TALAS E-newsletter – May 17

Texas colleges and universities will get an additional $2 billion in the latest round of federal coronavirus stimulus funding — half of which must be used for financial grants to students struggling due to the pandemic, the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday.

The federal government also announced that undocumented and international students can now receive those emergency funds, too, rolling back a Trump administration rule that allowed schools to distribute grants only to students who qualified for federal financial aid, which excluded non-U.S. citizens.

With a backpack in tow and tears rolling down her face, Krisol Villa Flores roamed the parking lots at Texas A&M University after her first day of classes at the English Language Institute left her overwhelmed and frustrated. On Saturday, years after that terrible first day, Villa Flores will not only walk as a college graduate with a degree in education from Tarleton State University but she will also serve as the commencement speaker at the ceremony.

“It was so bad. I was crying so much. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, I couldn’t find my truck, I couldn’t find the bus. I just wanted to go home and see my kids,” Villa Flores said of her first day at the A&M campus.

An Austin ISD special education teacher this week got the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., with fellow Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients to meet with President Joe Biden.

“I am hoping I will be able to share my story with [President Biden] and share why passing the Dream And Promise Act is an urgent matter,” said Karen Reyes, who teaches students at Galindo Elementary who are deaf and hard of hearing. “DACA remains at risk and we need a permanent solution – a pathway toward citizenship.”

Texans as young as 12 years old can soon start getting the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19 immunization, state officials announced Thursday.

The Texas Department of State Health Services advised providers that the vaccine can be administered to adolescents age 12 to 15 years old, in line with federal guidance.

No matter how hard he tried, Jonatan Garcia said, he couldn’t find steady work in Guatemala. He dabbled in construction, and on some days picked beans, after losing his sales job at a TV station a few weeks after the pandemic shuttered businesses and further stifled employment in his country.

It’s not your fault. We have been taught that if you go to school, get a good job and do good work, everything will work itself out. We learned that things naturally fall in place when you follow all the rules. So, when you do everything right and excel at work, it’s easy to find yourself playing the waiting game, waiting for things to happen rather than making things happen for you. 

Most people don’t even know they’re doing it. They think they’re doing their best. But, they don’t even realize they are not proactive about their career growth or goals. 

Here are nine signs you’re not taking control of your career.

For so long, educators and youth advocates have dreaded summer slide, the deterioration of skills over summer, when children without access to enriching activities fall further behind their peers. This is the year to change that. The pandemic is widening the racial equity gap for children of all socio-economic backgrounds — it’s the perfect opportunity to extend the traditional school year and have academic enrichment this summer that can close this persistent divide.

Picture this: With all the disruption of this COVID-plagued school year, students could get another several weeks of learning, probably outside, in camp-like settings, where they could creatively work on math, science, writing, reading and the arts, get meals and snacks every day and engage in physical activity. It’s the right time and the right solution for bridging the gap, particularly for Black and Latino students.

The University of California system agreed Friday to extend its court-mandated policy of test-free admissions through 2025, according to advocacy groups that argue the use of SAT and ACT scores discriminates against applicants based on race, income, and disability.

The university regents previously announced a test-optional policy while the system created a new type of test that it said will better align with the content it expects students to master.

Some campuses opted to immediately eliminate the use of test scores, while others decided to phase them out.

President Joe Biden plans to welcome six recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to the Oval Office on Friday as his administration signals his immigration reform plan remains a legislative priority.

As more Americans receive Covid-19 vaccines and schools move to reopen widely, leaders are doing their best to make sure everyone gets the memo: School is happening in-person this fall.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently told reporters, “We must prepare now for full in-person instruction come next school year.”

In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy said in March he is “fully expecting” schools across the state to return in-person in the fall, no exceptions. “We are expecting Monday through Friday, in-person, every school, every district,” he said.

The concentration of minors found on either side of the border between Mexico and the United States is “a terrible problem,” according to writer and educator Isabel Campoy. The Biden Administration has created a large economic fund, which is managed by the vice president, Kamala Harris, to curb migration at source, fighting “the serious problems that plague Mexico and Central America.” But children continue to arrive who must go to school. In Spanish and English. And, according to Campoy, academic institutions lack “sufficient funds to meet such a need.” “I have received a request from the directors of the Department of Bilingual Education at the University of San Diego to send books in Spanish,” he says, “for the programs that have been forced to improvise for minors on their border.”

A new book from an experienced higher education educator helps readers learn essential aspects of higher education to improve the college success of Latino/a/x students.

In 15 Consejos: A Guide for Latinx Students to Succeed in College, author Alvert Hernandez taps into his 10 years of personal higher education experience to outline a guide that covers topics of choosing a college, gaining academic skills, how to find your community, navigating family ties with college demands, and much more. The book contains several opportunities for the reader to reflect and challenges them to complete certain prompts.