Illegal immigration is a divisive issue in the politically conservative East Texas community of Tyler, known by many locally as "The Rose Capital of America." Drawn by jobs in the rose fields and iron foundries, Mexican immigrants began settling here with their families in the 1970s. Hispanic children--citizens, legal residents, and…

Administrators in the Chicago public schools are seeking to strike the right balance between providing guidance and permitting flexibility as they put in place the nation's first state mandate for providing bilingual education to preschoolers. New rules approved by the Illinois state board of education in June flesh out a January 2009 change that…

A growing chorus of people are saying that some school districts are overzealous in categorizing students as English-language learners (ELLs) in the aim of complying with federal and state laws to ensure that children of immigrants get extra help with English. They contend that the information requested on the home-language survey that parents are…

In this article, the author discusses attempts by schools to navigate stepped-up federal efforts to curb illegal immigration, protection of student privacy, and the safety of students during enforcement operations. In Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico, for example, school personnel are barred from putting information about a child's immigration…

Tens of thousands of Latino students helped fuel rallies across the country the week of April 10, 2006 against federal proposals to crack down on immigrants who are in the United States illegally. It was the third week of such rallies, which have put some school officials into politically delicate situations, such as having to decide whether to…