Partners for Each And Every Child

August 10, 2017

What We Stand For

In This Newsbrief:

  • What We Stand For: A Statement from Christopher Edley, Jr.
  • DACA Program Faces Legal Challenge from States
  • US ED Proposes Changes to the Civil Rights and Data Collection (CRDC)
  • New Partner Resources

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What We Stand For: A Statement from Christopher Edley, Jr.

Christopher Edley, Jr., the Co-Founder and President of the Opportunity Institute, reacts to the tragic events in Charlottesville and across the nation. Read Our Statement Here.

Leaders in public education are also speaking out:

…And more: Education Community Takes Trump to Task for Charlottesville Remarks (EdWeek)

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Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program Faces Legal Challenge from States

President Trump has promised repeatedly that his administration will crack down on undocumented immigrants, increase deportations, build a physical wall across the entirety of the southern border of the United States, and create a new, “merit-based” immigration system. The President and his administration have been less straightforward with regard to their treatment of individuals covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) created by President Obama. In exchange for their registration with the federal government, the DACA program protects undocumented youth, including many students, from deportation. The Trump Administration has threatened to end the DACA program and has deported students and their families, but has also renewed work permits for DACA recipients and issued new work permits under DACA.

Texas and nine other states have threatened to sue the federal government if it does not begin phasing out DACA by September 5. Meanwhile, Senate leaders are working on a bipartisan basis to create a path to legal residency for undocumented youth, but their bill is not expected to gain support from the administration.

Learn More

 

Take Action

  • Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-2311 to speak with your Congressional member about the Senate “DREAMers” bill and the companion bill in the House of Representatives, as well as about protections for undocumented students in the United States.
  • Read the text of the Senate bill here.

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US ED Proposes Changes to the Civil Rights and Data Collection (CRDC)

The US Department of Education (US ED) has reopened the public comment period for changes it is proposing to make to the civil rights data collection (CRDC), a bi-annual collection of data at the school and district level that is housed within US ED’s o Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The public comment period closes on Monday, August 21, and US ED is seeking input regarding a few discrete proposed changes, including:

  • The inclusion of new questions to measure school internet connectivity;
  • The removal of questions pertaining to student performance on AP exams;
  • The collection of information on chronic absenteeism, including a revision of the definition of chronic absenteeism from 15 or more school days missed in a school year to 10% or more school days absent.

The CRDC fills gaps in local, district, and state level data systems. By making this information available and comparable across the nation, it provides data that is critically important to the public interest, to the mission of US ED and US ED’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), and to the ability of state-based and local authorities, parents and community leaders, to ensure that each and every child is protected under the law and has equal access to an excellent education.

Learn More

 

Take Action

  • Read the Notice of the Proposed Changes in the Federal Register.

  • Read comments submitted to US ED on the proposed changes by other individuals and organizations, and submit a comment of your own on regulations.gov (Docket No.: ED–2016–ICCD–0147) by 11:59 pm ET on August 21, 2017.

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New Partner Resources