Classroom & School Resources
- The Harvard Graduate School of Education put together a video and some tips on how educators and school staff can best support undocumented students.
- The Contra Costa County of Education has put together some great classroom resources for teachers, administrators, and other education stakeholders. These resources include lesson plans, tips for having these conversations, and teaching tolerance.
- Educators for Fair Consideration (E4FC) have gathered resources to inform educators how to support, learn about, and teach about undocumented students. Among these resources they have accumulated legal resources, health resources, posters and school activities, and guides for various audiences.
- The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project has developed a guide for educators and school support staff on how to understand and support immigrant and refugee children. This guide includes classroom culture and school climate tools, curriculum, and other materials teachers can use in their classrooms.
- Common Sense Media has developed 2 guides that teachers can use to discuss the current political climate. These resources are broken down by age groups and provide talking points, videos, and other resources on how to safely discuss issues.
- 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.
Factsheets
- The Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) provides practical and convenient bilingual videos, infographics, legal guidance, and fact sheets for parents to listen in on and read about their rights.
- 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.
- The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) has developed a factsheet and pulled together resources on how schools can play a critical role in ensuring immigrant families have access to important information and resources.
- The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) has numerous resources on their website. The first resource is a factsheet which provide numbers, characteristics, and socioeconomic information on the 5.1 million U.S.-citizen and non-citizen children with unauthorized parents. The second paints a picture of what immigration enforcement could look like under the Trump Administration.
- The American Immigration Council (AIC) has prepared a fact sheet which provides an overview of the Supreme Court’s decision in Plyler v. Doe and subsequent efforts by states and localities to avoid compliance with the decision.
- The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) produced bilingual factsheets about Immigrants’ rights under a Trump Presidency. This FAQ factsheet can be used and distributed to students, educators, and numerous other audiences.
- The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project has developed a FAQ factsheet for educators. This factsheet provides FAQ’s about immigration raids, what educators and school support staff can do, how to take action, and additional examples and resources.
Guides & Legal Resources
- The California School Boards Association put together a helpful legal guidance document for parents, teachers, schools, school districts, and County Offices of Education.
- The California Courts have developed a bilingual resources directory to provide anyone with access to basic state and federal government information, how to find immigration legal help, and resources if children are separated from their parents.
- 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.
- United We Dream (UWD) provides tools, guides, reports and other resources for its affiliates and supporters, to help with your advocacy and direct service work with undocumented students.
- 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.
Position Statements
- The California State PTA’s has developed powerful position statements on the need for students to feel safe, respected, supported, and valued.
- The California Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson, releases a statement which recommends schools to declare themselves “safe havens” and responds to President Trump’s Immigration Order.
- 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.
- In May 2014 letter from the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice reiterate the federal government’s commitment to ensuring that all children and youth are provided with access to a free, appropriate public education, regardless of citizenship or immigration status.
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?”
- The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has put out information regarding immigrant eligibility for early childhood programs, specifically child care subsidies and Head Start, as they exist under current law and guidance.
- Demos, in collaboration with LatinJustice PRLDEF, have developed a bilingual report which provides basic information on available options to effectively address safety and security threats to immigrant communities and how those local communities may enact policies to protect immigrant rights.
- The UCLA Psychology Department’s School Mental Health Project has developed an expansive, but not exhaustive, list of resources and reports to support their success at schools and address some challenges they face while in school.
- The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) has numerous resources on their website. The following are reports and policy briefs which look at various issues, traumas, institutional hurdles, and the discrimination these students and communities face; they also provide examples of good practices that could be implemented to help welcome these individuals.
- Unaccompanied Child Migrants in US Communities, Immigration Court, and Schools
- Migrant Education and Community Inclusion: Examples of Good Practice
- Implications of Immigration Enforcement Activities for the Well-Being of Children in Immigrant Families: A Review of the Literature
- Health and Social Service Needs of U.S.-Citizen Children with Detained or Deported Immigrant Parents
- Economic, Social, and Health Effects of Discrimination on Latino Immigrant Families
- The Impacts of Discrimination on the Early Schooling Experiences of Children from Immigrant Families
- The Educational, Psychological, and Social Impact of Discrimination on the Immigrant Child
- The UndocuScholars project, put out the In the Shadows of the Ivory Tower report which looks at undocumented student demographic characteristics, their experiences in college, as well as their aspirations and anxieties. It goes on to make specific recommendations for what colleges should consider to better serve this population.
- The Urban Institute published a report which describe two-generation approaches to the education of young children from immigrant families that center on parental involvement in education. Specifically, the report focuses on Latin American and Asian immigrants, who make up the bulk of the immigrant population.
- The National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY) has numerous resources for student on their website. They also published a report which provides young people, immigration attorneys, advocates, and educators with basic information to help these students attend school and secure lawful status.
Sample Resolutions
- The California School Boards Association (CSBA) provides legal context and sample resolution about how school districts, administrators, and local policymakers can best support their undocumented student population.
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.
- The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They have published a guide with tips on how parents, caregivers, and teachers can talk with and help children and youth coping with a disaster or traumatic event.
- The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) have published numerous resources that give educators and family member tips on how to best support their students socially and emotionally.
- Tolerancia: promover la paz en tiempos de crisis Consejos para padres y cuidadores
- NASP Guidance for Reinforcing Safe, Supportive and Positive School Environments for All Students
- Supporting Marginalized Students in Stressful Times: Tips for Educators
- Managing Strong Emotional Reactions to Traumatic Events: Tips for Families and Teachers
- 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.
