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Articles of Interest
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Faced with mounting pressure from students, faculty and alumni, University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan suspended all campus fraternities Saturday, an action prompted by a searing magazine account of an alleged 2012 gang rape inside a fraternity house at the school.
The suspension, which includes sororities and other Greek organizations, will continue until Jan. 9, the Friday before the spring semester is to begin, Sullivan said in a statement posted on the university’s Web site.
“In the intervening period we will assemble groups of students, faculty, alumni, and other concerned parties to discuss our next steps in preventing sexual assault and sexual violence on Grounds,” she said, using university parlance for its Charlottesville campus.
Dr. Hanstedt named 2014 Virginia Professor of the Year
Roanoke College
November, 2014
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education have named Dr. Paul Hanstedt, professor of English at Roanoke College, as the 2014 Virginia Professor of the Year. Hanstedt was selected from nearly 400 top professors in the United States.
The award recognizes the most outstanding instructors across the country - those who excel in teaching and positively influence the lives and careers of students. It is the only national program to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring.
The state Higher Education Policy Commission announced the reciprocity agreement Saturday. It becomes effective on Dec. 1.
The agreement establishes lets accredited institutions operate in other participating states without seeking independent authorization, making it easier for them to expand access to online courses.
At least 16 other states, including Virginia, are part of the agreement.
The issue emerged in President Obama’s first term amid a national debate about the “Dream Act,” which in various versions sought to protect certain students who entered into the United States illegally as young children, grew up in the country and graduated from U.S. high schools.
In 2012, Obama launched a program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which shielded from deportation hundreds of thousands of young immigrants known as “Dreamers.” On Thursday, the White House announced measures that would make millions more illegal immigrants eligible for temporary protected status.
Parents lie on survey to identify English learners
Associated Press
November 16, 2014
When Garcia signed up her daughter for kindergarten, she answered a standard four-question survey by saying her family spoke only English at home, even though her husband doesn't speak the language.
"I just said we spoke English, English, English and English," Garcia said.
California education officials say it's tough to know how many parents lie on the home language survey they are required to fill out before their children start public school. Educators say failing to identify students who need language assistance can set the children back and violate federal laws guaranteeing access to education.
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Deferred action - what is the likely impact on education?
Last Thursday President Obama announced a new immigration policy which may allow up to 4.4 million unauthorized immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to remain in the country temporarily, without the threat of deportation. Several news outlets noted the connection between the executive order and educaton. As Dr. Bosher pointed out in his weekly editorial, "since the President asserts that his action is about protecting children, not criminals, it's reasonable to ask what the implications might be for education."
The link between children and the new policy is key as a major eligibility requirement is that the unauthorized immigrant have a close family member who is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident. To see how this impacts an increasing number of persons, check out the figure below from the Pew Research Center - about 4.5 million U.S. citizen children have at least one unauthorized immigrant parent.
The portion of the unauthorized population potentially eligible for the temporary status varies by state as can be seen in the map below, also from Pew. Between 25 and 30% of the unauthorized population in Virginia is estimated to be eligible. The Migration Policy Institute estimated that about 92,000 immigrants living in Virginia may be eligible for temporary status under the new discretionary parole.
As Dr. Bosher points out, the impact on K-12 education may be limited. Since the 1982 Supreme Court ruling in Plyler v. Doe, states and local communities have been required to provide K-12 education to all children of the proper age regardless of immigration status. (In our Update space we excerpt a relevant portion of the Law and Education text coauthored by Dr. Bosher and Dr. Richard Vacca.) At the same time, if the new policy allows unauthorized immigrant parents of children to participate more fully in the schools because of reduced fear, schools may see an increase in parental involvement. With this in mind, in our poll snapshot we take a look at how important respondents think parental involvement in their child's education is.
Another impact for education will most certainly be renewed questions about eligibility for in-state tuition for higher education. The Institute for Higher Education had this summary of the potential impacts. NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) also has a quick summary. Less noticed in the policy announcement were provisions to expand Optional Practical Training which gives foreign STEM grads temporary work authorization for 12-29 months after completing a degree.
Finally, we wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving - because of the holiday break, you're receiving this on Tuesday rather than the normal Wednesday.
Sincerely,
CEPI
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Poll Snapshot: How important is parental involvement for education?
Parental involvement (or the lack of it) has long been a familiar theme in education research. The National Education Association provides a summary and link to a 2002 research article from the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory that synthesized existing research at the time and concluded that students with involved parents do better on a host of indicators ranging from regular attendance to better social skills to higher grades. The Michigan Dept. of Education also released this 3 page summary.
In 2001, CEPI's annual education poll asked a representative sample of Virginians whether they saw a list of factors as major, minor or no problem for public schools in their community. The factor that was most often identified as a major problem was "lack of parent involvement" - more so than overcrowding, violence, poor quality teachers or student use of alcohol or illegal drugs. (See table below.)
In 2002 we asked a slightly different queston: Parents who are involved in the school - how much is this a reason for better school performance? Respondents chose between "a top reason," "important," "not too important," and "not at all important." Parents involved in the school was rated a "top reason" by 69% or respondents, second only to good quality teachers which was cited as a top reason by 85%. These two finished ahead of students with a strong motivation to learn (65%), leadership from school principals (40%), and leadership from district superintendents (25%).
It will be interesting to see whether future research on the relationship between schools and recent immigrants detects an increase in parental participation after the recent deferred action for certain unauthorized immigrants.
(To read the full results of all the polls, visit our website. In 2001, questions 20-25 are reported above in the chart - topline results are on page 10; crosstabs are on pages 31-36.)
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Plyler v. Doe (1982) - The Supreme Court's logic regarding unauthorized immigrant children
The case emerged out of a Texas statute that withheld state funds from local school districts for any "undocumented alien children" and authorized school districts to deny enrollment to undocumented children. To quote from the Law and Education text coauthored by Dr. Bosher and Dr. Richard Vacca -
"In rendering a decision in Plyler, the Supreme Court majority opined, for the first time, that illegal alien children are "persons" under the law and are therefore entitled to equal protection under the fourteenth amendment. Thus, held the Court, the Texas statute could not be enforced. In effect, said the Court, the Texas law imposed a lifetime hardship on a class of children not accountable for their disabling classification. To phrase the question differently, why cause children to suffer the deprivation of an educational opportunity solely because of their parents' violation of the law?"
To order the text, click here.
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