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Texas News
El Paso, Ysleta, Socorro ISD superintendents hold State of Education Address
The superintendents for El Paso, Socorro and Ysleta Independent School Districts held the El Paso Chamber’s State of Education Address last Thursday.

El Paso ISD superintendent Diana Sayavedra, Socorro ISD superintendent Dr. Nate Carman and Ysleta ISD Superintendent Dr. Xavier De La Torre were at the event.
Texas Supreme Court weighs whether to allow state’s education agency to oust Houston school board
Among other issues, the court will consider whether a law that updated the education code last year has any bearing on TEA Commissioner Mike Morath’s attempt to replace HISD’s board members over low academic scores.

The Texas Supreme Court on Thursday heard arguments on a yearslong case over whether the Texas Education Agency has the authority to remove all of the Houston school district’s board members and temporarily replace them with a state-appointed board. At the center of the hearing was the impact of a law that updated the education code last year and that TEA lawyers argued cleared the path to implement the agency’s plan.
UTSA celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with education secretary Miguel Cardona
UTSA will present its 2022 Hispanic Heritage Month Keynote Speaker, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, in a virtual, livestreamed event at 6 p.m. on Thursday, October 13. Supporting this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month theme, “Unidos: Inclusivity for a Stronger Nation,” the event – A Conversation with Dr. Miguel Cardona – will offer Roadrunners and the community at large an opportunity to discuss pertinent topics impacting the country’s higher education landscape.
Uvalde school district suspends its entire police department, and superintendent announces retirement plans
All of the department’s activities were suspended for an unspecified period of time, and two employees were placed on administrative leave after it was revealed this week that one of the first state troopers to respond to the deadly school shooting in May was later hired as a district police officer.

Uvalde school officials on Friday suspended all of the district police department’s activities following the firing of a recently hired district officer who was revealed to have been among the first state troopers to respond to the deadly school shooting in May.
For A Small Rural Texas Town, the Solution to a Teacher Shortage Is a Motel
Fort Stockton is paying big money for teachers and sweetening the deal with low-cost housing.

Every day after work, veteran English teacher Staci Ely pulls into the parking lot of the Spanish Trail Lodge in Fort Stockton, a small town in far West Texas. 

She parks right in front of her door in the motor-court style hotel, and settles into a small, recently refurbished room with an en suite bathroom, saltillo tile floors, a mini fridge and Southwest-style fixtures. 
Announcements
Emergent Bilingual Week:
Accelerate Language, Accelerate Literacy
Oct. 17–21, 2022
Monday–Friday, 12 pm–1 pm EST
This five-day event will consist of a series of webinars that explore important aspects of supporting emergent bilingual students, including the acceleration of English language learning, the role of oral language in literacy instruction, language learning efficacy and research, how educators can leverage artificial intelligence to support Emergent Bilingual students, and much more!
Affiliate Feature
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National News
Give Us More Tools to Make Sense of K-12 Data, School Superintendents Say
State education departments and school systems are collecting more data than ever, but district leaders see a big need for tools that will help them make better use of the flood of information.

A recent survey conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of the Data Quality Campaign, in partnership with the school superintendent’s association, AASA, found that nearly all of the 253 district superintendents surveyed (99 percent) feel that state data could be more useful to them and their schools. 
Arizona Barrio Stories: A Must-See Interview with Panfilo Contreras
A must see interview! This Barrio Story comes by way of Yuma, AZ (in the Barrio of “La Quince”). We welcome Panfilo Contreras to our studios. Recently, Dr. José Leyba and Panfilo sat down and had a “Platica de Educación. Panfilo’s journey has taken him from school board member to the position of Executive Director of AZ Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents. In many districts, administrators, educators and staff don’t reflect the population of the students they serve. Why should they? Why is it necessary to have bilingual education and educators? Does Dual Language classrooms perform well? Would you consider running for school board? These are some of the points in this “Platica de Educación”.
5 Ways Teachers Can Collaborate to Support English Learners
When it comes to providing English learners with an equitable education, some researchers point to the need for more-strategic collaboration between general classroom and content teachers and multilingual specialists.

About 10 percent of all public school students were classified as English learners in 2019. While only 2 percent of all public school teachers teach English as a Second Language as their main assignment, 64 percent of all public school teachers have at least one English learner in their class, according to the latest federal data available, which is from the 2017-18 school year.
America’s education report card shows we’re failing our most vulnerable students
As soon as the pandemic started, we saw communities and families of color experience disproportionate impacts on their health, jobs, income and education. While other recent reports exploring the depths and intensity of pandemic-related learning loss have focused on the outsized loss suffered by students of color, along with other student groups, the recent release of NAEP’s report on the impact of the last two years is jarring in its overwhelming assessment that we have failed our historically underserved student populations once again.
The Conexiones Program Helps Latino Students Navigate the Digital World
A program focused on digital literacy and safety for students in Hispanic communities has expanded across the country as it enters its third year. Current high school participants say it’s been a rewarding opportunity.

“I’m interested in computer science,” says Elizabeth Rodriguez, a senior at North Side High School in Houston and current Conexiones participant, “and this program for the community is amazing because sadly my mother and family never had this opportunity. I know they’re grateful I get to study this subject and I hope my younger nephews and future generations get the chance as well.”
Las Tienditas
This Week’s Featured Sponsor
TALAS sponsors make this newsletter and other TALAS activities possible. Please support them. Click on the logo to learn more!
Newsela takes authentic, real-world content from trusted sources and makes it instruction ready for K-12 classrooms. Each text is published at five reading levels – with thousands of articles available in both English & Spanish to help Spanish-speaking English Language Learners with comprehension – so content is accessible to every learner. Today, over 2.5 million teachers and 37 million students have registered with Newsela for content that’s personalized to student interests, accessible to everyone, aligned to TEKS and other instructional standards, and attached to activities and reporting that hold teachers accountable for instruction and students accountable for their work. With over 10,000 texts in Newsela’s platform and 10 new texts published every day across 20+ genres, Newsela enables educators to go deep on any subject they choose. Newsela’s offerings include Newsela ELA, Newsela Science, Newsela Social Studies and more.