Ileana Najarro is a reporter for 91Ö±²¥ covering race and opportunity in schools across the country. She previously wrote for the Tampa Bay Times and the Houston Chronicle.
Miranda Scully, the director of family and community engagement for the Fayette school district, Public Schools, stands outside one of the district's family connection center's on Dec. 12, 2024, in Lexington, Ky. The center offers programs like ESL classes, college preparation, and household budgeting and money management classes.
Miranda Scully, the director of family and community engagement for the Fayette school district in Kentucky, helps students during an ACT prep class held at the Family Connection Center on Dec. 12, 2024, in Lexington. The Family Connection Center offers programs including English classes for non-native speakers, college preparation, and household budgeting and money management classes.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters speaks to members of the State Board of Education during a meeting, Aug. 24, 2023, in Oklahoma City, Okla. On Jan. 28, the state board unanimously approved a proposed rule to require schools to collect students' immigration status information.
Fifth graders work on their math problems in a bilingual classroom at Sandoval Elementary School in Chicago on Dec. 3, 2019. Jenni Torres, the new executive director of WIDA, hopes to expand upon professional development to support all teachers working with multilingual students.
A student arrives for school on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Boston. Schools are navigating new challenges after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ended its policy discouraging immigration enforcement at sensitive locations—such as schools.
Students arrive for school Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday said it had revoked a policy that kept immigration agents from making arrests and conducting enforcement raids at schools and other places considered sensitive locations.
Karen language students work on a presentation highlighting historical figures during a Karen for Karen-speakers class at Washington Tech Magnet School in St. Paul, Minn., on May 22, 2024. The St. Paul district has boosted seal of biliteracy participation by creating courses and assessments for less commonly spoken languages.
Students throw their caps into the sky at the Tupelo Christian Preparatory School graduation ceremony at Hope Church on Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Tupelo, Miss. The seal of biliteracy on students' high school diplomas recognizes their multilingualism.
Hunt Mercier/The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal via AP
A know-your-rights flyer rests on a table while immigration activist, Laura Mendoza, speaks to the Associated Press' reporter at The Resurrection Project offices in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood on June 19, 2019. Immigration advocates advise schools to inform families about their legal rights as uncertainty remains over how far-reaching immigration enforcement will go under a second Trump administration.