Resources and Links for Educators and Administrators

Classroom & School Resources

  • The Immigrant Learning Center recently held workshops around the topic, “Taking Back the Narrative: How to Talk about Immigrants and Immigration”. They have published their videos, documents, and other resources for educators, administrators and other education stakeholder to hear about how they can begin to engage in a dialogue.
  • Teaching Tolerance has developed lesson plans and curricula for students in all grades. They have incorporated topics around immigration, disabilities, bullying & bias, class, gender & sexuality, race & ethnicity, religion, and rights & activism. Within each topic area you can find web packages, magazine features, publications, webinars, articles, professional development resources, etc. They also have school wide tools such as classroom resources such as lessons, learning plans, student tasks, teaching strategies, film kits, frameworks, and other school wide event or activates.
  • Daily’s Charlottesville Syllabus: Readings on the history of hate in America has accumulated numerous essays and articles which illuminate the cultural, economic, and political currents that have led to our present day moments. They’re free to access and cover a variety of topics.
  • The Anti-Defamation League: Resources for Educators, Parents & Families has a great selection and diversity in lesson plans, strategies, children’s literature, family conversations, etc. that can be useful for all grade levels. Their lesson plan sections provides entire toolkit on how to discuss issues such as The First Amendment, DACA, Bias, Immigration, Alt Right and White Supremacy, Slurs and Offensive Jokes, amongst many other topics.
  • Facing Our History and Ourselves offers not only educator resources such as teaching strategies, topics, and books, they also have teacher professional development webinars, workshops, courses & seminars available for teacher themselves to go through. Lesson plans are available for Elementary and MS/HS students and range in areas such as Holocaust, religious intolerance, bullying, democracy and civic engagement, race, et.al.
  • The Southern Poverty Law Center has other resources teachers and students could find helpful and educational. They have a Fighting Hate, Seeking Justice, and Civil Right Memorial sections which are more in depth and informational to use when talking about these things with students.
  • The Museum of Tolerance is another great resource for both teacher resources, lessons, activities as well as professional development opportunities for educators and other school personnel. The lessons and activities can be used for Elementary or MS/HS students and cover areas such as power of words and images, discrimination, democracy and diversity, and personal responsibility.

Factsheets

  • The Education Trust – West (ETW) provides a quick and accessible snapshot of our state’s undocumented student population, resources for parents, and organizations that can help families or individuals with immigration questions or issues.
  • Abriendo Puertas/ Opening Doors has a video that demonstrates and provides insight for parents on how to communicate with their young children on topics that are particularly difficult to tackle. It models interactions between parent and child and shows them how to respond, and comfort a child who faces the stress of bullying, and potential family separation. They also have numerous know your rights resources, factsheets, child trauma resources and other useful information.
  • SB 54 – The California Values Act, also known as the Sanctuary State bill, was signed into law in October. This law prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies, school police and security departments from using resources to investigate, interrogate, detain, detect, or arrest persons for immigration enforcement purposes; requires state agencies to review confidentiality policies to assure that all information collected from individuals is necessary to perform agency duties; and requires the Attorney General to publish model contractual provisions for state agencies who partner with private vendors for data collection purposes to ensure that those vendors comply with the confidentiality policies by October 1, 2018
  • AB 21 – The Access to Higher Education for Every Student Act was signed into law this October. This law requires that all higher education institutions that qualify for the Cal Grant program to clearly outline their policies, procedures, and actions in response to possible immigration enforcement activity on their campuses. Additionally this law would, prevent the disclosure of personal information concerning students, faculty and staff except under specified circumstances; ensure that campus leadership has verified the legal authority behind any immigration enforcement on campus; maintain a list of legal services providers who provide legal immigration representation free of charge to student upon request; ensure that certain benefits and services provided to undocumented students are continued in the event that they are subject to a federal immigration order; and require these institutions to adopt, implement and post on its website a model policy developed by the Attorney General, or an equivalent policy, limiting assistance with immigration enforcement to the fullest extent possible consistent with federal and state law by March 1, 2019.
  • AB 699 – The Safe Schools for Immigrant Students Act was signed into law in October. This law requires the Attorney General to develop model policies Californians by April 1, 2018 which limit schools’ assistance with immigration enforcement so that public schools remain safe and accessible to all. This law provides critical protections and supports for immigrant students, including: explicitly including immigration status in the specified characteristics guaranteeing equal rights and opportunities in the educational institutions of the state; prohibiting the collection of information or documents regarding the immigration or citizenship status of pupils or their family members; requiring schools to update emergency contacts and comply with parental instructions relating to their children’s care; and offering information to parents and guardians about their children’s right to a free public education, regardless of immigration status.
  • SB 68 – This law was signed into law in October and expands AB 540 exemptions to other non-traditional students who are moving on to higher education institutions. This law would allow undocumented students, and others, to access in-state tuition at the California State University and the California Community Colleges if the student has a total of 3 or more years of attendance, or attainment of equivalent credits earned while in California, for a California high schools, California adult schools, campuses of the California Community Colleges, or a combination of those schools. Currently, a student is allowed to access AB 540 status if they completed 3 or more years of full-time high school coursework, and a total of 3 or more years of attendance in California elementary schools, California secondary schools, or a combination of California elementary and secondary schools. This law expands the types of schools which qualify for the 3 year accumulation requirement.
  • The University of California’s Immigrant and Legal Services Center (“Center”) recently put out an FAQ factsheet which discusses the January 2018 preliminary injunction for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (D.A.C.A.)
  • For the most up to date information on the DACA program and the January 2018 preliminary injunction please visit the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website
  • The American Immigration Lawyers Association (A.I.L.A.) recently published know your rights handouts for several scenarios such as: ICE worksite raids, home visits, and public stops. The handouts come in several languages including Spanish, Chinese, Punjabi, Haitian Creole, Arabic, Portuguese, and English.
  • Affordable Colleges has a guide which focuses on the recent decision by the Trump administration to roll back the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. It includes frequently asked questions about the change, describes the rights undocumented students have if questioned by ICE, and includes a directory where students can find resources with additional up-to-date information as policies evolve.

Guides & Legal Resources

  • Appleseed is updating its “Protecting Assets and Child Custody in the Face of Deportation” manual to help families develop plans in advance to deal with critical financial and family issues in the event of deportation, arrest and other family emergencies; this resource has informational videos and legal resource documents for families and those who can help these communities.
  • The Contra Costa County of Education has put together a toolkit which includes strategies in dealing with potential student demonstrations, tips for educators and parents to support students in stressful times, examples of communications sent by teachers and administrators in the wake of the election, and policy-focused resources that address immigrant rights.
  • The California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) has guides, program information, and resources to help undocumented students get financial aid for attending a college or universities in the state. These resources discuss AB 540 (out-of-state tuition exemption), The CA Dream Act, Cal Grants, and other programs.
  • The California State University system and their 23 campuses are committed to ensuring academic opportunities are available to all the state’s students, regardless of citizenship status. They put together a resource guide for undocumented students which includes information on admissions, financial aid, legal support services, and campus support services.
  • The California Charter Schools Association has developed some resources for all charter schools in the state. Their goal is to share their resources with as many schools, educators, parents, and other education stakeholders in order to protect undocumented students across the state. Additionally, CCSA jointly published jointly published a complete guide for all public schools in California with Stanford Law School.
  •  The American Civil Liberties Union (A.C.L.U.) put together some “know your rights” resources around various topics including, DACA, ICE visits, if questioned about your immigration status, and demonstrations and protests. These immigrants’ rights resources include videos and easy to follow guides.
  • Affordable Colleges created a guide which focuses on making a college education a reality for undocumented students by detailing scholarship opportunities, advocacy groups and enrollment tips. This guide was created with the support of Jenesis Long, an academic counselor at Oregon State for first-generation and low-income students.

Position Statements

  • The California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators (CALSA), released a statement to their members about meeting the educational needs of the communities they serve in this uncertain time for undocumented students, families, and communities.

Reports & Policy Briefs

  • The Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) has developed guides and reports to provide anyone with information about family separation due to detention and deportation, safety planning and child welfare for families; it helps answer the all important question: “What about my children?”

Sample Resolutions

Social & Emotional Suppport

  • Family Paths offers a 24-Hour Parent Support Hotline to help parents experiencing any additional stress or worries. Their calls can be answered in English and Spanish but they also have translations services for over 400 languages.
  • Wexford Inc is a nonprofit educational agency whose mission it is to increase educational excellence through equity by building bridges of understanding. They put together a list of various organizations and resources in their newest “Charting the Course” publication which provides educational decision makers with current information on how to best support students emotionally and psychologically.
  • First 5 Association of California – has a number of resources now available to help the growing number of families in California tackling heightened community stress. First 5 is committed to helping parents weather these stressful situations and mitigate impacts on young children’s development, health, and learning.
  • Care, Cope, Connect

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