Jazmin Flores Peña
Research Assistant
Jazmin Flores Peña is a Research Assistant with the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, where she supports the Center’s various K-12 education and early childhood education and care (ECEC) research and policy analysis projects.
Ms. Flores Peña holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University where she obtained her BA in linguistics, with a minor in education, inquiry, and justice, a special interdisciplinary program focused on the intersection of education and social justice. She also holds a master’s degree in education policy and management from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. During her graduate studies, she worked as a college and career intern supporting English Learners (ELs) as they navigate postsecondary education pathways.
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As school districts across the United States move to allocate their federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds, it is essential that they engage with multilingual and diverse community stakeholders, in part given English Learners have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The track record suggests many districts are struggling to effectively engage these communities.
Home visiting programs can offer critical integration-related supports, yet many Dual Language Learner (DLL) and immigrant families are known to be underserved. With reauthorization of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Child Home Visiting (MIECHV) program looming, Congress has an important opportunity to support families with young children—many of whom are still struggling with challenges exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
La interacción de padres y miembros de la comunidad con los sistemas escolares de sus hijos es fundamental para asegurar su éxito académico. Para apoyar a las familias de estudiantes de inglés (EL, por sus siglas en inglés) mientras interactúan con escuelas locales, esta guía y glosario de términos clave contesta preguntas comunes, como por ejemplo por qué estos estudiantes toman exámenes anuales y cómo las escuelas utilizan los datos que resultan de tales exámenes.
Parental and community engagement with schools is an important part of ensuring students’ educational success. To support English Learners’ families as they engage with their local schools, this question-and-answer document and glossary of key terms aim to help parents answer common questions, including why these students take tests and how schools use the test data.
Child care provided informally by relatives, friends, and neighbors is the most common form of U.S. child care, and it is particularly prevalent among immigrant and Dual Language Learner families. Yet it is frequently overlooked in child-care policy conversations. This brief explores the importance of this type of care and highlights promising practices for increasing support for care providers and the families they serve.
The $122 billion investment that K-12 schools across the United States are receiving from the federal government to address the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on the nation's most vulnerable students represents a key opportunity to help reset the trajectory of education for English Learners (ELs). As states submit their plans for using the funds, community based organizations can be key partners, as this commentary explains.
Schools Should Engage Diverse Community Stakeholders to Promoting Equitable Allocation of Historic Funding to Reimagine Education
Opportunities Exist to Better Reach Dual Language Learner and Immigrant Families through Home Visiting Programs
Rebuilding the U.S. Education System for the Nation’s English Learners