Teaching, Leading, and Social Justice

Immigrant students experience more bullying as ICE raids cause ‘culture of fear’, says survey

Sam Levin, The Guardian

Immigrant students across the US have experienced increased bullying, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdowns causing declines in attendance and a “culture of fear” among immigrant students in public schools, according to a new survey of high school principals. Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles’s Institute for Democracy, Education and Access conducted a “nationally representative” survey of more than 600 principals about the toll of raids and deportations, and how schools were responding. Many principals described a “climate of distress”, the report found, with 70.4% reporting that students from immigrant families have “expressed concerns about their well-being or the well-being of their families”.

How Two Chicago Teachers Are Meeting the Moment

Corey Blake and Amaziah Burton, American Educator

The AFT is dedicated to fighting for a better life for all. Our members are standing up for their students, and they are drawing on and contributing to the supports their local unions offer. One crucial tool the AFT has long championed is bargaining for the common good. That’s just what it sounds like: In addition to seeking the higher wages and better benefits educators deserve, AFT members and their locals demand the resources students need. As we face the Trump administration’s attacks on students and public schools, bargaining for the common good is becoming even more critical. 

Trump administration announces deal to end key Biden-era student loan repayment program

Dareh Gregorian, NBC

The Trump administration announced a deal Tuesday to officially end a major student loan repayment program implemented under President Joe Biden. The Education Department said in a news release that it reached a proposed joint settlement agreement with Missouri to bring an end to Biden’s “Saving on a Valuable Education” plan. Several Republican-led states had sued the department during the Biden administration over the SAVE plan.

Language, Culture, and Power

Immigration Raids at This Home Depot Got More Aggressive but Less Effective. The LA Tenants Union Knows Why.

Tracy Rosenthal, Hammer and Hope

Arturo had only ever seen agents at the border before, never in Los Angeles. But on Friday, June 6, the Department of Homeland Security descended on a Home Depot near MacArthur Park. As on any other morning, Arturo had arrived at the store to wait alongside more than a hundred jornaleros for a day, or even a few hours, of construction work. He saw people running and heard screams of “la migra” before he laid eyes on the men in fatigues or understood that they were making arrests. He broke into a run, following a crowd through the store’s automatic doors. Agents were grabbing people seemingly at random “by their backpacks and without questioning them,” Arturo said. DHS seized 24 people at that Home Depot and 60 others in raids carried out throughout the city that day. He hasn’t seen two of his friends since.

Trump’s crackdown on immigration is taking a toll on child care workers

Moriah Balingit, AP News

Not long after President Donald Trump took office in January, staff at CentroNía bilingual preschool began rehearsing what to do if Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials came to the door. As ICE became a regular presence in their historically Latino neighborhood this summer, teachers stopped taking children to nearby parks, libraries and playgrounds that had once been considered an extension of the classroom. And in October, the school scrapped its beloved Hispanic Heritage Month parade, when immigrant parents typically dressed their children in costumes and soccer jerseys from their home countries. ICE had begun stopping staff members, all of whom have legal status, and school officials worried about drawing more unwelcome attention.

When it comes to language, context matters

Anne Trafton | MIT News

In everyday conversation, it’s critical to understand not just the words that are spoken, but the context in which they are said. If it’s pouring rain and someone remarks on the “lovely weather,” you won’t understand their meaning unless you realize that they’re being sarcastic. Making inferences about what someone really means when it doesn’t match the literal meaning of their words is a skill known as pragmatic language ability. This includes not only interpreting sarcasm but also understanding metaphors and white lies, among many other conversational subtleties.

Whole Children and Strong Communities

Hunger is squeezing California students — and it could get worse

Emma Gallegos, Ed Source

This has been an especially challenging year for Rosalba Ortega’s family. It’s been a cold, soggy winter in Bakersfield, and Ortega said her two granddaughters, ages 4 and 7, don’t have warm coats for their walk to school. Rent and food prices have been climbing, and as a farmworker, she’s struggled to find work in the fields. Last month’s delays to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — known in California as CalFresh — hit her grandkids at a time when her family is already struggling to put food on the table. “There’s not much food for them,” said Ortega, in Spanish. “We have to look for low prices to buy for them. Sometimes the shelters give us food and that helps us a lot.” Ortega said her family never had to rely on shelters and churches for food in the past, but this year has been different.

Teens, Social Media and AI Chatbots 2025

Michelle Faverio and Olivia Sidoti, Pew Research Center

Even as teens express mixed feelings about social media’s impact, these sites remain a key part of their lives, with some using them “almost constantly.” Now, AI chatbots, like ChatGPT and Character.ai, are getting teens’ attention. Roughly two-thirds report using chatbots, including about three-in-ten who do so daily, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of 1,458 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17. Young people turn to a variety of platforms, but YouTube stands out for being used by nearly all teens. Roughly nine-in-ten report ever using it.

Youth plaintiffs renew legal challenges to Montana climate policies [Audio]

Ellis Juhlin, Montana Public Radio

It’s turned into a warm December in Montana. At her family ranch in Broadus, Rikki Held watches rain fall at a time when she expects snow, and worries about her cows. “With things like rain and warm temperatures, when that freezes it can cause ice a cow could slip on,” she says.

The consequences of climate change have come to define Held’s life, despite her best efforts. She’s the lead plaintiff in the Held v. Montana case, where she and her co-plaintiffs sued the state for failing to act on climate change, and won last December. “It was wonderful because the court systems, they listened to us youth and heard our stories and listened to our experts, and we got all those findings of facts and conclusions into the court system.”

Access, Assessment, Advancement

One state made preschool free. Then dozens of child care centers closed in its largest city

Jill Barshay, Hechinger Report

California finally rolled out free preschool for all 4-year-olds in the 2025-26 school year, after more than a decade of expanding what the state calls transitional kindergarten. Many advocates hoped the move would ease child care shortages and close learning gaps between rich and poor. But a new University of California, Berkeley, study of Los Angeles shows the opposite happened: More than 150 child care centers closed, and the biggest beneficiaries were families in the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods.

‘Your Free Speech Does Not Apply’: Suspended UC Berkeley Lecturer Speaks Out

Elize Manoukian, KQED

The suspension of a UC Berkeley computer science lecturer who went on a hunger strike over the war in Gaza and made pro-Palestinian remarks in the classroom has raised questions about free speech and the scope of academic freedom on the Bay Area campus. Late last week, UC Berkeley administrators notified Peyrin Kao, 26, of his six-month unpaid suspension, effective Jan. 1, 2026. The suspension, handed down at a time of heightened tensions over free speech on campus, drew criticism from groups and faculty advocates, who immediately called for his reinstatement and launched a hunger strike in solidarity on Wednesday.

Dear Black Students: University of Alabama’s Latest Suspension Says Enough With Black Culture And Excellence 

Tevon Blair, Essence

One month after the release of the student-run magazine, Nineteen Fifty-Six, the University of Alabama permanently cuts its funding, suspending the magazine and claiming its mission to amplify Black voices violates federal guidelines on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The university also suspended Alice, a fashion and wellness student-run mag that primarily features women. The suspension of the magazines are a result of the university citing a July 2025 memo from the United States Attorney General Pam Bondi stating that educational institutions that receive federal funds are restricted from practicing discrimination. “It’s hurtful,” says Kendal Wright, editor-in-chief of Nineteen Fifty-Six. “It’s already hard enough coming to a university as a minority, and then to have spaces that were established for you to be yourself and tell your own stories, be removed.” Students are protesting the university’s decision to ban the magazines.

Inequality, Poverty, Segregation

What Do Elite Universities Owe Their Students?

Aina Marzia, The Nation

What percentage of Harvard College acceptances come from low-income families? A dinner bet around this question by professor Evan Mandery at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice quickly led to a larger discussion over what kinds of actors elite institutions were, whom they served, and how complicit they may be in weakening social mobility. In 2022, Mandery published Poison Ivy, a book that addressed the growing wealth disparity in America’s elite academic institutions, and he cofounded Class Action the next year. The organization asks students, academics, and everyone in between to think about what elite universities owe students and their communities.

Could a tax on billionaires make a dent in wealth inequality? [Audio]

Christina Lewellen and Robin Young, Here & Now Newsroom

Among the most hotly debated topics in economic policy these days is a wealth tax on billionaires — a levy targeting the total value of assets held by the ultra-wealthy, instead of their income. In California, a proposed ballot measure called the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act would levy a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of about 200 billionaires. In France and the UK, similar taxes are being hotly debated. While the advantages range from generating billions of dollars in revenue to fund health care, infrastructure and more, there are problems as well, including determining the value of assets ranging from sports teams to art.

Their Kids Had Questions About Wealth Inequality. How Did They Respond?

Kristin Wong, New York Times

This summer, Catherine Collins took her 11-year-old twins, Aria and Edison, to visit the Field Museum in Chicago. As they walked back to the car, Ms. Collins and her children noticed a woman across the street with a cardboard sign, asking for change. Edison asked his mother a question that stopped her in her tracks. “He was very emotional, and he said: ‘Mom, why does that woman need money? And why are her kids with her?’” said Ms. Collins, 38, who co-hosts “Five Year You,” a podcast about personal development.

Democracy and the Public Interest

Honoring Rosa Parks’ life and legacy: Black women’s roles in social movements and civic engagement

Nadia E. Brown and Christine M. Slaughter, Brookings

Rosa Parks’ 1955 act of resistance was part of a broader, organized effort led by Black women who mobilized communities and built political networks. Her work with the NAACP and the Women’s Political Council shows that the Montgomery Bus Boycott succeeded because of coordinated leadership, not isolated action. Black women have historically connected grassroots communities to broader movements for racial and gender justice. Despite their central role, their leadership has often been minimized or rendered invisible in dominant narratives of social movements.

Texas launches plan to open Turning Point USA chapters in every high school

Jaden Edison, Texas Tribune

Texas has launched a partnership with Turning Point USA to create chapters of the right-wing organization on every high school campus in the state. Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Turning Point USA Senior Director Josh Thifault revealed the initiative during a news conference at the Governor’s Mansion on Monday. They did not outline any plans that would require schools to initiate the clubs, but Abbott said that he expects “meaningful disciplinary action” to take place against “any stoppage of TPUSA in the great state of Texas.” “Let me be clear: Any school that stands in the way of a Club America program in their school should be reported immediately to the Texas Education Agency,” the governor said, referring to the name of the high school clubs.

How Florida lost track of 30,000 students, a ‘cautionary tale’ for vouchers

Lauren Lumpkin, Washington Post

After Florida cleared the way in 2023 for any family in the state to get a taxpayer-funded school voucher regardless of income, students signed up in droves. Enrollment in the voucher program has almost doubled to half a million children. But by the end of the 2024-25 school year, the program cost $398 million more than expected, according to a recently released report from Florida’s auditor general. And when students switched between public schools and voucher-funded programs, tax dollars did not move with them as lawmakers had promised.

Other News of Note

Q&A with Maleeyah Frazier: Youth Activist and a Voice for Black Students

Luskin School of Public Affairs

You are passionate about dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline and advocating for youth in marginalized communities. What early experience or moment made you realize this work was important for you? The moment I realized this work mattered, and that I had a responsibility to step into it, came in the 10th grade, during the George Floyd protests in the middle of COVID. Up until then, I had always been placed in gifted programs and uplifted as the “right kind” of student in my community. I was constantly compared to other students of color who weren’t placed in gifted classes, and teachers often used me as the example of what being a “good student” should look like. That created a harmful dynamic and placed enormous pressure on me, because I knew the system was failing those students, they were being tracked, ignored, and underestimated. The real turning point happened when I learned that LAUSD was spending over $75 million on school police while investing less than half of that in critical student resources: psychiatric social workers, mental health services, counselors, full-time nurses, and educators. For a district that serves a majority of students of color, including students in areas that were historically redlined, it became clear to me that policing was being prioritized over care.