yhone, a biology student, plans to transfer from De Anza to a four-year institution next fall. He has his sights set on two San Francisco Bay Area gems — Stanford or, failing that, Berkeley — just as international students are getting more scrutiny than ever from the Trump administration, provoking anxiety among them.
Yhone is one of 14,000 international students enrolled in California’s community colleges as of fall 2023, with the largest shares clustered at institutions in the Bay Area. Public two-year colleges, though better known for educating U.S. students from their immediate area, enrollroughly 12% of international students in California. Some community colleges have made overseas recruiting a specialty, as a way to boost tuition revenue and add cultural variety to their campuses.
International enrollment attracts more attention at higher-profile bachelor’s degree-granting campuses such as the University of Southern California and UC San Diego. Some people are surprised to learn that community colleges have substantial numbers.However, more international students attended community colleges in California in the 2023-24 school year than in any other state.
But with the Trump administration’s visa policies possibly discouraging their enrollment, the number of international students who will re-enroll next school year is an important question for California community colleges. Some community colleges, like De Anza, now depend on international students for as much as 7% of enrollment.
Media reports estimate that as many as 4,700 international students nationwide have had their visas abruptly revoked in recent weeks, including more than a dozen California community college students. In what appears to be a reversal, the Trump administration shifted and said it will reactivate those visas pending a new framework for visa terminations. But anxiety remains among college staff who work most closely with them.
“You have no idea how nervous I am,” said Nazy Galoyan, De Anza College’s dean of enrollment services and head of international student programs, before news of the Trump administration’s reversal broke. “To go to California and Silicon Valley and get your education, that’s something that is absolutely a dream, right? And students really work hard toward that. What we’re going through, I don’t know, that dream might be jeopardized.”
Galoyan’s college has experienced the student visa crackdown firsthand. De Anza enrolls 1,100 international students, according to federal data for fall 2023. And at least six had their F-1 visa records terminated in the initial round of Trump administration actions. It’s not alone among community colleges in having visas canceled. Santa Monica College, which enrolls almost 1,700 international students, reported seven visa terminations.
In interviews, international students at California community colleges were happy to explain why they came to school here, but declined time and again to discuss the threat of visa terminations.
Some community colleges could feel the effects of a student visa crackdown even if their students are not directly impacted or are granted a reprieve after having a visa revoked.
There is “no indication that it will become any easier for international students to gain new visas, and the chaos caused by the government’s revocation and later reversal will likely cause even more turmoil and unease in the international student community,” said Carrie B. Kisker, a director of the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Center for the Study of Community Colleges, in an email. “Without clear guidance on what international students can expect in the coming months and years, I don’t think that the government’s about-face will ease any concerns about the U.S. being a safe and welcoming place to study.”
Non-resident tuition, diversity and ‘a little bit of prestige’
In international students, community colleges see a source of higher tuition, diversity and “even a little bit of prestige,” said Linda Serra Hagedorn, a professor emeritus at Iowa State University who has studied the role of international students in community colleges.
De Anza College is among those that have cultivated students from overseas. Many enroll from Asian countries, including China, Japan and South Korea. But the college also gets students from Europe, Africa and Latin America — “from everywhere,” said Galoyan, who makes two trips annually to recruit students abroad, one to central Asia and another to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Nuri Illini Ahmad, who graduated from the College of San Mateo in 2019, came across the Bay Area community college while attending a recruitment fair in her home country, Malaysia. New York University and George Washington University were advertising their campuses, too, but she thought the San Mateo campus would be a better fit for her budget and interest in studying media. There was even a Malaysian student featured in the college flyer.
“We got in contact with the student, and then somehow, that person ended up being one of my closest friends as well,” she said.
International students at De Anza pay $276 per unit. At Santa Monica College, they and other nonresidents pay a total of $444 per unit — nearly 10 times as much as California residents.
But from the perspective of international students, a California community can still be a bargain. An international student on track to graduate from Santa Monica College in two years would pay $13,320 in tuition a year, assuming they don’t get any scholarships or other discounts. The same non-resident student would pay $19,770 at a California State University (CSU) campus, $50,328 at a University of California (UC) campus and $73,260 at the University of Southern California without financial aid.
Eyeing a path to top-tier universities — and, perhaps, a day at the beach
In brochures and other marketing materials, community colleges around California paint a glittering portrait of what it’s like to be an international student on their campus.
Irvine Valley College, which enrolled about 550 international students as of fall 2023, seeks to beguile prospective international students with a promotional video. “A lot of international students dream of graduating from a UC or top private university. Whatever you choose, your future starts at Irvine Valley College,” an unseen narrator intones, before the video cuts to a series of testimonials from international students. “You’ll enjoy great weather year round and world-class shopping, culture and beaches are nearby.”
Grossmont College in El Cajon, with almost 190 international students last school year, has its own promotional video interspersing images of nearby downtown San Diego and Balboa Park. Among other perks, a Grossmont website touts small classes and “camping in the desert, kayaking in San Diego Bay, and barbeques at the beach.”
Community colleges also pitch their campuses to international students as a less expensive route to a four-year degree, a place to fine-tune English language skills and prepare for bachelor’s degrees from prestigious institutions.
In fall 2024, De Anza College students who applied to aUniversity of California campus had an 81% acceptance rate; Diablo Valley and Irvine Valley students were not far behind, with roughly 80% and 79% acceptance rates to UC, respectively.
Dinara Usonova, a business major at De Anza, decided in high school in Kyrgyzstan to apply to U.S. community colleges rather than go straight to a four-year university. That, she believed, would allow her to adjust to the American higher education system and give her time to improve her English before attending a university. The cost was also attractive to Usonova, who pays rent and other living expenses on her own.
Usonova has been admitted to Berkeley and is waiting to hear from additional universities before deciding where to transfer this fall.
“Going to community college, paying cheaper tuition and getting all these kinds of experiences and building my foundation, I think it was a great choice,” she said.
‘I feel so much at home’
Statewide, international students at community colleges contributed $591 million to the California economy last school year, according to an analysis by NAFSA, a nonprofit association for higher education professionals who work with international students.
Santa Monica College’s international students added an estimated economic value of $56 million and another 245 jobs, NAFSA found.
Santa Monica’s international students, who are from about 100 different countries, contribute significant non-resident tuition revenue to the campus, said Pressian Nicolov, the college’s dean of international education, in an email. Losing those students and the nonresident tuition they bring “would result in a significant impact on college programs and, ultimately, on all students.”
But the loss of international students would not just be financial, he said.
“There would be fewer opportunities to engage with global viewpoints, fewer opportunities for domestic students to develop life-changing cross-cultural friendships and learn about diverse cultures,” Nicolov said.
Nuri Illini Ahmad, second from right, and other Malaysian MARA Scholars in their traditional clothing at the College of San Mateo’s 2016 World Village.Courtesy of Nuri Illini Ahmad
International students provide “huge value” to campus culture, Galoyan at De Anza added. Many experience culture shock when they first arrive, but most adapt and become active in the community, joining clubs and even the student government.
That’s the case for Yhone, who is the legislative liaison for the Inter Club Council, a coordinating body for more than 60 student clubs at De Anza. Since enrolling, he has also helped to reactivate two clubs: the De Anza Red Cross and the Business Information Technology Club.
“There are so many opportunities, so many clubs to expose yourself to here,” Yhone said.
Ahmad,the student who finished at San Mateo, succeeded in earning a four-year degree from a U.S. college — and then some. She earned a bachelor’s degree at San Francisco State University, then advanced to a master’s program at Columbia University.
For now, Ahmad is watching the U.S. from London, where she’s seeking work as a freelance video producer after a job in New York ended abruptly, forcing her to leave the country. If she were a high school senior today, she said, she would probably start college in the U.S. all over again. “I know it sounds weird saying this,” she said, “but I feel so much at home when I was there.”
Social worker Mary Schmauss, right, greets students as they arrive for school in October Algodones Elementary School in Algodones, New Mexico.
Credit: Roberto E. Rosales / AP Photo
After missing 40 days of school last year, Tommy Betom, 10, is on track this year for much better attendance. The importance of showing up has been stressed repeatedly at school — and at home.
When he went to school last year, he often came home saying the teacher was picking on him and other kids were making fun of his clothes. But Tommy’s grandmother Ethel Marie Betom, who became one of his caregivers after his parents split, said she told him to choose his friends carefully and to behave in class.
He needs to go to school for the sake of his future, she told him.
“I didn’t have everything,” said Betom, an enrolled member of the San Carlos Apache tribe. Tommy attends school on the tribe’s reservation in southeastern Arizona. “You have everything. You have running water in the house, bathrooms and a running car.”
A teacher and a truancy officer also reached out to Tommy’s family to address his attendance. He was one of many. Across the San Carlos Unified School District, 76% of students were chronically absent during the 2022-23 school year, meaning they missed 10% or more of the school year.
Years after Covid-19 disrupted American schools, nearly every state is still struggling with attendance. But attendance has been worse for Native American and Alaska Native students — a disparity that existed before the pandemic and has since grown, according to data collected by The Associated Press.
Out of 34 states with data available for the 2022-2023 school year, half had absenteeism rates for Native students that were at least 9 percentage points higher than the state average.
Many schools serving Native American students have been working to strengthen connections with families who often struggle with higher rates of illness and poverty. Schools also must navigate distrust dating back to the U.S. government’s campaign to break up Native American culture, language and identity by forcing children into abusive boarding schools.
History “may cause them to not see the investment in a public school education as a good use of their time,” said Dallas Pettigrew, director of Oklahoma University’s Center for Tribal Social Work and a member of the Cherokee Nation.
With the vast majority of students at Algodones Elementary School in New Mexico residing at San Felipe Pueblo, the school and the Bernalillo school district are making efforts to turn that around the high rates of school absenteeism in Native American communities. Pictured are Kanette Yatsattie , 8 , left, and his classmate Jeremy Candelaria, 10, hanging out by a board depicting the race for best attendance at the school on Tuesday Oct. 1, 2024.Credit: Roberto E. Rosales / AP Photo
On-site health, trauma care helped bring students back
The San Carlos school system recently introduced care centers that partner with hospitals, dentists and food banks to provide services to students at multiple schools. The work is guided by cultural success coaches — school employees who help families address the kind of challenges that keep students from coming to school.
Nearly 100% of students in the district are Native, and more than half of families have incomes below the federal poverty level. Many students come from homes that deal with alcoholism and drug abuse, Superintendent Deborah Dennison said.
Students miss school for reasons ranging from anxiety to unstable living conditions, said Jason Jones, a cultural success coach at San Carlos High School and an enrolled member of the San Carlos Apache tribe. Acknowledging their fears, grief and trauma helps him connect with students, he said.
“You feel better, you do better,” Jones said. “That’s our job here in the care center is to help the students feel better.”
Jason Jones, cultural success coach and care center manager, talks about the care center at San Carlos High School on Aug. 27 in San Carlos, Arizona. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)Credit: Credit: Ross D. Franklin / AP Photo
The Rice Primary School Care Center in San Carlos, Arizona. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)Credit: Ross D. Franklin / AP Photo
In the 2023-2024 school year, the chronic absenteeism rate in the district fell from 76% to 59% — an improvement Dennison attributes partly to efforts to address their communities’ needs.
“All these connections with the community and the tribe are what’s making a difference for us and making the school a system that fits them rather than something that has been forced upon them, like it has been for over a century of education in Indian Country,” said Dennison, a member of the Navajo Nation.
In three states — Alaska, Nebraska, and South Dakota — the majority of Native American and Alaska Native students were chronically absent. In some states, it has continued to worsen, even while improving slightly for other students, as in Arizona, where chronic absenteeism for Native students rose from 22% in 2018-19 to 45% in 2022-23.
AP’s analysis does not include data on schools managed by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education, which are not run by traditional districts. Less than 10% of Native American students attend BIE schools.
Schools close on days of Native ceremonial gatherings
At Algodones Elementary School, which serves a handful of Native American pueblos along New Mexico’s Upper Rio Grande, about two-thirds of students are chronically absent.
The communities were hit hard by Covid-19, with devastating impacts on elders. Since schools reopened, students have been slow to return. Excused absences for sick days are still piling up — in some cases, Principal Rosangela Montoya suspects, students are stressed about falling behind academically.
Staff and tribal liaisons have been analyzing every absence and emphasizing connections with parents. By 10 a.m., telephone calls go out to the homes of absent students. Next steps include in-person meetings with those students’ parents.
“There’s illness, there’s trauma,” Montoya said. “A lot of our grandparents are the ones raising the children so that the parents can be working.”
About 95% of Algodones’ students are Native American, and the school strives to affirm their identity. It doesn’t open on four days set aside for Native American ceremonial gatherings, and students are excused for absences on other cultural days as designated by the nearby pueblos.
Second grade teacher Lori Spina taking a photo of her class for her newsletter in October at Algodones Elementary School in Algodones, New Mexico. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)Credit: Roberto E. Rosales / AP Photo
Principal Rosangela Montoya waves goodbye to parents as students arrive at Algodones Elementary School in Algodones, New .Mexico. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)Credit: Roberto E. Rosales / AP Photo
With the vast majority of students at Algodones Elementary School in New Mexico residing at San Felipe Pueblo, the school and the Bernalillo school district are making efforts to turn around the high rates of school absenteeism in Native American communities. Pictured is a third grade class in October.Credit: Ross D. Franklin / AP Photo
For Jennifer Tenorio, it makes a difference that the school offers classes in the family’s native language of Keres. She speaks Keres at home, but says that’s not always enough to instill fluency.
Tenorio said her two oldest children, now in their 20s, were discouraged from speaking Keres when they were in the federal Head Start educational program — a system that now promotes native language preservation — and they struggled academically.
“It was sad to see with my own eyes,” said Tenorio, a single parent and administrative assistant who has used the school’s food bank. “In Algodones, I saw a big difference to where the teachers were really there for the students, and for all the kids, to help them learn.”
Over a lunch of strawberry milk and enchiladas on a recent school day, her 8-year-old son, Cameron Tenorio, said he likes math and wants to be a policeman.
“He’s inspired,” Tenorio said. “He tells me every day what he learns.”
Home visits change perception of school
Velma Kitcheyan, a third grade teacher at Rice Intermediate School, instructs her students in San Carlos, Arizona. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)Credit: Ross D. Franklin / AP Photo
Rice Intermediate School Principal Nicholas Ferro walks to a classroom at Rice Intermediate School in San Carlos, Arizona.Credit: Ross D. Franklin / AP Photo
In Arizona, Rice Intermediate School Principal Nicholas Ferro said better communication with families, including Tommy Betom’s, has helped improve attendance. Since many parents are without working phones, he said, that often means home visits.
Lillian Curtis said she was impressed by Rice Intermediate’s student activities on family night. Her granddaughter, Brylee Lupe, 10, missed 10 days of school by mid-October last year but had missed just two days by the same time this year.
“The kids always want to go — they are anxious to go to school now. And Brylee is much more excited,” said Curtis, who takes care of her grandchildren.
Curtis said she tells Brylee that skipping school is not an option.
“I just told her that you need to be in school, because who is going to be supporting you?” Curtis said. “You’ve got to do it on your own. You got to make something of yourself.”
The district has made gains because it is changing the perception of school and what it can offer, said Dennison, the superintendent. Its efforts have helped not just with attendance but also morale, especially at the high school, she said.
“Education was a weapon for the U.S. government back in the past,” she said. “We work to decolonize our school system.”
Lee reported from Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Lurye reported from New Orleans. Alia Wong of The Associated Press and Felix Clary of ICT contributed to this report.
With the vast majority of students at Algodones Elementary School in New Mexico residing at San Felipe Pueblo, the school and the Bernalillo school district are making efforts to turn around the high rates of school absenteeism in Native American communities. Pictured are Kanette Yatsattie , 8 , left, and his classmate Jeremy Candelaria, 10, hanging out by a board depicting the race for best attendance at the school on October.
Credit: Roberto E. Rosales / AP Photo
As chronic absences have steadily decreased in California schools, the rate among Native American students remains consistently higher.
Persistent high chronic absence rates have resulted in schools increasing their focus on addressing students’ basic needs, emphasizing mental health support, and boosting outreach efforts to reconnect with students amid the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, which closed California public schools beginning March 2020 and didn’t reopen until spring 2021.
Many Native American youth face challenges similar to other marginalized communities — such as poverty, systemic discrimination and poor health — but often with the added barrier of historical mistrust in state school systems due to the lingering impacts of removing Native American youth from their communities and confining them to federal boarding schools.
“With quite a few of our Native American learners, we’ve recognized that there has been a lot of trauma in the family,” said Heather Golly, superintendent of Bonsall Unified in San Diego County. “It affects everyone in the family when there is trauma.”
Chronic absence is defined as missing 10% or more of students’ expected attendance, whether for excused or unexcused reasons. For students on a typical 180-day school calendar, this totals to about one month of missed school in a given year. High chronic absentee rates concern educators and researchers alike as they reflect a significant loss of instructional time.
Chronic absenteeism among Native American students during the 2023-24 school year was much higher, at 33%, than the statewide rate of 20.4%, according to data from the California Department of Education (CDE). The statewide chronic absenteeism rate has been declining for Native American students since 2021-22, when numbers peaked at 43.6%.
The absentee rate disparity did not start with the Covid pandemic: The pre-pandemic rate of chronic absences was 21.8% for Native American students and 12.1% for all students.
The state Education Department recently published its annual School Dashboard, which shows lower rates for chronic absenteeism statewide because it includes only grades K-8. The state education data used throughout this story includes all grades, from TK to 12.
Every Native American student is a direct descendant or relative of someone who attended federal boarding schools from the mid 1800s until the mid 20th century, according to Ashley Rojas, policy director for Indigenous Justice. Native American students forced to attend boarding schools had their language, culture and family stripped from them, and Rojas sees echoes of that in contemporary American public schools.
Rojas said that every year, she hears from students who are taught the history of California statehood or missions in a way that erases Native American perspectives. She noted there are still many schools with mascots based on stereotypes of Native American people. Even though it is against California law, Native American students tell Rojas about being barred by their school administration from representing their heritage and spirituality during graduation.
“Every year, we deal with districts trying to remove this right from our young people, trying to tell them, ‘You can’t wear your feathers, you can’t wear your beads. You must fit into our image of a graduate,’” Rojas said. “Given the historical and ongoing traumatization of our students and communities by these systems, we just can’t stand for that.”
About 26,000 or about 0.4% of the state’s nearly 6 million students enrolled in public K-12 schools, including charter and alternative schools, are Native American. This number is likely an undercount because Native Americans are much more likely than any other group to identify themselves as belonging to two or more races, according to the Brookings Institute. They may be counted alongside other multiracial students with different backgrounds.
State education law lists several reasons for excusing students, but most excused absences, school officials say, are related to illness and mental health.
Native American students in California missed an average of 18.5 days of school in 2023-24 — more than any other race or ethnicity. Unlike the average California student, their absences were more likely to be unexcused than excused, according to the CDE, an issue pervasive across the state as noted in a recent PACE report.
Unexcused absences often mean students lacked documentation such as a note from a doctor or they provided no reason for their absence, or the reason they provided does not qualify as an excusable absence. A student can be labeled truant after more than three unexcused absences in one school year.
While all absences can hamper students in their academic and personal development given the loss of instructional time, only truancy involves the potential for punitive measures for parents, such as fines and jail time.
Colonization and repression has meant that many surviving Native American students are disconnected from their heritage and communities, said Rojas. But those who are still engaged with their communities will partake in spiritual ceremonies that include communal dancing, praying and time with elders. These holidays aren’t acknowledged by California school calendars, so students can rack up unexcused absences, putting them at risk of being considered criminally truant.
“When your school already makes you feel like you don’t belong, and then they’re going to punish you for going to the only places that you do belong, it’s really going to be difficult to convince a young person that it’s important to be there,” Rojas said.
Absences reflect remnants of traumatic history
Chronic absences are often the result of systemic challenges, such as inconsistent transportation, food instability, violence in the home, homelessness, undiagnosed disabilities and more. Higher rates of suspensions are also a factor. Out-of-school suspensions for Native American students accounted for 1.5% of absences compared with the state average of 0.9%.
Some of the highest chronic absence rates for Native American students in the state are along the state’s Northern coast. In Humboldt County, a larger proportion of students are Native American — 8.7% compared to 0.4% statewide — and 55.4% of them were chronically absent last year, compared with 27.3% countywide.
“Failing Grade: The Status of Native American Education in Humboldt County,” a report published by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Northern California and the Northern California Indian Development Council, examined the county’s “egregious” disparities in chronic absenteeism, as well as academic performance and discipline, noting that the troubled and violent history of federal boarding schools has left a lasting imprint on Native American communities in Humboldt.
The boarding schools, operated nationwide for about 150 years up until at least 1969, had a practice of separating Native American children from their families, cutting them off from their communities and cultures.
Some of the documented forms of abuse include solitary confinement, withholding of food, prohibiting Indigenous languages and cultural practices, and more. A report from the U.S. Department of the Interior in July found that nationwide, at least 973 Native American students died while at boarding schools, though the number is considered an undercount.
Federal boarding schools were “specifically designed to erase Native American people and Native American culture,” said Colby Smart, deputy superintendent of the Humboldt County Office of Education. “That doesn’t go away in one year, and it doesn’t go away in one generation.”
Native American communities today are still facing serious problems — including the legacy of colonization — that can contribute to chronic absentee rates among students. In Humboldt County, 75% of Native American students are socioeconomically disadvantaged, according to the California Department of Education. Smart also pointed to high suicide rates, substance abuse, health problems and poverty in local Native American communities.
Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified is located in Hoopa, a small town that is the site of the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s federal reservation and the former home to one of a dozen federal boarding schools in California.
The district has 774 Native American students, which is not just the majority of the district but more Native American students in a district than any other in the state. During the 2023-24 school year, 70% of these students were chronically absent, and Native American students missed an average of 36 days.
Notably, the most recent data shows that the opposite occurred in Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified, where it increased by 7 percentage points between 2023-24 and the year prior.
Partnerships with tribes offer solutions
High chronic absentee rates do not signal that Native American communities don’t value school or education, according to Rojas with Indigenous Justice.
“Indigenous people are super pro-education, but they just want to be sure that what is being learned is not going to cause further harm,” Rojas said.
A key factor in ensuring Native American students feel welcome and engaged at school is working in partnership with local Native American communities. There are large Native American communities in the Central Valley and Del Norte where students don’t have access to the same resources as Native American students in Humboldt County, where the Yurok Tribe is more politically engaged.
The Humboldt County Office of Education aims to help local districts tackle high chronic absentee rates through “pull” factors that engage parents and students, and make them feel welcome, even excited to attend school. For instance, local high schools offer the Indigenous language Yurok as a class that puts students on track for college, while connecting them with their heritage.
“If students feel like they belong, not only do kids go to school more, but their academic outcomes improve,” Smart said.
Culturally relevant curriculum can be an important way to engage Native American students, Smart said. The Humboldt County Office of Education is partnering with the San Diego County Office of Education as well as over 100 California tribes, Native American organizations and scholars to develop a state curriculum model for Native American studies. This curriculum is expected to be released next September.
In this curriculum, kindergartners might count acorns, a dietary staple, while learning the Yurok language; a middle school student can learn about traditional foods of Native Californians, while a high school student may study federal boarding schools.
In northern San Diego County, Bonsall Unified and the Pala Band of Mission Indians entered a partnership last year to better support Native American students. The agreement allows the district to share attendance information with key tribal leaders and hold joint meetings to discuss potential support for students and their families, all to increase school attendance.
If a student is missing school due to inconsistent transportation, the tribe might offer to sponsor the students’ bus fee. There is a new position in the works, a Pala attendance support specialist, whose job will include making home visits to chronically absent students and offering solutions based on each student’s needs.
During 2023-24, Bonsall Unified improved its chronic absence rates among Native American youth across all grades to 41% from a high of 50.9% in 2021-22.
The improvements have not only come from the agreement, which was spearheaded by district trustee Eric Ortega and Chairman Robert H. Smith of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, but from the groundwork that was laid over the course of several years.
About eight years ago, Bonsall Unified schools began hosting Pala Valley Day, an annual event for students to learn about local Native American history, with some of the presentations being made by Native American students.
Efforts since then have continued to foster a sense of belonging among Native American students. Middle and high school students recently took a field trip to visit the American Indian Studies department at Cal State San Marcos, and there is a mural in the works that will feature Native American students.
“When they belong — when they feel like they belong — they’re more in tune with being happy to be there and wanting to be there,” said Ortega about the district’s Native American students.
Many Native American students have faced challenges like inconsistent transportation, lack of tutoring and the need for counseling, which most other students statewide have also experienced in recent years.
In increasing their focus on collaboration with the Pala Band of Mission Indians, Golly and her staff have also found that students and their families are much more receptive to accepting support when offered by their tribal community.
As chronic absences steadily decrease, Golly attributes much of the success of those partnerships to the support from tribal leaders such as Chair Smith, who she said is “a wonderful partner, and he believes strongly in the power of education.”
The district also established a Native Learner Advisory Committee that schedules its meetings on the Pala reservation. They coordinated with the Pala learning center and with the tribal council to ensure meetings were scheduled at a time when more people can attend.
Golly, district superintendent, said it has been important for the district to show it is listening to requests from their Native American families, as well as returning to committee meetings “with something actionable” in response to feedback.
More recently, at an all-staff meeting, a panel of five Native American students presented to the entire certificated staff, sharing what they want their teachers to know about their culture, when they feel like they belong, and when they feel they don’t belong.
As Ortega put it, building trust is ongoing work that requires time and collaboration at multiple levels, from school leaders to tribal leaders to parents.
“We are right on the precipice of what we’re doing, and so anything can make it go wrong. It’s not perfect, but we want this to be our culture, our way of life,” he said about the partnership. “The more and more we do it, the more positive results we have, the better we’re going to be.”
EdSource data journalist Daniel J. Willis contributed to this report.
Students walk to class during passing periods at Pacifica High School, which is part of the Oxnard Union High School District.
Credit: J. Marie / EdSource
Last year, a Washington Post investigation identified more than 200 school police officers across the country “who were charged with crimes involving child sexual abuse from 2005 through 2022.”
There are at least two ongoing court cases involving allegations of sexual misconduct against former school resource officers in California.
James Louis, who worked as a resource officer at Rodriguez High School in Solano County, was arrested on March 8, 2024, after parents told police that he had texted sexual images and messages to two students.
Solano County prosecutors charged Louis with “sending, distributing, or exhibiting harmful or obscene material to a minor,” court records show. Louis is free on bail. His attorney declined to comment. The Fairfield Police Department, which had employed Louis and assigned him to the high school, would not say whether he resigned or was fired after his arrest.
In Orange County, former deputy sheriff and resource officer Justin Raymond Ramirez pleaded guilty in 2023 to misdemeanor charges that he showed students at Trabuco Hills High School a video of a couple having sex that ended with a woman’s violent death. One of the students and her family are now suing Ramirez, the county, and the county sheriff for extreme emotional distress.
The state Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission stripped Ramirez’s policing certification last year, a move that permanently bans him from working as a law enforcement officer in California.
After Ramirez’s arrest, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer issued a statement saying, “School resource officers are in our children’s schools to ensure a safe learning environment and help build trust between law enforcement and our community. Ramirez had no business being in a position of trust around children, and he abused that position of trust in a truly disgusting way.”
The county and Sheriff Dan Barnes are also defendants in the lawsuit. Neither responded to requests for comment, and attempts to reach Ramirez were unsuccessful. Court records show he does not have an attorney for the civil case.
In December, after the Washington Post published its investigation, the U.S. Justice Department revised its recommendations for school resource officer programs and called for schools and law enforcement agencies to “develop clear policies and procedures about interpersonal contacts” between resource officers and students, including about touching, social media contacts, emails, cards and after-school interactions.
The Justice Department also recommends that “officers should take extra precautions to avoid any appearance of impropriety.”
A spokesperson for the National Association of School Resource Officers, which provides training for law enforcement, said that it is updating its recommendations to reflect the Justice Department’s recommendations.
Teaching is often pegged as being an exhausting profession.
When I first became a teacher, I was constantly exhausted by the end of the day. As a budding teacher, I had a mentor who always brought up thought-provoking questions, allowed me to struggle in order to grow, and guided me as an effective mentor should.
Now, as a veteran teacher myself, one thing he told me really stuck with me: At the end of the day, the kids should be exhausted, not you.
When I first heard this, I didn’t really understand the significance of it. As time passed, and my teaching style evolved, I realized how right he was. Being a teacher means having a passion for the content and the kids. This can create a slippery slope of wanting to be the perfect teacher — the one showcased on social media and paraded by their district. But striving to be the perfect teacher can sometimes overshadow the real purpose of teaching: allowing the students to grow and shine.
As a first-year teacher, I felt like I needed to talk the entire period in order to be most effective. The truth is, the less I talked, the more students were encouraged to talk. When students are talking, the learning becomes more meaningful. Getting students to talk, research, write and share their ideas is going to exhaust them in the best way possible. The period will fly and opinions will be formed, changed and formed again. Getting students to talk, debate topics and see others’ perspectives is how meaningful and authentic learning occurs.
But, had you told me that during my first year of teaching, I would have brushed you off and claimed that it wouldn’t be feasible in a science classroom. Now, as a veteran teacher, I am happy to say that it works wonderfully in a science classroom, and I’m willing to bet it would work in any classroom or content area. I’ve created a few steps that you can explore to encourage student discourse.
Start small. In the first week of school, I always play a 10-minute game of “would you rather?” Students all stand up, much to their dismay, and I present them with two choices.These choices are silly, gross and downright stupefying. Students opting for choice 1 go to the right of the room, choice 2 go to the left. Then, I call on a few students to explain their choice. This silly game just created a small foundation in the classroom, one built on openness and encouraging discussion.
Be consistent. Each topic we learn, no matter what the content area, has room for debate. One topic I like to bring up is whether humans should create and maintain animal sanctuaries. At first glance, the topic doesn’t seem that controversial. However, once you take into account who pays for the services, the land used for them or the importance of keeping wild animals wild, the conversation naturally flows. By the end of the class, the students are hooked and want the conversation to continue. Each week, students read articles of high rigor to support or refute their stance. This creates the buy-in teachers are always looking for.
Allow all voices to be heard. When you create a classroom environment of open discussion, you have to be prepared for disagreement. Setting the stage for all voices to be heard, as long as they’re respectful, is vital to making a safe learning environment. Set the expectations, keep them consistent and allow all students to share their opinions on the topic. Encouraging them to make arguments based on evidence from the text or visual aids will take the learning even deeper.
Students are used to sitting in a classroom, filling out the worksheet, and moving on throughout their day. There is a huge difference between compliance and engagement. It is beautiful to take the same content, make it engaging and get students thinking hard. Students, no matter where they are academically or socially, have opinions. Sharing their views while using evidence will open doors and expand their understanding of the world around them. So, by the end of the day, are you exhausted or are your students?
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Kati Begen is a high school biology educator and credential coach in Fresno. She is currently working on her doctorate in curriculum and assessment at Southern Wesleyan University. More articles by Kati Begen.
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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