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"content": "\u003cp>A coalition of teachers and students is suing to block the implementation of a new \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055560/controversial-ca-bill-to-combat-antisemitism-in-schools-races-against-legislative-clock\">California law that aims to address antisemitism \u003c/a>concerns in K-12 public schools, amid ongoing debate over how classrooms can approach the latest conflict in the Middle East.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A judge is expected to hear arguments on Wednesday at the Northern District of California’s San José division. The lawsuit, filed by Jenin Younes, national legal director of the American-Arab Anti-discrimination Committee, claims that \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB715/id/3269818\">AB 715\u003c/a>, which is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2026, is unconstitutionally vague.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The real purpose of the bill is to chill the speech of teachers and students so that they’re afraid to talk about anything that could be deemed critical of Israel,” Younes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AB 715 adds to existing anti-discrimination state law through the creation of a governor-appointed Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator under a new California Office of Civil Rights. Proponents of AB 715 have said the coordinator will track antisemitic incidents at schools, help respond to cases and make policy recommendations to the state Legislature\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The coordinator will also be tasked with training schools to identify antisemitism. The state law directs districts to rely on the Biden administration’s National \u003ca href=\"https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/U.S.-National-Strategy-to-Counter-Antisemitism.pdf\">Strategy\u003c/a> to Counter Antisemitism. This federal guide, in turn, refers to the \u003ca href=\"https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism?__cf_chl_tk=MqqkOuqzgEw_sPLZk3uaHpHsppz2V_czSKvLy7GL.QM-1765759821-1.0.1.1-B1BsiVRBbMMDzlaBsFOImvLNsuJWznftqkSyjzryE6Y\">working definition\u003c/a> of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12011951\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12011951\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Children play outside at the Jewish Family Services shelter for migrants in San Diego, Sept. 19, 2024. \u003ccite>(Zoë Meyers for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Alliance’s definition includes 11 bullet-pointed descriptors of anti-Jewish bias. More than half of the list cites Israel, such as “claiming the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,” “applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation” and “accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier iterations of AB 715 echoed — and expanded — on the IHRA’s definition. According to those versions — later stricken — an antisemitic learning environment could mean classrooms where instruction or materials assert “dual loyalty directed at Jewish individuals or communities,” “inaccurate historical narratives such as labeling Israel a settler colonial state” or discriminating against a “nationality,” including “a social organization where a collective identity has emerged from a combination of shared features.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The earlier iterations were pretty crazy,“ said Younes, who has argued that the final version of AB 715 has the same effect “surreptitiously.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been an incredibly frustrating process,” said David Bocarsly, executive director of the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California and one of the main backers of the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bocarsly said the committee started off its efforts as California mandated new ethnic studies courses to ensure they didn’t include antisemitic content. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/10/school-antisemitism-bill-signed/\">After pushback from educators\u003c/a>, he said proponents decided to set their sights instead on protecting Jewish students more generally — in what eventually became AB 715. (A companion law, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billCompareClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB48&showamends=false\">SB 48\u003c/a>, creates four similar coordinator positions for religion, race, gender and LGBTQ+ discrimination prevention.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>So, even this one bill that we asked to be focused just on the Jewish community because there was a particular acute need for our community, where there were opportunities to expand and support other vulnerable communities, we ultimately leapt at those opportunities,” Bocarsly said.[aside postID=news_12066489 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-Kao-1-2-2000x1123.jpg']Teachers still weren’t on board with revisions to AB 715. In a statement, David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association, the union that represents teachers in the state, said the law “raises serious free speech concerns” and “at a time when too many are seeking to attack academic freedom and weaponize public education, AB 715 would unfortunately arm ill-intentioned people with the ability to do so.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new law allows the public to anonymously file complaints not just about teacher materials they believe are discriminatory, but also instruction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>Anytime that I meet with more than two teachers who are ethnic studies teachers in a group, this is one of the things that comes up. It’s like, ‘Hey, no one knows all the things that’re happening to us, and no one is really helping us,’” said Jason Muñiz, who supports around 500 Bay Area teachers in ethnic studies each year as part of his work with the University of California at Berkeley’s History-Social Science Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muñiz said dozens of teachers have described becoming the subject of legal inquiries, including public records requests, related to lessons that touch on Judaism, Islam or the Middle East.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bocarsly acknowledged the pressure that academic institutions face, noting that JPAC has spoken out against the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12056118/uc-labor-groups-sue-trump-over-coercive-antisemitism-investigations-and-demands\">Trump administration’s attempts to use antisemitism legislation\u003c/a> as an excuse to cut school funding or diversity programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have gone through three different iterations of bills, have taken so many of [the educators’] recommendations, and they continue to move the goalposts and oppose everything that we do,” said Bocarsly, who considers the alleged lack of willingness to focus on Jewish student safety itself discrimination. “I think that there’s some implicit bias happening here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the state’s official response to the motion for an injunction, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has argued that AB 715 does not create a new, undefined type of civil rights violation. He has said that fears of unfounded discrimination claims could happen under existing law and are not enough reason to block AB 715.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A coalition of teachers and students is suing to block the implementation of a new \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055560/controversial-ca-bill-to-combat-antisemitism-in-schools-races-against-legislative-clock\">California law that aims to address antisemitism \u003c/a>concerns in K-12 public schools, amid ongoing debate over how classrooms can approach the latest conflict in the Middle East.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A judge is expected to hear arguments on Wednesday at the Northern District of California’s San José division. The lawsuit, filed by Jenin Younes, national legal director of the American-Arab Anti-discrimination Committee, claims that \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB715/id/3269818\">AB 715\u003c/a>, which is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2026, is unconstitutionally vague.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The real purpose of the bill is to chill the speech of teachers and students so that they’re afraid to talk about anything that could be deemed critical of Israel,” Younes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AB 715 adds to existing anti-discrimination state law through the creation of a governor-appointed Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator under a new California Office of Civil Rights. Proponents of AB 715 have said the coordinator will track antisemitic incidents at schools, help respond to cases and make policy recommendations to the state Legislature\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The coordinator will also be tasked with training schools to identify antisemitism. The state law directs districts to rely on the Biden administration’s National \u003ca href=\"https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/U.S.-National-Strategy-to-Counter-Antisemitism.pdf\">Strategy\u003c/a> to Counter Antisemitism. This federal guide, in turn, refers to the \u003ca href=\"https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism?__cf_chl_tk=MqqkOuqzgEw_sPLZk3uaHpHsppz2V_czSKvLy7GL.QM-1765759821-1.0.1.1-B1BsiVRBbMMDzlaBsFOImvLNsuJWznftqkSyjzryE6Y\">working definition\u003c/a> of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12011951\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12011951\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241031-BORDER-CROSSINGS-ZM-16-KQED-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Children play outside at the Jewish Family Services shelter for migrants in San Diego, Sept. 19, 2024. \u003ccite>(Zoë Meyers for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Alliance’s definition includes 11 bullet-pointed descriptors of anti-Jewish bias. More than half of the list cites Israel, such as “claiming the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,” “applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation” and “accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier iterations of AB 715 echoed — and expanded — on the IHRA’s definition. According to those versions — later stricken — an antisemitic learning environment could mean classrooms where instruction or materials assert “dual loyalty directed at Jewish individuals or communities,” “inaccurate historical narratives such as labeling Israel a settler colonial state” or discriminating against a “nationality,” including “a social organization where a collective identity has emerged from a combination of shared features.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The earlier iterations were pretty crazy,“ said Younes, who has argued that the final version of AB 715 has the same effect “surreptitiously.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been an incredibly frustrating process,” said David Bocarsly, executive director of the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California and one of the main backers of the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bocarsly said the committee started off its efforts as California mandated new ethnic studies courses to ensure they didn’t include antisemitic content. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/10/school-antisemitism-bill-signed/\">After pushback from educators\u003c/a>, he said proponents decided to set their sights instead on protecting Jewish students more generally — in what eventually became AB 715. (A companion law, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billCompareClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB48&showamends=false\">SB 48\u003c/a>, creates four similar coordinator positions for religion, race, gender and LGBTQ+ discrimination prevention.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>So, even this one bill that we asked to be focused just on the Jewish community because there was a particular acute need for our community, where there were opportunities to expand and support other vulnerable communities, we ultimately leapt at those opportunities,” Bocarsly said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Teachers still weren’t on board with revisions to AB 715. In a statement, David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association, the union that represents teachers in the state, said the law “raises serious free speech concerns” and “at a time when too many are seeking to attack academic freedom and weaponize public education, AB 715 would unfortunately arm ill-intentioned people with the ability to do so.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new law allows the public to anonymously file complaints not just about teacher materials they believe are discriminatory, but also instruction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>Anytime that I meet with more than two teachers who are ethnic studies teachers in a group, this is one of the things that comes up. It’s like, ‘Hey, no one knows all the things that’re happening to us, and no one is really helping us,’” said Jason Muñiz, who supports around 500 Bay Area teachers in ethnic studies each year as part of his work with the University of California at Berkeley’s History-Social Science Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muñiz said dozens of teachers have described becoming the subject of legal inquiries, including public records requests, related to lessons that touch on Judaism, Islam or the Middle East.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bocarsly acknowledged the pressure that academic institutions face, noting that JPAC has spoken out against the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12056118/uc-labor-groups-sue-trump-over-coercive-antisemitism-investigations-and-demands\">Trump administration’s attempts to use antisemitism legislation\u003c/a> as an excuse to cut school funding or diversity programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have gone through three different iterations of bills, have taken so many of [the educators’] recommendations, and they continue to move the goalposts and oppose everything that we do,” said Bocarsly, who considers the alleged lack of willingness to focus on Jewish student safety itself discrimination. “I think that there’s some implicit bias happening here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the state’s official response to the motion for an injunction, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has argued that AB 715 does not create a new, undefined type of civil rights violation. He has said that fears of unfounded discrimination claims could happen under existing law and are not enough reason to block AB 715.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "california-students-with-disabilities-fear-cuts-after-trumps-policy-changes",
"title": "California Students With Disabilities Fear Cuts After Trump's Policy Changes",
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"content": "\u003cp>Sleep is a rare commodity at Lindsay Crain’s house. Most nights, she and her husband are up dozens of times, tending to their daughter’s seizures. The 16-year-old flails her arms, thrashes and kicks — sometimes for hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But these days, that’s not the only thing keeping Crain awake. The Culver City mother worries about how President Donald Trump’s myriad budget cuts could strip their daughter of services she needs to go to school, live at home and enjoy a degree of independence that would have been impossible a generation ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every family I know is terrified right now,” Crain said. “We still have to live our everyday lives, which are challenging enough, but now it feels like our kids’ futures are at stake.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trump’s budget includes \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=how+much+medicaid+cuts&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8\">nearly $1 trillion in cuts\u003c/a> to Medicaid, which funds a wide swath of services to disabled children, including speech, occupational and physical therapy, wheelchairs, in-home aides and medical care. All children with physical, developmental or cognitive disabilities – in California, nearly 1 million – receive at least some services through Medicaid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, at the U.S. Department of Education, Trump has gutted the Office of Civil Rights, which is among the agencies that enforce the 50-year-old law granting students with disabilities the right to attend school and receive an education appropriate to their needs. Before that law was enacted, students with disabilities often didn’t attend school at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a delicate web of services that, combined, support a whole child, a whole family,” said Kristin Wright, executive director of inclusive practices and systems at the Sacramento County Office of Education and the former California state director of special education. “So when the basic foundational structure is upended, like Medicaid, for example, it’s not just one cut from a knife. It’s multiple.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans have also suggested moving the office of special education out of the Department of Education altogether and moving it to the Department of Health and Human Services. Disability rights advocates say that would bring a medical – rather than a social – lens to special education, which they described as a major reversal of progress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trump has chipped away at other rights protecting people with disabilities, as well. In September, the U.S. Department of Transportation said it \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/usdot-will-not-enforce-biden-wheelchair-passenger-protection-rule-2025-09-29/\">would not enforce a rule\u003c/a> that requires airlines to reimburse passengers for damaged or lost wheelchairs. Trump has also repeatedly used the word “\u003ca href=\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115625429081411360\">retarded\u003c/a>,” widely considered a slur, \u003ca href=\"https://www.specialolympics.org/stories/news/resurgence-of-r-word-alarms-disability-advocates\">alarming advocates\u003c/a> who say it shows a lack of respect and understanding of the historical discrimination against people with disabilities. It’s all \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/deep-state-diaries/donald-trumps-assault-on-disability-rights\">left some wondering\u003c/a> if the administration plans more cuts to hard-fought rights protecting people with disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Fewer therapists, less equipment\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Medicaid cuts may have the most immediate effect. People with developmental disabilities typically receive therapy, home visits from aides, equipment and other services through regional centers, a network of 21 mostly government-funded nonprofits in California that coordinate services for people with disabilities. The goal of regional centers is to help people with disabilities live as independently as possible.\u003cbr>\n[aside postID=\"mindshift_65382,news_12058726\" label=\"Related Stories\"]\u003cbr>\nMore than a third of regional centers’ funding comes from Medicaid, which is facing deep cuts under Trump’s budget. The money runs out at the end of January, and it’s unclear what services will be cut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schools also rely on Medicaid to pay for therapists, equipment, vision and hearing tests and other services that benefit all students, not just those with disabilities. In light of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/11/california-budget-lao-forecast/\">state budget uncertainty\u003c/a>, it’s not likely the state could backfill the loss of Medicaid funding, and schools would have to pare down their services.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Uncertain futures\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Lelah Coppedge, whose teenage son has cerebral palsy, the worst part is the uncertainty. She knows cuts are coming, but she doesn’t know when or what they’ll include.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I go down this rabbit hole of worst-case scenarios,” said Coppedge, who lives in the Canoga Park neighborhood in Los Angeles. “Before this happened, I felt there was a clear path for my son. Now that path is going away, and it’s terrifying.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coppedge’s son, Jack, is a 16-year-old high school student who excels at algebra and physics. He loves video games and has a wide circle of friends at school. He uses a wheelchair and struggles with speech, communicating mostly through eye movements. He’ll look at his mom’s right hand to indicate “yes,” her left hand for “no.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coppedge and her husband rely on a nurse who comes four days a week to help Jack get dressed, get ready for bed and do other basic activities. Medicaid pays for the nurse, as well as other services like physical therapy. Even though Coppedge and her husband both work and have high-quality private health insurance, they could not afford Jack’s care without help from the government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also rely on the local regional center, which they assumed would help Jack after he graduates from high school, so he can remain at home, continue to hone his skills and generally live as independently as possible. If that funding vanishes, Coppedage worries Jack will someday end up in a facility where people don’t know him, don’t know how to communicate with him and don’t care about him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels like we’re going backward,” Coppedge said. “Half the time, I put my head in the sand because I’m just trying to manage the day-to-day. The rest of the time I worry that (the federal government) is looking at people like Jack as medical problems, not as unique people who want to have full, happy lives. It feels like that’s getting lost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current uncertainty is stressful, but it’s even harder for families who are immigrants, Wright said. Those families are less likely to stand up for services they’re entitled to and are facing the extra fear of deportation. English learners, as well as low-income children, are disproportionately represented among students in special education, \u003ca href=\"https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/DQCensus/EnrELAS.aspx?cds=00&agglevel=State&year=2024-25\">according to state data\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the other piece to all this — how it’s affecting immigrant families,” Wright said. “It’s a whole other level of anxiety and fear.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Decades of progress on the line\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Karma Quick-Panwala, an advocate at the nonprofit Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, said she worries about the rollback of decades’ worth of progress that was hard-won by the disability rights community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://sites.ed.gov/idea/\">Individuals with Disabilities Education Act\u003c/a>, the 1975 law that created special education, actually predates the federal Department of Education. In fact, Congress created the department in part to oversee special education. Removing special ed would be a devastating blow to the disability community — not just because services might be curtailed, but philosophically, as well, Quick-Panwala said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Department of Education, special education is under the purview of education experts who promote optimal ways to educate students with disabilities, so they can learn, graduate from high school and ideally go on to productive lives. In the Department of Health and Human Services, special education would no longer be overseen by educators but by those in the medical field, where they’re more likely to “look at disability as something to be cured or segregated and set aside,” Quick-Panwala said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The disability rights community has worked so hard and gave so much to make sure people with disabilities had a right to a meaningful education, so they could have gainful employment opportunities and participate in the world,” Quick-Panwala said. “The idea is that they wouldn’t just be present at school, but they would actually learn and thrive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the time being, Wright, Quick-Panwala and other advocates are reminding families that federal funding might be shrinking, but the laws remain unchanged. Students are still entitled under federal law to the services outlined in their individual education plans, regardless of whether there’s money to pay for it. The funding will have to come from somewhere, at least for now, even if that means cutting it from another program. And California is unlikely to roll back its own special education protections, regardless of what happens in Washington, D.C.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>An imperfect but successful routine\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Those reassurances are scant comfort to Crain, whose daughter Lena will rely on government support her entire life. Born seven weeks prematurely, Lena has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, a cognitive impairment and is on the deaf-blind spectrum. But she has a 100-watt smile and a relentless spirit, Crain said. Even after the whole family has been up all night, Lena insists on going to school and getting the most out of every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066343\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/120125-Lena-Deacy-ZS-13.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066343\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/120125-Lena-Deacy-ZS-13.jpg\" alt=\"A man and two women stand next to each other on a deck outside a home.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/120125-Lena-Deacy-ZS-13.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/120125-Lena-Deacy-ZS-13-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/120125-Lena-Deacy-ZS-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left, Jack Deacy, his daughter Lena Deacy, and Lindsay Crain at their home in Culver City on Dec. 1, 2025. The family fears potential Medicaid cuts because Lena, who has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other medical conditions, relies on Medicaid-funded services for her daily care and well-being. \u003ccite>(Zaydee Sanchez/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Funny and assertive, she has a few close friends and, like many teenagers, plenty of opinions about her parents. She loves her English teacher and spends most of her day in regular classrooms with help from an aide. Her favorite book is about Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist who won a Nobel Peace Prize for fighting for girls’ right to an education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between school and home visits from aides and after-school therapists, Crain feels the family has pieced together an imperfect but mostly successful routine for Lena.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our entire lives are about teaching her self-advocacy, so she can have the most independent life possible,” Crain said. “Just because you need support doesn’t mean you can’t have a say in your life. There’s been so much work around the culture and the laws and the education system to make sure disabled people can make their own choices in life. We’re absolutely terrified of losing that.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Trump has cut funding to Medicaid, which pays for many services for students with disabilities. He also gutted the Office of Civil Rights, which helps enforce disability law.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Sleep is a rare commodity at Lindsay Crain’s house. Most nights, she and her husband are up dozens of times, tending to their daughter’s seizures. The 16-year-old flails her arms, thrashes and kicks — sometimes for hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But these days, that’s not the only thing keeping Crain awake. The Culver City mother worries about how President Donald Trump’s myriad budget cuts could strip their daughter of services she needs to go to school, live at home and enjoy a degree of independence that would have been impossible a generation ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every family I know is terrified right now,” Crain said. “We still have to live our everyday lives, which are challenging enough, but now it feels like our kids’ futures are at stake.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trump’s budget includes \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=how+much+medicaid+cuts&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8\">nearly $1 trillion in cuts\u003c/a> to Medicaid, which funds a wide swath of services to disabled children, including speech, occupational and physical therapy, wheelchairs, in-home aides and medical care. All children with physical, developmental or cognitive disabilities – in California, nearly 1 million – receive at least some services through Medicaid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, at the U.S. Department of Education, Trump has gutted the Office of Civil Rights, which is among the agencies that enforce the 50-year-old law granting students with disabilities the right to attend school and receive an education appropriate to their needs. Before that law was enacted, students with disabilities often didn’t attend school at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a delicate web of services that, combined, support a whole child, a whole family,” said Kristin Wright, executive director of inclusive practices and systems at the Sacramento County Office of Education and the former California state director of special education. “So when the basic foundational structure is upended, like Medicaid, for example, it’s not just one cut from a knife. It’s multiple.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans have also suggested moving the office of special education out of the Department of Education altogether and moving it to the Department of Health and Human Services. Disability rights advocates say that would bring a medical – rather than a social – lens to special education, which they described as a major reversal of progress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trump has chipped away at other rights protecting people with disabilities, as well. In September, the U.S. Department of Transportation said it \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/usdot-will-not-enforce-biden-wheelchair-passenger-protection-rule-2025-09-29/\">would not enforce a rule\u003c/a> that requires airlines to reimburse passengers for damaged or lost wheelchairs. Trump has also repeatedly used the word “\u003ca href=\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115625429081411360\">retarded\u003c/a>,” widely considered a slur, \u003ca href=\"https://www.specialolympics.org/stories/news/resurgence-of-r-word-alarms-disability-advocates\">alarming advocates\u003c/a> who say it shows a lack of respect and understanding of the historical discrimination against people with disabilities. It’s all \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/deep-state-diaries/donald-trumps-assault-on-disability-rights\">left some wondering\u003c/a> if the administration plans more cuts to hard-fought rights protecting people with disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Fewer therapists, less equipment\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Medicaid cuts may have the most immediate effect. People with developmental disabilities typically receive therapy, home visits from aides, equipment and other services through regional centers, a network of 21 mostly government-funded nonprofits in California that coordinate services for people with disabilities. The goal of regional centers is to help people with disabilities live as independently as possible.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\nMore than a third of regional centers’ funding comes from Medicaid, which is facing deep cuts under Trump’s budget. The money runs out at the end of January, and it’s unclear what services will be cut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schools also rely on Medicaid to pay for therapists, equipment, vision and hearing tests and other services that benefit all students, not just those with disabilities. In light of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/11/california-budget-lao-forecast/\">state budget uncertainty\u003c/a>, it’s not likely the state could backfill the loss of Medicaid funding, and schools would have to pare down their services.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Uncertain futures\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Lelah Coppedge, whose teenage son has cerebral palsy, the worst part is the uncertainty. She knows cuts are coming, but she doesn’t know when or what they’ll include.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I go down this rabbit hole of worst-case scenarios,” said Coppedge, who lives in the Canoga Park neighborhood in Los Angeles. “Before this happened, I felt there was a clear path for my son. Now that path is going away, and it’s terrifying.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coppedge’s son, Jack, is a 16-year-old high school student who excels at algebra and physics. He loves video games and has a wide circle of friends at school. He uses a wheelchair and struggles with speech, communicating mostly through eye movements. He’ll look at his mom’s right hand to indicate “yes,” her left hand for “no.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coppedge and her husband rely on a nurse who comes four days a week to help Jack get dressed, get ready for bed and do other basic activities. Medicaid pays for the nurse, as well as other services like physical therapy. Even though Coppedge and her husband both work and have high-quality private health insurance, they could not afford Jack’s care without help from the government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also rely on the local regional center, which they assumed would help Jack after he graduates from high school, so he can remain at home, continue to hone his skills and generally live as independently as possible. If that funding vanishes, Coppedage worries Jack will someday end up in a facility where people don’t know him, don’t know how to communicate with him and don’t care about him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels like we’re going backward,” Coppedge said. “Half the time, I put my head in the sand because I’m just trying to manage the day-to-day. The rest of the time I worry that (the federal government) is looking at people like Jack as medical problems, not as unique people who want to have full, happy lives. It feels like that’s getting lost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current uncertainty is stressful, but it’s even harder for families who are immigrants, Wright said. Those families are less likely to stand up for services they’re entitled to and are facing the extra fear of deportation. English learners, as well as low-income children, are disproportionately represented among students in special education, \u003ca href=\"https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/DQCensus/EnrELAS.aspx?cds=00&agglevel=State&year=2024-25\">according to state data\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the other piece to all this — how it’s affecting immigrant families,” Wright said. “It’s a whole other level of anxiety and fear.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Decades of progress on the line\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Karma Quick-Panwala, an advocate at the nonprofit Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, said she worries about the rollback of decades’ worth of progress that was hard-won by the disability rights community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://sites.ed.gov/idea/\">Individuals with Disabilities Education Act\u003c/a>, the 1975 law that created special education, actually predates the federal Department of Education. In fact, Congress created the department in part to oversee special education. Removing special ed would be a devastating blow to the disability community — not just because services might be curtailed, but philosophically, as well, Quick-Panwala said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Department of Education, special education is under the purview of education experts who promote optimal ways to educate students with disabilities, so they can learn, graduate from high school and ideally go on to productive lives. In the Department of Health and Human Services, special education would no longer be overseen by educators but by those in the medical field, where they’re more likely to “look at disability as something to be cured or segregated and set aside,” Quick-Panwala said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The disability rights community has worked so hard and gave so much to make sure people with disabilities had a right to a meaningful education, so they could have gainful employment opportunities and participate in the world,” Quick-Panwala said. “The idea is that they wouldn’t just be present at school, but they would actually learn and thrive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the time being, Wright, Quick-Panwala and other advocates are reminding families that federal funding might be shrinking, but the laws remain unchanged. Students are still entitled under federal law to the services outlined in their individual education plans, regardless of whether there’s money to pay for it. The funding will have to come from somewhere, at least for now, even if that means cutting it from another program. And California is unlikely to roll back its own special education protections, regardless of what happens in Washington, D.C.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>An imperfect but successful routine\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Those reassurances are scant comfort to Crain, whose daughter Lena will rely on government support her entire life. Born seven weeks prematurely, Lena has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, a cognitive impairment and is on the deaf-blind spectrum. But she has a 100-watt smile and a relentless spirit, Crain said. Even after the whole family has been up all night, Lena insists on going to school and getting the most out of every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066343\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/120125-Lena-Deacy-ZS-13.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066343\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/120125-Lena-Deacy-ZS-13.jpg\" alt=\"A man and two women stand next to each other on a deck outside a home.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/120125-Lena-Deacy-ZS-13.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/120125-Lena-Deacy-ZS-13-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/120125-Lena-Deacy-ZS-13-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left, Jack Deacy, his daughter Lena Deacy, and Lindsay Crain at their home in Culver City on Dec. 1, 2025. The family fears potential Medicaid cuts because Lena, who has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other medical conditions, relies on Medicaid-funded services for her daily care and well-being. \u003ccite>(Zaydee Sanchez/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Funny and assertive, she has a few close friends and, like many teenagers, plenty of opinions about her parents. She loves her English teacher and spends most of her day in regular classrooms with help from an aide. Her favorite book is about Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist who won a Nobel Peace Prize for fighting for girls’ right to an education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between school and home visits from aides and after-school therapists, Crain feels the family has pieced together an imperfect but mostly successful routine for Lena.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our entire lives are about teaching her self-advocacy, so she can have the most independent life possible,” Crain said. “Just because you need support doesn’t mean you can’t have a say in your life. There’s been so much work around the culture and the laws and the education system to make sure disabled people can make their own choices in life. We’re absolutely terrified of losing that.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Hundreds of students walked off Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/skyline-high-school\">Skyline High School\u003c/a> campus on Tuesday, calling for the school and district to do more to counter gun violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They say the Oakland Unified School District needs to provide more education and better support for students who don’t feel safe on campus after shootings at two Oakland schools last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our school is not protected,” junior Kennedy Wiley said. “We need the district to help us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last Wednesday, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12063886/at-least-1-person-shot-at-oaklands-skyline-high-school\">a Skyline student was shot \u003c/a>during the school day, and two other young people were arrested in connection with the altercation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just a day later, Oakland’s beloved Laney College Athletic Director John Beam was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064112/suspect-arrested-in-shooting-of-oakland-laney-college-coach-john-beam\">shot\u003c/a> and killed on the junior college campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beam, who was featured on the final season of Netflix’s docuseries\u003cem> Last Chance U\u003c/em> while he was coaching the Laney Eagles, began his Oakland career at Skyline, leading the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/communications-public-affairs/newsroom/news/~board/ousd-news/post/honoring-john-beam\">school’s football team to 15 championships\u003c/a> over 17 years, according to OUSD Superintendent Denise Saddler.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064626\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064626\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-14-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-14-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-14-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-14-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students gather at the corner outside Skyline High School during a walkout in Oakland on Nov. 18, 2025. The protest, organized by students, called for safer school conditions and stronger administrative action. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At 11 a.m. Tuesday, Skyline students streamed out of the hilly campus onto Skyline Road, dressed in red and holding posters scribbled with the slogans “Books not Bullets” and “Make School Safe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They were joined by students from other OUSD sites, including Oakland Technical High School, where a coordinated walkout was cancelled over concerns from administrators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OTHS freshman Maya Williams, who came to Skyline’s walkout with her classmates to show their support, said her school administration’s actions were “understandable, because there’s a lot of reckless drivers out there.”[aside postID=news_12064018 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251112-SKYLINE-HIGH-SHOOTING-MD-02_qed.jpg']Skyline administrators urged the walkout’s participants to go to the campus library instead of leaving the site, students said, but many still left — either taking cars or walking in a pack about a mile from the school to the Safeway on Redwood Street in the Oakland Hills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week’s shooting at Skyline was the high school’s third in the last three years. A shooting after its 2024 graduation ceremony injured three people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, a shooting with no victims led the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office to charge three young people with assault and firearm charges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police said both of the people who were arrested and charged in the incident possessed \u003ca href=\"https://www.bradyunited.org/resources/issues/what-are-ghost-guns\">ghost guns\u003c/a>, or untraceable firearms that are put together either from separate pieces or a kit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although OUSD condemned the incident, students, parents and teachers have called for increased transparency from the district, which they don’t feel provided enough real-time information when the shooting occurred, or even after.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were waiting for some sort of clear communication from the school and the district and city leaders about what had happened and next steps,” said Laura Blair, whose daughter is a freshman at Skyline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re only really hearing from students,” Blair said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064628\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064628\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-24-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-24-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-24-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-24-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students chant as Skyline High School protesters gather at nearby Lincoln Square Plaza during a campus walkout demanding safer school conditions, Nov. 18, 2025, in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Skyline plans to host a town hall meeting on Thursday with OUSD leadership and Oakland Police, where Blair said she hopes they’ll share more information about how the school will improve campus safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During Tuesday’s walkout, junior Katherine Naranjo said their goal was to “just get our voice out,” and build a stronger community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One where the students are more capable of coming out and reaching for help when they feel like they need it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Students at Skyline High School protested what they call a lack of safety on campus, less than a week after a student was injured in a shooting on the Oakland campus.",
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"title": "After Back-to-Back School Shootings in Oakland, Skyline High Students Walk Out of Class | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Hundreds of students walked off Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/skyline-high-school\">Skyline High School\u003c/a> campus on Tuesday, calling for the school and district to do more to counter gun violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They say the Oakland Unified School District needs to provide more education and better support for students who don’t feel safe on campus after shootings at two Oakland schools last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our school is not protected,” junior Kennedy Wiley said. “We need the district to help us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last Wednesday, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12063886/at-least-1-person-shot-at-oaklands-skyline-high-school\">a Skyline student was shot \u003c/a>during the school day, and two other young people were arrested in connection with the altercation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just a day later, Oakland’s beloved Laney College Athletic Director John Beam was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064112/suspect-arrested-in-shooting-of-oakland-laney-college-coach-john-beam\">shot\u003c/a> and killed on the junior college campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beam, who was featured on the final season of Netflix’s docuseries\u003cem> Last Chance U\u003c/em> while he was coaching the Laney Eagles, began his Oakland career at Skyline, leading the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/communications-public-affairs/newsroom/news/~board/ousd-news/post/honoring-john-beam\">school’s football team to 15 championships\u003c/a> over 17 years, according to OUSD Superintendent Denise Saddler.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064626\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064626\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-14-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-14-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-14-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-14-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students gather at the corner outside Skyline High School during a walkout in Oakland on Nov. 18, 2025. The protest, organized by students, called for safer school conditions and stronger administrative action. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At 11 a.m. Tuesday, Skyline students streamed out of the hilly campus onto Skyline Road, dressed in red and holding posters scribbled with the slogans “Books not Bullets” and “Make School Safe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They were joined by students from other OUSD sites, including Oakland Technical High School, where a coordinated walkout was cancelled over concerns from administrators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OTHS freshman Maya Williams, who came to Skyline’s walkout with her classmates to show their support, said her school administration’s actions were “understandable, because there’s a lot of reckless drivers out there.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Skyline administrators urged the walkout’s participants to go to the campus library instead of leaving the site, students said, but many still left — either taking cars or walking in a pack about a mile from the school to the Safeway on Redwood Street in the Oakland Hills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week’s shooting at Skyline was the high school’s third in the last three years. A shooting after its 2024 graduation ceremony injured three people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, a shooting with no victims led the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office to charge three young people with assault and firearm charges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police said both of the people who were arrested and charged in the incident possessed \u003ca href=\"https://www.bradyunited.org/resources/issues/what-are-ghost-guns\">ghost guns\u003c/a>, or untraceable firearms that are put together either from separate pieces or a kit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although OUSD condemned the incident, students, parents and teachers have called for increased transparency from the district, which they don’t feel provided enough real-time information when the shooting occurred, or even after.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were waiting for some sort of clear communication from the school and the district and city leaders about what had happened and next steps,” said Laura Blair, whose daughter is a freshman at Skyline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re only really hearing from students,” Blair said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064628\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064628\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-24-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-24-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-24-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-24-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students chant as Skyline High School protesters gather at nearby Lincoln Square Plaza during a campus walkout demanding safer school conditions, Nov. 18, 2025, in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Skyline plans to host a town hall meeting on Thursday with OUSD leadership and Oakland Police, where Blair said she hopes they’ll share more information about how the school will improve campus safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During Tuesday’s walkout, junior Katherine Naranjo said their goal was to “just get our voice out,” and build a stronger community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One where the students are more capable of coming out and reaching for help when they feel like they need it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "silicon-valley-schools-launch-nations-first-free-meal-program-for-college-students",
"title": "Silicon Valley Community Colleges Launch First Universal Free Meal Program in US for Students",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Sophia Cuevas leaves for school at 7 a.m., like many students, she frequently runs out of time to eat breakfast or pack food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Usually I skip lunch if I’m on campus, because we had to pay for meals,” the 19-year-old West Valley College student said. “But now that there’s something that I can eat [for free] every day, I am no longer skipping lunch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting this fall, students enrolled in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-county\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>’s West Valley-Mission Community College District are receiving one no-cost meal per school day. The new universal free meal program aims to lower barriers to higher education by addressing student food insecurity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Students continue to tell us that food insecurity was the biggest barrier that they faced,” district Chancellor Bradley Davis told KQED. “And we went about sculpting a program that would tackle that head-on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program is the first of its kind among any college in the nation, according to Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Plenty of colleges have programs that address on a very limited basis food insecurity, but no other program applies to every single student at the institution,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055514\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12055514 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/CommunityCollegeFreeMeal2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/CommunityCollegeFreeMeal2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/CommunityCollegeFreeMeal2-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/CommunityCollegeFreeMeal2-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Starting this fall, students enrolled in Santa Clara County’s West Valley-Mission Community College District are receiving one no-cost meal per school day. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Haley Tabor/West Valley College)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nestled within Silicon Valley, the district serves more than 17,000 students between its two colleges: West Valley College in Saratoga and Mission College in Santa Clara. About a third of district students reported struggling with food insecurity in the past 12 months, \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/West-Valley-Mission-CCD-Dining-Board-of-Trustees-Presentation-9.10.24.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to a survey\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every year, more community college students stop their educational process because of food and housing insecurity than those who start,” Davis said. The district seeks to limit those challenges with free, nutritious food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Cuevas, who lives at home with her mom and sister, the program means going to her business and economics classes, tennis practice and a campus marketing job with a full stomach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being in a single-income household, it sometimes is a struggle to find something that’s both nutritious and at a right price for us, and we’re often left sacrificing one for the other,” Cuevas said. “[This program] takes off a ton of stress for not only myself but my family as well.”[aside postID=news_12044911 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED.jpg']Every in-person student enrolled in at least six units receives a meal card through the program that replenishes every Monday with a balance ranging from $30 to $60, depending on need. The balance can be used to purchase a freshly made meal from the cafeteria run by food service management company Thomas Cuisine. Students can also purchase snacks and coffee from vending machines and on-campus cafes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have been a huge fan of the poké bowls,” Cuevas said. “It tastes really, really good … I’ve also heard some really good reviews about the Greek salad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any unused funds each week expire on Sunday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district celebrated the launch of the program and both colleges’ newly renovated cafeterias at ribbon-cutting ceremonies this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis estimates the program will cost about $2.5 million annually and said local property taxes will fund it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The meal program has already served over 22,000 meals to students in its first two weeks, according to Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Given the advent of this new meal plan, our new coffee shops and our cafeterias have become jam-packed with students,” Davis said. “The other day I went over to sample the food in the cafeteria, and I could not find a single seat to sit down with students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis said the free meal program is not a direct response to federal cuts to food nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. However, “the timing is fortuitous given that there will be greater numbers of community members who are wrestling with food insecurity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cuevas, who works as director of marketing at the Associated Students of West Valley College, said she and her peers are excited about the program and already using the funds to snack on coffee, apples, bananas and curly fries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re constantly inside of the office just snacking on everything from the cafeteria,” she said. “It’s good to know that we have full stomachs and we’re able to get a lot more work done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/gzada\">\u003cem>Gilare Zada\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Sophia Cuevas leaves for school at 7 a.m., like many students, she frequently runs out of time to eat breakfast or pack food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Usually I skip lunch if I’m on campus, because we had to pay for meals,” the 19-year-old West Valley College student said. “But now that there’s something that I can eat [for free] every day, I am no longer skipping lunch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting this fall, students enrolled in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-county\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>’s West Valley-Mission Community College District are receiving one no-cost meal per school day. The new universal free meal program aims to lower barriers to higher education by addressing student food insecurity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Students continue to tell us that food insecurity was the biggest barrier that they faced,” district Chancellor Bradley Davis told KQED. “And we went about sculpting a program that would tackle that head-on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program is the first of its kind among any college in the nation, according to Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Plenty of colleges have programs that address on a very limited basis food insecurity, but no other program applies to every single student at the institution,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055514\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12055514 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/CommunityCollegeFreeMeal2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/CommunityCollegeFreeMeal2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/CommunityCollegeFreeMeal2-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/CommunityCollegeFreeMeal2-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Starting this fall, students enrolled in Santa Clara County’s West Valley-Mission Community College District are receiving one no-cost meal per school day. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Haley Tabor/West Valley College)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nestled within Silicon Valley, the district serves more than 17,000 students between its two colleges: West Valley College in Saratoga and Mission College in Santa Clara. About a third of district students reported struggling with food insecurity in the past 12 months, \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/West-Valley-Mission-CCD-Dining-Board-of-Trustees-Presentation-9.10.24.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to a survey\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every year, more community college students stop their educational process because of food and housing insecurity than those who start,” Davis said. The district seeks to limit those challenges with free, nutritious food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Cuevas, who lives at home with her mom and sister, the program means going to her business and economics classes, tennis practice and a campus marketing job with a full stomach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being in a single-income household, it sometimes is a struggle to find something that’s both nutritious and at a right price for us, and we’re often left sacrificing one for the other,” Cuevas said. “[This program] takes off a ton of stress for not only myself but my family as well.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Every in-person student enrolled in at least six units receives a meal card through the program that replenishes every Monday with a balance ranging from $30 to $60, depending on need. The balance can be used to purchase a freshly made meal from the cafeteria run by food service management company Thomas Cuisine. Students can also purchase snacks and coffee from vending machines and on-campus cafes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have been a huge fan of the poké bowls,” Cuevas said. “It tastes really, really good … I’ve also heard some really good reviews about the Greek salad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any unused funds each week expire on Sunday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district celebrated the launch of the program and both colleges’ newly renovated cafeterias at ribbon-cutting ceremonies this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis estimates the program will cost about $2.5 million annually and said local property taxes will fund it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The meal program has already served over 22,000 meals to students in its first two weeks, according to Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Given the advent of this new meal plan, our new coffee shops and our cafeterias have become jam-packed with students,” Davis said. “The other day I went over to sample the food in the cafeteria, and I could not find a single seat to sit down with students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis said the free meal program is not a direct response to federal cuts to food nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. However, “the timing is fortuitous given that there will be greater numbers of community members who are wrestling with food insecurity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cuevas, who works as director of marketing at the Associated Students of West Valley College, said she and her peers are excited about the program and already using the funds to snack on coffee, apples, bananas and curly fries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re constantly inside of the office just snacking on everything from the cafeteria,” she said. “It’s good to know that we have full stomachs and we’re able to get a lot more work done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/gzada\">\u003cem>Gilare Zada\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "teachers-strike-back-against-ai-cheating",
"title": "Teachers Strike Back Against AI Cheating",
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"headTitle": "Teachers Strike Back Against AI Cheating | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cheating in school isn’t new. But with AI making it easier than ever, teachers face a new challenge: where to draw the line and how to make sure students are still learning. In this episode, we’ll take a look at three different approaches educators are adopting to deal with AI in their classrooms. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">First, Morgan sits down with Max Spero, CEO and co-founder of the AI detection company Pangram Labs, to discuss how detection tools should, and should not, be used in the classroom. Then, we hear from KQED reporter Marlena Jackson Retondo about the return of the iconic “blue books,” and the benefits of “analog” learning. Finally, Morgan calls up her cousin, Jeremy Na, who happens to be an English teacher in San Jose. He explains how he adapted his teaching style to focus on the process of learning, rather than a final grade — and why his method has kept AI out of his classroom (for the most part).\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC8041204001\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Guests: \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jeremy Na, Bay Area-based educator\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.pangram.com/about-us\">Max Spero\u003c/a>, founder of Pangram Labs \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/mjacksonretondo\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Marlena Jackson-Retondo\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, engagement producer and reporter for KQED\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Further reading/listening: \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/openai-chatgpt-ai-cheating-education-college-students-school.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> – James D. Walsh, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">NYMag\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/64992/taking-exams-in-blue-books-its-back-to-help-curb-ai-use-and-rampant-cheating\">Taking Exams in Blue Books? They’re Back to Help Curb AI Use and Rampant Cheating\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> –\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Marlena Jackson Retondo\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003ci>KQED’s Mindshift\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/business/chatgpt-ai-cheating-college-blue-books-5e3014a6\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They Were Every Student’s Worst Nightmare. Now Blue Books Are Back. \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">– Ben Cohen, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Wall Street Journal \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Want to give us feedback on the show? Shoot us an email at \u003ca href=\"mailto:CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\">CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/closealltabspod/\">Follow us on Instagram\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What are your thoughts on, on generative AI? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Generative AI is a fancy autocomplete, in my opinion. Trusting it is no different than trusting a magic 8-ball. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jeremy Na is a Bay Area High School English teacher. He’s a great teacher, and I know this because he’s my older cousin, and he spent a lot of his teenage years at my parents’ dining table as my math tutor. Let’s just say I wasn’t the most cooperative student. One of the first hurdles of his teaching career was probably getting me to understand basic algebra. The second, getting me to actually sit down and do my math homework. And now, like many teachers, he faces another challenge: AI in the classroom. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When my students tell me a lot about how they trust AI answers and stuff like that, I reference the SpongeBob episode where, you know, everyone in Bikini Bottom is trusting a magic conch shell to give them answers and decide their life. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SpongeBob SquarePants: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh magic conch shell, what do we need to do to get out of the kelp forest? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SpongeBob SquarePants: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nothing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SpongeBob SquarePants: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The shell has spoken! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So I think it’s a big scam. Or rather, I know it’s big scam because, you know, it just sucks up money and is burning the environment for nothing. That’s my personal view of generative AI. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So yeah, my cousin Jeremy, not a fan of AI. In recent years, the use of AI tools has been a major point of contention between students and teachers. Scroll through any social media platform and you’ll see students give tips for getting away with submitting AI essays. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>TikTok: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I use ChatGPT, but this is the way to use ChatGPT and not get flagged for any plagiarism or anything like that. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Teachers fretting about their students’ dependence on AI. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>TikTok: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a nightmare that is destroying learning. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And then there are the students who don’t use AI but get dragged in anyway. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>TikTok: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was falsely accused of using AI on my final paper last term, it was flagged as 60% AI. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In his nine years of teaching, my cousin Jeremy has seen his fair share of cheating attempts. His students have used ChatGBT since it launched about three years ago. But he quickly realized that his students were using it for more than just an academic shortcut. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They were asking me stuff like, Mr. Na, uh, how can I use AI to help me with this assignment? Or Mr. Na, you know, I was using AI the other day and it really helped me with X, Y, Z problem. At first, I thought these students were just kinda trolling cause like I thought to myself, there’s no way anyone would trust AI. This is the machines that like tell people to staple cheese to pizza to make it stick better. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Google AI actually recommended adding glue to pizza, but his point still stands. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But no, I realized soon enough that my students were like serious about trusting AI. And that’s when I realized, oh, my students, you know, they’ve fallen for the propaganda. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s still no consensus on the role of AI in education. Some teachers embrace it as a feature of their lesson plans. Others ban it from their classrooms entirely and blame AI for their students’ atrophied critical thinking skills. And at the center of this debate is a question that’s haunted educators throughout human history. What do we do about cheating? Now that everyone can carry little AI cheating machines in their pockets, AKA their phones, that debate has kicked into overdrive. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is Close All Tabs. I’m Morgan Sung, tech journalist, and your chronically online friend, here to open as many browser tabs as it takes to help you understand how the digital world affects our real lives. Let’s get into it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today’s episode is a little different, because instead of following one thread, this internet rabbit hole will take us down a few different paths. We’re going to look at three different approaches to curbing AI cheating in school. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Back when the internet was brand new, students suddenly had access to a virtually endless trove of information to copy and paste from. Academics needed a way to tell what was original and what was copied. So plagiarism detection was born. An entire industry dedicated to identifying and flagging stolen work. But with generative AI blowing up, checking for plagiarism isn’t enough. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">First up, a new tab. What’s up with AI detection? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To get into this, I called up Max Spero, co-founder and self-described chief slop janitor of Pangram Labs. Pangram is an AI detection tool that flags texts generated by all the major models like ChatGBT and Claude and Grok, and also detects AI-generated edits from tools like Grammarly. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It could be an essay, it could be a review, it could a social media post. And then so we help people tell you like, yeah, what’s AI and what’s human. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cleaning up the slop. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cleaning up the slop as they say. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Slop is the colloquial term for that low-quality, AI-generated content flooding the internet. Pangram didn’t start out as an educational tool. Max said that the company’s first customers were actually websites trying to detect and delete fake reviews. Pangram offered a free trial version of the tool on its website. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But then we were looking at the signups and we kept on seeing signups from like EDU addresses, people who are putting in what’s clearly student papers and people are doing this like at huge volumes. They’re just pasting in like dozens of papers a day. And then, so I think we were realizing like, hey, there’s a much bigger market here on this consumer side as well, where we can help teachers out because this is clearly a big need. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pangram’s detection works by showing its model two writing samples. The first, written by a human, and the second, similar but AI-generated. They do this over and over and again. The model learns to recognize the way humans write, and distinguish it from AI trying to replicate it. That’s how certain sentence structures or words like “delve” and “rich cultural tapestry”, or even, my beloved em-dash, became associated with AI writing. Humans use all of those features in writing, but AI models overuse them. They’re predictable. There’s a misconception that students can bypass detection tools by paraphrasing AI-generated writing. That may have been the case a few years ago, but detection tools are getting better. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We found that you need to rewrite at least 30% to 40% of some text before it’ll come back as human written. So you really have to like rewrite a large portion of the text before you’re able to erase these signs of AI writing. At that point, you might as well just write your essay yourself. But in the end, like all of these tools, at Pangram and other AI detectors, we can still train on these, the outputs of these tools, so we can detect, not only does this look AI generated, but it also looks like it was run through a humanizer. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s a program that rewrites AI-generated text to sound more, well, human. And of course, humanizers use AI to do that. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And that’s even more clearly a sign of acting in bad faith. Like this is a clear indication that no, you didn’t just like misunderstand that you weren’t allowed to use ChatGPT, but like you actually were actively cheating here. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s not impossible to bypass AI detection, but Max said that many AI detectors, including Pangram, can still flag humanized text as AI. He added that since these students are often trying to take the path of least resistance, the threat of detection could be enough to deter cheating. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Adding a little bit of friction here goes a long way to helping put down these guardrails and say like, okay, fine, you know, if it’s not really easy for me to just use AI to generate my assignment, I’ll just do it myself. It’s not that bad. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some teachers have tried to AI-proof their assignments by adding a random prompt in white text, like “mention bananas in every paragraph.” The human eye can’t see the white text on a white digital background. If a student copies and pastes it into ChatGPT, they’ll get a generated essay that has nothing to do with the actual assignment, but a lot to do with bananas. It’s a dead giveaway that they used AI to complete the paper. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s also some confusion over what detection scores mean. A score of 60% doesn’t mean that 60% of the essay is AI-generated, it’s a confidence score. It means that the detection tool is 60% certain that the text it analyzed is AI generated, which is pretty far from certain. That’s why students who wrote completely original papers have been accused of cheating. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These AI-proofing hacks and the knee-jerk reaction to accuse students of using AI without hearing them out says a lot about the relationship between students and teachers right now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think there’s a big problem in trust right now in education, especially because, um, the nature of it is so adversarial. I think like we really need to take a step back and realize that we have a shared goal. The goal is to get the student to learn. And I think a lot of this starts with like how we understand assignments. Like, teachers need to be very clear to students like, hey, these are the guardrails. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like you can use AI, for example, to do brainstorming or an outline, but don’t use AI to fully produce your assignment. Um, and similarly, once the student has like a very clear understanding of like, these are the guidelines, this is what I can and can’t do, um, then it’s easier for them to work together. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What’s your stance on teachers using Pangram to grade? Are AI detection tools like the end all be all? Can teachers rely on it completely? How do you best see Pangram being used in the grading process? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s like really only the start. It is best used as a smoke detector to tell you, hey, something’s wrong. I should look into what’s going on here. I don’t think it’s appropriate to say like, hey, this AI detector flagged your work as AI, so I’m gonna give you a zero and then just like move on. I think that’s, that’s lazy and that doesn’t really turn the opportunity into a teaching moment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Detection tools are just one part of a holistic grading process. Max added that some teachers integrate AI detection into their classroom platforms so that students can check themselves before they turn in their assignments. But other teachers are taking a wildly different approach. Instead of leaning into detection, they’re going back to the olden days. We’ll dive into the return of handwriting after this break. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re back. Let’s take a look at the next strategy teachers have employed to hold the line against AI. If you were in college before the pandemic started, you might remember this vintage classic. Okay, new tab. Back to blue books. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My colleague, Marlena Jackson-Retondo, is joining us for this part of our deep dive. Marlena has been reporting on AI and K through 12 education for MindShift, another KQED podcast about the future of learning. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marlena Jackson-Retondo:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So I guess now we can say that blue books are an old-fashioned, in quotes, tool that, um, a lot of professors and high school teachers use to test students. And they’re used for a lot midterms and finals, and are an alternative to now what we know as, you know, digital testing tools. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve used blue books. You’ve used blue books. I feel like it wasn’t that long ago that we were using blue books. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marlena Jackson-Retondo:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re not that old. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Blue books are exactly what they sound like. They’re little booklets with a baby blue cover and lined paper. They’ve been around since the 1920s and they’ve been a staple of written exams in high school and college. I still remember the absolute horror I felt my junior year of college when my pen exploded just as I finished my constitutional law final and I had to turn in a blue book covered in purple ink. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But blue books were phased out when the pandemic shut down schools in 2020. Everything involved in learning, from lessons to homework to exams, took place online. And then, late last year, Marlena saw a viral post from Jason Coupe, a professor in Atlanta. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marlena Jackson-Retondo:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And he was talking about using blue books, bringing them back to the classroom for his first midterm of that school year. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Can you talk about his reasoning behind moving to blue books? How did other teachers react to that? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marlena Jackson-Retondo:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He and a couple other professors in his department got together and discussed ways to mitigate cheating, use of AI, and also to reengage their students. When we spoke last year, there was a lot of discussion about really getting students to think on their feet, think critically, respond to questions in ways that they might in the real world. And he wasn’t seeing a lot of that in digital exams. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So this wasn’t just about cheating. It wasn’t just about AI. There was also that sense of reconnecting the students to the coursework. And it was a learning curve for a lot of students, um, as I’ve heard from multiple professors, but it went well, and a lot of folks will continue to, to use these blue books. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By 2024, you know, this is a generation of students that have spent at least four years, you know, learning digitally in some capacity. How did they respond to having to go back to handwriting? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marlena Jackson-Retondo:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, so a lot of Coupe’s students didn’t know what a blue book was. They had never taken a handwritten exam. They didn’t what to do with the blue book, where to write their name. So he had to teach them. And I remember him saying that it reminded him of his time in teaching in elementary school, um, having to really break down certain processes for students. But, you know, they learned, they took the exam by hand, and he and other professors noticed a difference right away. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Aside from deterring cheating, how else does prioritizing handwritten notes impact learning? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marlena Jackson-Retondo:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The research on handwriting is actually really interesting. I spoke with Sophia Vinci-Booher out of Vanderbilt University. She talked to me about handwriting in a really interesting way in that it creates these neural connections to what you’re learning. And this is what she called the visual motor learning system. So it’s combining these two systems, the motor system of handwriting and the visuals of learning something that might be written on the board or a PowerPoint, and it’s combining them and it’s reinforcing what you’re learning when you’re writing by hand. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s been shown that the mode of taking notes, when it correlates with the mode of having to recall that information, like taking an exam. When those modes are synced, so let’s say there’s a student who takes notes by hand, and then they have to go and take an exam on a blue book, the recall is better that way. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So essentially, students are “learning more”, that’s in big quotes, because obviously there are other factors involved in learning. But there’s better learning happening when the mode of note taking and recalling those notes is the same. So, you know, I think there’s a lot more research to look at and to be done, but there are certain benefits to writing by hand. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And blue books are hot again. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that blue book sales were up more than 30% at Texas A&M University and almost 50% at the University of Florida. At UC Berkeley, blue book sales shot up 80% over the past two years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Of course, this return to our roots has its limits. Blue books are great for exams, but they’re not a realistic option for longer assignments like research papers. And neither approach we’ve covered so far, AI detection and blue books, addresses the core reasons students cheat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let’s look at one final strategy in a new tab. The testmaxxing problem. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let’s go back to my cousin, Jeremy, who’s a high school English teacher in the Bay Area. We both grew up in New York City and went to very academically rigorous public high schools. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The standards of the time, this was in, you know, the early 2000s, was very much, let’s call it testmaxxing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In gaming, there’s this practice called minmaxxing — maximizing your stats with a minimal amount of effort. On the internet, adding maxing to the end of any word is kind of like a joke about optimizing. So by test maxing, Jeremy is referring to the way that students are encouraged to shape their whole approach to school around succeeding on tests instead of actually learning. He believes that’s the reason students cheat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, when I became a teacher, I set out to make sure that like no one else has that same experience as I did that, you know, students don’t have this miserable high school experience where they’re treated like cattle, basically. Like you gotta you gotta get those numbers up. Your entire worth is decided by these numbers. Our society has placed a lot of importance on the end result of education rather than like education itself. What I mean by that is it’s more important what grade you get on the test than what you learned through the process before taking the test. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To counter the pressure of testmaxxing, Jeremy does things differently in his classroom. He never assigns homework. All the work, including reading and writing assignments, is done in the classroom. He does assign long-term projects, like essays, but he has his own way of AI-proofing them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This methodology, this pedagogy that I’ve developed is developed from shifting priorities away from the end result over into focusing on the process, right? So the fact that it’s inconvenient to use AI was just kind of like a happy little bonus. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He really does make it inconvenient to cheat in his classes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, I don’t see a lot of AI usage. It’s always like one or two out of my 150 students. And the reason I don’t see a lof of AI usage is because when we’re doing it, a long-term assignment like an essay, I make sure to break down that assignment into as many granular pieces as possible. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So for example, with my freshmen, ninth graders, when we were doing an essay I’ll often walk them through, not only like how to construct each paragraph, but how to construct like the parts of each paragraph. Like sometimes we’ll go sentence by sentence. In that scenario it would be kind of absurd to use AI, right? Because like Mr. Na is telling you, okay, write one sentence about your opinion on this part of the book, right. Why, why would you go ask Grok or ChatGPT opinion about the book when you can just write your own opinion in one sentence. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What is your classroom AI policy, even though, you know, you personally despise AI? Like do you use a detection tool for your students? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t use detection tools at all. I would not trust AI to tell me what the weather is. Why would I trust it to read student reports and, you know, analyze them? That’s absurd. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite his evident disdain for generative AI, my cousin doesn’t have the same zero tolerance policy that a lot of other teachers have. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t explicitly call out their paper for being AI. But what I will do is, you know, I’ll sit with them and be like, “You know, this, this paper’s got a lot of problems. This assignment that you wrote has lots of problems, like it’s, it’s overflowing with problems. I got to sit you down here and we got to talk for like 15 minutes. Sentence by sentence and deconstruct this essay to fix it.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I feel like in that scenario, students do learn like what’s wrong with using AI. Conceivably, they could learn to cheat better this way, but in my view, what they’re actually learning is that the assignment I’m asking them to do is not something outside of their capabilities. So yes, they are learning what the flaws of AI are, but they’re also learning that they are more capable than they might think. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Telling a teenager not to do something never works. Yeah. If you want a teenager to do something, right? If you want that horse to drink that water, you gotta make the water appealing. You gotta explain why it’s in their best interests not to so, right? They gotta come to that conclusion on their own. The downside is that this process takes a lot of time. So yes, I don’t get through many bucks throughout the school year, but I feel like the quality of the work and the learning that students receive is a lot better for that sacrifice. And I’m willing, I’m, I am willing to make that sacrifice \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I feel like on Reddit, I’m always seeing teachers and professors talk about the ways that they AI-proof their assignments, like adding white text to trip up the prompts or splitting up instructions into multiple documents so it’s really inconvenient to give it to ChatGPT. Have you and your colleagues tried any of these? What do you think about these, like, AI-proofing tricks? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think getting into a arms race with AI is unhelpful. So coming up with different ways to detect AI, and then AI comes up with ways of getting around that, you know, this arms race that you’re describing, I don’t see a point to engaging with it. If you want students to stop using AI, you got to address the core issue, right, rather than just constantly dealing with these symptoms like some absurd game of whack-a-mole. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As you might be able to tell, Jeremy feels pretty strongly about this. He believes that putting so much value on the final product, whether a final paper or a final test score, deprioritizes actual learning, overwhelms students, and incentivizes cheating. Still, he has to teach within the system that values end results. His students still have to take California’s standardized tests. But he said that prepping them for the annual state assessments doesn’t take that much time. For the rest of the school year, he can focus on breaking down assignments and, through that, developing their critical thinking skills. It’s not that grades don’t matter, but by focusing on actual learning, students feel less pressure to cheat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Everyone is telling them to participate in this rat race, that they have to. That they have no choice but to participate in this rat race to climb to the top, you know. If they are learning, right? I tell students not to deride all of their self-worth from the numbers they get at school. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It seems like the larger question we’re trying to answer throughout the episode is how do you maintain that sense of trust between students and teachers when generative AI tools makes cheating so easy? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t think, say that like trust between student and teacher has eroded. I think it’s more that teachers are becoming more suspicious overall because the tools that they’ve developed in the past no longer work. Students using AI is not a sign of, I don’t know, like moral degeneracy, and the youth of today are worse than they have been in the past, no. But you know, students are cheating nowadays, just like students would have cheated back when I was in high school or when my parents were in high score when my grandparents were in high school. It’s not a sign of moral decay. It’s a sign of, I don’t know, of the downfall of Western civilization or nothing like that. It’s just a new chapter in the book that’s been written forever. Cheating. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s not just teachers trying to curb their students’ use of AI. Students are also upset with teachers for using ChatGPT to write lesson plans. In a New York Times report this year, students complained about their professors cheating them out of their tuition money, because in a way, it was ChatGpT teaching them. These issues have existed in education long before generative AI tools did. The existence and widespread use of AI just magnified them. Including this adversarial relationship between students and teachers. But in this scenario, teachers can set an example. If they don’t use AI, then maybe students won’t feel like they need to, either. Okay, now let’s close all these tabs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Close All Tabs is a production of KQED Studios, and is reported and hosted by me, Morgan Sung. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This episode was produced by Maya Cueva and edited by Chris Hambrick. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our producer is Maya Cueva. Chris Egusa is our Senior Editor. Additional editing by Jen Chien, who is KQED’s Director of Podcasts. Our audio engineer is Brendan Willard.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Original music, including our theme song and credits, by Chris Egusa. Additional music by APM. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Katie Sprenger is our Podcast Operations Manager and Ethan Toven-Lindsay is our Editor in Chief.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Support for this program comes from Birong Hu and supporters of the KQED Studios Fund. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Keyboard sounds were recorded on my purple and pink Dustsilver K-84 wired mechanical keyboard with Gateron Red switches. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ok, and I know it’s podcast cliche, but if you like these deep dives, and want us to keep making more, it would really help us out if you could rate and review us on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. Don’t forget to drop a comment and tell your friends, too. Or even your enemies! Or… frenemies? Your support is so important, especially in these unprecedented times. And if you really like Close All Tabs and want to support public media, go to donate dot KQED.org/podcasts! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Also! We want to hear from you! Email us CloseAllTabs@kqed.org. Follow us on instagram @CloseAllTabsPod. Or TikTok @CloseAllTabs. And join our Discord — we’re in the Close All Tabs channel at discord.gg/KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thanks for listening! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Teachers Strike Back Against AI Cheating | KQED",
"description": "Cheating in school isn’t new. But with AI making it easier than ever, teachers face a new challenge: where to draw the line, and how to make sure students are still learning. In this episode, we’ll take a look at three different approaches educators are adopting to deal with AI in their classrooms.First, Morgan sits down with Max Spero, founder of the AI detection company Pangram Labs, to discuss how detection tools should — and should not — be used in the classroom. Then, we hear from KQED reporter Marlena Jackson Retondo about the return of the iconic “blue books,” and the benefits of “analog” learning. Finally, Morgan calls up her cousin, Jeremy Na, who happens to be an English teacher in San Jose. He explains how he adapted his teaching style to focus on the process of learning, rather than a final grade — and why his method has kept AI out of his classroom (for the most part).",
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"socialDescription": "Cheating in school isn’t new. But with AI making it easier than ever, teachers face a new challenge: where to draw the line, and how to make sure students are still learning. In this episode, we’ll take a look at three different approaches educators are adopting to deal with AI in their classrooms.First, Morgan sits down with Max Spero, founder of the AI detection company Pangram Labs, to discuss how detection tools should — and should not — be used in the classroom. Then, we hear from KQED reporter Marlena Jackson Retondo about the return of the iconic “blue books,” and the benefits of “analog” learning. Finally, Morgan calls up her cousin, Jeremy Na, who happens to be an English teacher in San Jose. He explains how he adapted his teaching style to focus on the process of learning, rather than a final grade — and why his method has kept AI out of his classroom (for the most part).",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cheating in school isn’t new. But with AI making it easier than ever, teachers face a new challenge: where to draw the line and how to make sure students are still learning. In this episode, we’ll take a look at three different approaches educators are adopting to deal with AI in their classrooms. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">First, Morgan sits down with Max Spero, CEO and co-founder of the AI detection company Pangram Labs, to discuss how detection tools should, and should not, be used in the classroom. Then, we hear from KQED reporter Marlena Jackson Retondo about the return of the iconic “blue books,” and the benefits of “analog” learning. Finally, Morgan calls up her cousin, Jeremy Na, who happens to be an English teacher in San Jose. He explains how he adapted his teaching style to focus on the process of learning, rather than a final grade — and why his method has kept AI out of his classroom (for the most part).\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC8041204001\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Guests: \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jeremy Na, Bay Area-based educator\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.pangram.com/about-us\">Max Spero\u003c/a>, founder of Pangram Labs \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/mjacksonretondo\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Marlena Jackson-Retondo\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, engagement producer and reporter for KQED\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Further reading/listening: \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/openai-chatgpt-ai-cheating-education-college-students-school.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> – James D. Walsh, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">NYMag\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/64992/taking-exams-in-blue-books-its-back-to-help-curb-ai-use-and-rampant-cheating\">Taking Exams in Blue Books? They’re Back to Help Curb AI Use and Rampant Cheating\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> –\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Marlena Jackson Retondo\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003ci>KQED’s Mindshift\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/business/chatgpt-ai-cheating-college-blue-books-5e3014a6\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They Were Every Student’s Worst Nightmare. Now Blue Books Are Back. \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">– Ben Cohen, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Wall Street Journal \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Want to give us feedback on the show? Shoot us an email at \u003ca href=\"mailto:CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\">CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/closealltabspod/\">Follow us on Instagram\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What are your thoughts on, on generative AI? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Generative AI is a fancy autocomplete, in my opinion. Trusting it is no different than trusting a magic 8-ball. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jeremy Na is a Bay Area High School English teacher. He’s a great teacher, and I know this because he’s my older cousin, and he spent a lot of his teenage years at my parents’ dining table as my math tutor. Let’s just say I wasn’t the most cooperative student. One of the first hurdles of his teaching career was probably getting me to understand basic algebra. The second, getting me to actually sit down and do my math homework. And now, like many teachers, he faces another challenge: AI in the classroom. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When my students tell me a lot about how they trust AI answers and stuff like that, I reference the SpongeBob episode where, you know, everyone in Bikini Bottom is trusting a magic conch shell to give them answers and decide their life. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SpongeBob SquarePants: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh magic conch shell, what do we need to do to get out of the kelp forest? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SpongeBob SquarePants: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nothing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SpongeBob SquarePants: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The shell has spoken! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So I think it’s a big scam. Or rather, I know it’s big scam because, you know, it just sucks up money and is burning the environment for nothing. That’s my personal view of generative AI. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So yeah, my cousin Jeremy, not a fan of AI. In recent years, the use of AI tools has been a major point of contention between students and teachers. Scroll through any social media platform and you’ll see students give tips for getting away with submitting AI essays. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>TikTok: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I use ChatGPT, but this is the way to use ChatGPT and not get flagged for any plagiarism or anything like that. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Teachers fretting about their students’ dependence on AI. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>TikTok: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a nightmare that is destroying learning. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And then there are the students who don’t use AI but get dragged in anyway. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>TikTok: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was falsely accused of using AI on my final paper last term, it was flagged as 60% AI. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In his nine years of teaching, my cousin Jeremy has seen his fair share of cheating attempts. His students have used ChatGBT since it launched about three years ago. But he quickly realized that his students were using it for more than just an academic shortcut. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They were asking me stuff like, Mr. Na, uh, how can I use AI to help me with this assignment? Or Mr. Na, you know, I was using AI the other day and it really helped me with X, Y, Z problem. At first, I thought these students were just kinda trolling cause like I thought to myself, there’s no way anyone would trust AI. This is the machines that like tell people to staple cheese to pizza to make it stick better. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Google AI actually recommended adding glue to pizza, but his point still stands. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But no, I realized soon enough that my students were like serious about trusting AI. And that’s when I realized, oh, my students, you know, they’ve fallen for the propaganda. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s still no consensus on the role of AI in education. Some teachers embrace it as a feature of their lesson plans. Others ban it from their classrooms entirely and blame AI for their students’ atrophied critical thinking skills. And at the center of this debate is a question that’s haunted educators throughout human history. What do we do about cheating? Now that everyone can carry little AI cheating machines in their pockets, AKA their phones, that debate has kicked into overdrive. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is Close All Tabs. I’m Morgan Sung, tech journalist, and your chronically online friend, here to open as many browser tabs as it takes to help you understand how the digital world affects our real lives. Let’s get into it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today’s episode is a little different, because instead of following one thread, this internet rabbit hole will take us down a few different paths. We’re going to look at three different approaches to curbing AI cheating in school. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Back when the internet was brand new, students suddenly had access to a virtually endless trove of information to copy and paste from. Academics needed a way to tell what was original and what was copied. So plagiarism detection was born. An entire industry dedicated to identifying and flagging stolen work. But with generative AI blowing up, checking for plagiarism isn’t enough. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">First up, a new tab. What’s up with AI detection? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To get into this, I called up Max Spero, co-founder and self-described chief slop janitor of Pangram Labs. Pangram is an AI detection tool that flags texts generated by all the major models like ChatGBT and Claude and Grok, and also detects AI-generated edits from tools like Grammarly. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It could be an essay, it could be a review, it could a social media post. And then so we help people tell you like, yeah, what’s AI and what’s human. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cleaning up the slop. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cleaning up the slop as they say. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Slop is the colloquial term for that low-quality, AI-generated content flooding the internet. Pangram didn’t start out as an educational tool. Max said that the company’s first customers were actually websites trying to detect and delete fake reviews. Pangram offered a free trial version of the tool on its website. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But then we were looking at the signups and we kept on seeing signups from like EDU addresses, people who are putting in what’s clearly student papers and people are doing this like at huge volumes. They’re just pasting in like dozens of papers a day. And then, so I think we were realizing like, hey, there’s a much bigger market here on this consumer side as well, where we can help teachers out because this is clearly a big need. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pangram’s detection works by showing its model two writing samples. The first, written by a human, and the second, similar but AI-generated. They do this over and over and again. The model learns to recognize the way humans write, and distinguish it from AI trying to replicate it. That’s how certain sentence structures or words like “delve” and “rich cultural tapestry”, or even, my beloved em-dash, became associated with AI writing. Humans use all of those features in writing, but AI models overuse them. They’re predictable. There’s a misconception that students can bypass detection tools by paraphrasing AI-generated writing. That may have been the case a few years ago, but detection tools are getting better. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We found that you need to rewrite at least 30% to 40% of some text before it’ll come back as human written. So you really have to like rewrite a large portion of the text before you’re able to erase these signs of AI writing. At that point, you might as well just write your essay yourself. But in the end, like all of these tools, at Pangram and other AI detectors, we can still train on these, the outputs of these tools, so we can detect, not only does this look AI generated, but it also looks like it was run through a humanizer. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s a program that rewrites AI-generated text to sound more, well, human. And of course, humanizers use AI to do that. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And that’s even more clearly a sign of acting in bad faith. Like this is a clear indication that no, you didn’t just like misunderstand that you weren’t allowed to use ChatGPT, but like you actually were actively cheating here. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s not impossible to bypass AI detection, but Max said that many AI detectors, including Pangram, can still flag humanized text as AI. He added that since these students are often trying to take the path of least resistance, the threat of detection could be enough to deter cheating. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Adding a little bit of friction here goes a long way to helping put down these guardrails and say like, okay, fine, you know, if it’s not really easy for me to just use AI to generate my assignment, I’ll just do it myself. It’s not that bad. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some teachers have tried to AI-proof their assignments by adding a random prompt in white text, like “mention bananas in every paragraph.” The human eye can’t see the white text on a white digital background. If a student copies and pastes it into ChatGPT, they’ll get a generated essay that has nothing to do with the actual assignment, but a lot to do with bananas. It’s a dead giveaway that they used AI to complete the paper. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s also some confusion over what detection scores mean. A score of 60% doesn’t mean that 60% of the essay is AI-generated, it’s a confidence score. It means that the detection tool is 60% certain that the text it analyzed is AI generated, which is pretty far from certain. That’s why students who wrote completely original papers have been accused of cheating. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These AI-proofing hacks and the knee-jerk reaction to accuse students of using AI without hearing them out says a lot about the relationship between students and teachers right now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think there’s a big problem in trust right now in education, especially because, um, the nature of it is so adversarial. I think like we really need to take a step back and realize that we have a shared goal. The goal is to get the student to learn. And I think a lot of this starts with like how we understand assignments. Like, teachers need to be very clear to students like, hey, these are the guardrails. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like you can use AI, for example, to do brainstorming or an outline, but don’t use AI to fully produce your assignment. Um, and similarly, once the student has like a very clear understanding of like, these are the guidelines, this is what I can and can’t do, um, then it’s easier for them to work together. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What’s your stance on teachers using Pangram to grade? Are AI detection tools like the end all be all? Can teachers rely on it completely? How do you best see Pangram being used in the grading process? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Max Spero:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s like really only the start. It is best used as a smoke detector to tell you, hey, something’s wrong. I should look into what’s going on here. I don’t think it’s appropriate to say like, hey, this AI detector flagged your work as AI, so I’m gonna give you a zero and then just like move on. I think that’s, that’s lazy and that doesn’t really turn the opportunity into a teaching moment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Detection tools are just one part of a holistic grading process. Max added that some teachers integrate AI detection into their classroom platforms so that students can check themselves before they turn in their assignments. But other teachers are taking a wildly different approach. Instead of leaning into detection, they’re going back to the olden days. We’ll dive into the return of handwriting after this break. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re back. Let’s take a look at the next strategy teachers have employed to hold the line against AI. If you were in college before the pandemic started, you might remember this vintage classic. Okay, new tab. Back to blue books. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My colleague, Marlena Jackson-Retondo, is joining us for this part of our deep dive. Marlena has been reporting on AI and K through 12 education for MindShift, another KQED podcast about the future of learning. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marlena Jackson-Retondo:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So I guess now we can say that blue books are an old-fashioned, in quotes, tool that, um, a lot of professors and high school teachers use to test students. And they’re used for a lot midterms and finals, and are an alternative to now what we know as, you know, digital testing tools. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve used blue books. You’ve used blue books. I feel like it wasn’t that long ago that we were using blue books. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marlena Jackson-Retondo:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re not that old. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Blue books are exactly what they sound like. They’re little booklets with a baby blue cover and lined paper. They’ve been around since the 1920s and they’ve been a staple of written exams in high school and college. I still remember the absolute horror I felt my junior year of college when my pen exploded just as I finished my constitutional law final and I had to turn in a blue book covered in purple ink. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But blue books were phased out when the pandemic shut down schools in 2020. Everything involved in learning, from lessons to homework to exams, took place online. And then, late last year, Marlena saw a viral post from Jason Coupe, a professor in Atlanta. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marlena Jackson-Retondo:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And he was talking about using blue books, bringing them back to the classroom for his first midterm of that school year. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Can you talk about his reasoning behind moving to blue books? How did other teachers react to that? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marlena Jackson-Retondo:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He and a couple other professors in his department got together and discussed ways to mitigate cheating, use of AI, and also to reengage their students. When we spoke last year, there was a lot of discussion about really getting students to think on their feet, think critically, respond to questions in ways that they might in the real world. And he wasn’t seeing a lot of that in digital exams. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So this wasn’t just about cheating. It wasn’t just about AI. There was also that sense of reconnecting the students to the coursework. And it was a learning curve for a lot of students, um, as I’ve heard from multiple professors, but it went well, and a lot of folks will continue to, to use these blue books. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By 2024, you know, this is a generation of students that have spent at least four years, you know, learning digitally in some capacity. How did they respond to having to go back to handwriting? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marlena Jackson-Retondo:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, so a lot of Coupe’s students didn’t know what a blue book was. They had never taken a handwritten exam. They didn’t what to do with the blue book, where to write their name. So he had to teach them. And I remember him saying that it reminded him of his time in teaching in elementary school, um, having to really break down certain processes for students. But, you know, they learned, they took the exam by hand, and he and other professors noticed a difference right away. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Aside from deterring cheating, how else does prioritizing handwritten notes impact learning? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marlena Jackson-Retondo:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The research on handwriting is actually really interesting. I spoke with Sophia Vinci-Booher out of Vanderbilt University. She talked to me about handwriting in a really interesting way in that it creates these neural connections to what you’re learning. And this is what she called the visual motor learning system. So it’s combining these two systems, the motor system of handwriting and the visuals of learning something that might be written on the board or a PowerPoint, and it’s combining them and it’s reinforcing what you’re learning when you’re writing by hand. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s been shown that the mode of taking notes, when it correlates with the mode of having to recall that information, like taking an exam. When those modes are synced, so let’s say there’s a student who takes notes by hand, and then they have to go and take an exam on a blue book, the recall is better that way. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So essentially, students are “learning more”, that’s in big quotes, because obviously there are other factors involved in learning. But there’s better learning happening when the mode of note taking and recalling those notes is the same. So, you know, I think there’s a lot more research to look at and to be done, but there are certain benefits to writing by hand. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And blue books are hot again. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that blue book sales were up more than 30% at Texas A&M University and almost 50% at the University of Florida. At UC Berkeley, blue book sales shot up 80% over the past two years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Of course, this return to our roots has its limits. Blue books are great for exams, but they’re not a realistic option for longer assignments like research papers. And neither approach we’ve covered so far, AI detection and blue books, addresses the core reasons students cheat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let’s look at one final strategy in a new tab. The testmaxxing problem. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let’s go back to my cousin, Jeremy, who’s a high school English teacher in the Bay Area. We both grew up in New York City and went to very academically rigorous public high schools. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The standards of the time, this was in, you know, the early 2000s, was very much, let’s call it testmaxxing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In gaming, there’s this practice called minmaxxing — maximizing your stats with a minimal amount of effort. On the internet, adding maxing to the end of any word is kind of like a joke about optimizing. So by test maxing, Jeremy is referring to the way that students are encouraged to shape their whole approach to school around succeeding on tests instead of actually learning. He believes that’s the reason students cheat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, when I became a teacher, I set out to make sure that like no one else has that same experience as I did that, you know, students don’t have this miserable high school experience where they’re treated like cattle, basically. Like you gotta you gotta get those numbers up. Your entire worth is decided by these numbers. Our society has placed a lot of importance on the end result of education rather than like education itself. What I mean by that is it’s more important what grade you get on the test than what you learned through the process before taking the test. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To counter the pressure of testmaxxing, Jeremy does things differently in his classroom. He never assigns homework. All the work, including reading and writing assignments, is done in the classroom. He does assign long-term projects, like essays, but he has his own way of AI-proofing them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This methodology, this pedagogy that I’ve developed is developed from shifting priorities away from the end result over into focusing on the process, right? So the fact that it’s inconvenient to use AI was just kind of like a happy little bonus. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He really does make it inconvenient to cheat in his classes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, I don’t see a lot of AI usage. It’s always like one or two out of my 150 students. And the reason I don’t see a lof of AI usage is because when we’re doing it, a long-term assignment like an essay, I make sure to break down that assignment into as many granular pieces as possible. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So for example, with my freshmen, ninth graders, when we were doing an essay I’ll often walk them through, not only like how to construct each paragraph, but how to construct like the parts of each paragraph. Like sometimes we’ll go sentence by sentence. In that scenario it would be kind of absurd to use AI, right? Because like Mr. Na is telling you, okay, write one sentence about your opinion on this part of the book, right. Why, why would you go ask Grok or ChatGPT opinion about the book when you can just write your own opinion in one sentence. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What is your classroom AI policy, even though, you know, you personally despise AI? Like do you use a detection tool for your students? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t use detection tools at all. I would not trust AI to tell me what the weather is. Why would I trust it to read student reports and, you know, analyze them? That’s absurd. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite his evident disdain for generative AI, my cousin doesn’t have the same zero tolerance policy that a lot of other teachers have. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t explicitly call out their paper for being AI. But what I will do is, you know, I’ll sit with them and be like, “You know, this, this paper’s got a lot of problems. This assignment that you wrote has lots of problems, like it’s, it’s overflowing with problems. I got to sit you down here and we got to talk for like 15 minutes. Sentence by sentence and deconstruct this essay to fix it.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I feel like in that scenario, students do learn like what’s wrong with using AI. Conceivably, they could learn to cheat better this way, but in my view, what they’re actually learning is that the assignment I’m asking them to do is not something outside of their capabilities. So yes, they are learning what the flaws of AI are, but they’re also learning that they are more capable than they might think. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Telling a teenager not to do something never works. Yeah. If you want a teenager to do something, right? If you want that horse to drink that water, you gotta make the water appealing. You gotta explain why it’s in their best interests not to so, right? They gotta come to that conclusion on their own. The downside is that this process takes a lot of time. So yes, I don’t get through many bucks throughout the school year, but I feel like the quality of the work and the learning that students receive is a lot better for that sacrifice. And I’m willing, I’m, I am willing to make that sacrifice \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I feel like on Reddit, I’m always seeing teachers and professors talk about the ways that they AI-proof their assignments, like adding white text to trip up the prompts or splitting up instructions into multiple documents so it’s really inconvenient to give it to ChatGPT. Have you and your colleagues tried any of these? What do you think about these, like, AI-proofing tricks? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think getting into a arms race with AI is unhelpful. So coming up with different ways to detect AI, and then AI comes up with ways of getting around that, you know, this arms race that you’re describing, I don’t see a point to engaging with it. If you want students to stop using AI, you got to address the core issue, right, rather than just constantly dealing with these symptoms like some absurd game of whack-a-mole. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As you might be able to tell, Jeremy feels pretty strongly about this. He believes that putting so much value on the final product, whether a final paper or a final test score, deprioritizes actual learning, overwhelms students, and incentivizes cheating. Still, he has to teach within the system that values end results. His students still have to take California’s standardized tests. But he said that prepping them for the annual state assessments doesn’t take that much time. For the rest of the school year, he can focus on breaking down assignments and, through that, developing their critical thinking skills. It’s not that grades don’t matter, but by focusing on actual learning, students feel less pressure to cheat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Everyone is telling them to participate in this rat race, that they have to. That they have no choice but to participate in this rat race to climb to the top, you know. If they are learning, right? I tell students not to deride all of their self-worth from the numbers they get at school. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It seems like the larger question we’re trying to answer throughout the episode is how do you maintain that sense of trust between students and teachers when generative AI tools makes cheating so easy? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jeremy Na:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t think, say that like trust between student and teacher has eroded. I think it’s more that teachers are becoming more suspicious overall because the tools that they’ve developed in the past no longer work. Students using AI is not a sign of, I don’t know, like moral degeneracy, and the youth of today are worse than they have been in the past, no. But you know, students are cheating nowadays, just like students would have cheated back when I was in high school or when my parents were in high score when my grandparents were in high school. It’s not a sign of moral decay. It’s a sign of, I don’t know, of the downfall of Western civilization or nothing like that. It’s just a new chapter in the book that’s been written forever. Cheating. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s not just teachers trying to curb their students’ use of AI. Students are also upset with teachers for using ChatGPT to write lesson plans. In a New York Times report this year, students complained about their professors cheating them out of their tuition money, because in a way, it was ChatGpT teaching them. These issues have existed in education long before generative AI tools did. The existence and widespread use of AI just magnified them. Including this adversarial relationship between students and teachers. But in this scenario, teachers can set an example. If they don’t use AI, then maybe students won’t feel like they need to, either. Okay, now let’s close all these tabs. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Close All Tabs is a production of KQED Studios, and is reported and hosted by me, Morgan Sung. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This episode was produced by Maya Cueva and edited by Chris Hambrick. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our producer is Maya Cueva. Chris Egusa is our Senior Editor. Additional editing by Jen Chien, who is KQED’s Director of Podcasts. Our audio engineer is Brendan Willard.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Original music, including our theme song and credits, by Chris Egusa. Additional music by APM. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Katie Sprenger is our Podcast Operations Manager and Ethan Toven-Lindsay is our Editor in Chief.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Support for this program comes from Birong Hu and supporters of the KQED Studios Fund. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Keyboard sounds were recorded on my purple and pink Dustsilver K-84 wired mechanical keyboard with Gateron Red switches. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ok, and I know it’s podcast cliche, but if you like these deep dives, and want us to keep making more, it would really help us out if you could rate and review us on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. Don’t forget to drop a comment and tell your friends, too. Or even your enemies! Or… frenemies? Your support is so important, especially in these unprecedented times. And if you really like Close All Tabs and want to support public media, go to donate dot KQED.org/podcasts! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Also! We want to hear from you! Email us CloseAllTabs@kqed.org. Follow us on instagram @CloseAllTabsPod. Or TikTok @CloseAllTabs. And join our Discord — we’re in the Close All Tabs channel at discord.gg/KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thanks for listening! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "california-students-with-immigrant-parents-seek-financial-aid-despite-deportation-risks",
"title": "California Students With Immigrant Parents Seek Financial Aid Despite Deportation Risks",
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"headTitle": "California Students With Immigrant Parents Seek Financial Aid Despite Deportation Risks | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While witnessing a rise in deportations across the country, college-bound high school seniors with immigrant parents in California had to decide this spring whether to submit a federal financial aid application. Their fear: The federal government will use sensitive personal information from the application to identify people in the country who lack legal status. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/04/08/g-s1-59056/irs-dhs-information-sharing-deal-immigrants-tax-records\">An agreement\u003c/a> between the IRS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share tax information is already in motion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the latest data available from the California Student Aid Commission shows that the number of high school senior applicants from mixed-status families has not decreased as much as \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/02/financial-aid-2/\">some financial aid advocates feared\u003c/a> it would. In fact, the number of high school senior applicants with at least one parent lacking legal status has nearly rebounded to the 2023 number after the revised financial aid form last year kept them from being able to apply without parental Social Security numbers for several months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the risk of exposing their parents to a deportation dragnet, 35% more college-bound high school seniors from mixed-status families have submitted a Free Application for Federal Student Aid as of the May 2 deadline compared to applications submitted by the same date last year. However, 9% fewer high school seniors from mixed-status families submitted their FAFSA compared to the same date two years ago. Community college students are notably excluded from these numbers as they have a separate deadline of Sept. 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students who choose not to submit a financial aid application lose potential federal aid through grants, work study and loans. While the federal deadline is not until the end of the academic year for which a student applies, California sets its own early deadline for the FAFSA to determine state aid such as Cal Grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=forum_2010101909645 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2025/04/GettyImages-2205113389-1-1020x574.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California officials gave students a one-month extension from April 2 to May 2 to submit the FAFSA after the U.S. Department of Education opened the application in December 2024 rather than the usual launch of October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/about\">California Student Aid Commission\u003c/a> administers financial aid programs for students in California and helps organizations that counsel students on their financial aid applications. The commission’s spokesperson, Shelveen Ratnam, said the federal student aid application should have been a little easier for mixed-status families this time around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now the concern this year has kind of been the federal landscape, the federal administration, given… all the increased immigration enforcement (and) the unprecedented data sharing between federal agencies,” Ratnam said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the federal financial aid application, parents must submit personal details such as their Social Security numbers. If parents do not have them due to their legal status, they need to click a box that says “I do not have a SSN.” Although Ratnam and fellow staff at the commission are not currently aware of any efforts by immigration enforcement to access the personal information of FAFSA applicants, some students said they are concerned about the possibility that the personal details of their parents might be used to deport them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Students and parents face a tough choice\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>College-bound high school seniors in California who spoke to CalMatters for this story say the importance of going to college outweighs fears of their parents being deported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A graduate of Hawthorne High School in Los Angeles, Janet said she and her parents were antsy as they filled out the application together for the first time. Due to her family’s mixed legal status, she asked to go by her first name only. Janet recalls the concern from one of her parents who lacks permanent legal status that by submitting the application to the federal government they would be exposing themselves to immigration enforcement. However, her parents decided it was more important that their daughter receive financial aid for college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we submitted the application together, they said to me, ‘This is for you Janet. This is for the future generations and I hope we stay together,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/032725_CJN-FAFSA_AJ_05-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003cfigcaption>Janet, a high school senior, outside of Hawthorne High School in Los Angeles on March 27, 2025. Janet is hoping to study theatre in college. \u003cem>(Alisha Jucevic for CalMatters)\u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Alondra, a graduate of University High School Charter in Los Angeles, says she feels stress because most of her family does not have permanent legal status. Alondra also requested to use only her first name to protect her family from potential deportation. Alondra said it surprised her family when she informed them of the possible risk if they apply. However, a counselor in the One Voice Scholars Program, which works with low-income, first-generation students, pointed out that Alondra’s parents already share their personal information with the federal government when they file taxes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So, it’s like we already know that my parents are already in the system, so we just kind of hope that me submitting my FAFSA isn’t adding on to that risk,” Alondra said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some students from mixed-status families who have older siblings may already have shared their data with the U.S. Department of Education, according to Alison De Lucca, executive director of the Southern California College Access Network. She said each family has to determine the pros and cons of the implications when applying for financial aid. Mixed-status families are also likely sharing their data with the state and federal government when they file taxes, get a driver’s license, or adjust their immigration status.[aside postID=news_12024593 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250129_UcBerkeleyRally_GC-1-1020x680.jpg']Angela, a graduate of the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts who also requested to use her first name only due to her family’s mixed legal status, said she started grappling with the decision of whether to apply for federal student aid during her sophomore year. At the time, her parents were still in the process of obtaining their citizenship and did not know if they would receive it in time for Angela’s financial aid application.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They just really wanted me to be able to go (to college) for as cheap as possible,” Angela said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angela’s parents were able to obtain citizenship recently. However, she feels some of her college options are “off the table,” including Cornell University, which had offered her a scholarship that would have funded her first year at the university. Angela grew concerned about attending universities in New York after hearing reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement “targeting” students that led pro-Palestinian protests, such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mahmoud-khalil-columbia-ice-deportation-rcna199814\">Mahmoud Khalil\u003c/a> at Columbia and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/momodou-taal-cornell-student-activist-surrender-ice-rcna197604\">Momodou Taal\u003c/a> at Cornell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also feels guilt as some of her extended family and friends who are applying for financial aid do not have parents with permanent legal status in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m happy for myself but that feels selfish,” Angela said. “I know that I can help my family in that sense, but it’s really upsetting. You worry for your friends that might not be able to do it, might not be able to get that future that they really dream of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Federal financial aid application faces new problems\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Following President Donald Trump’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/improving-education-outcomes-by-empowering-parents-states-and-communities/\">executive order \u003c/a>to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, the department’s spokesperson James Bergeron wrote \u003ca href=\"https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/electronic-announcements/2025-03-17/acting-under-secretary-james-bergeron-letter-education-stakeholders-march-14-2025\">in a letter on March 14\u003c/a> that those working directly with the federal financial aid application or student loan servicing were not affected by the staff reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Bergeron’s letter addressed the department’s staff reduction, De Lucca said that she and fellow staff at the College Access Network are concerned that layoffs at the department could lead to less support available for students and families when they call for assistance with their financial aid applications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/101423_Collge-Info-Berkeley_JY_CM_22-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003cfigcaption>FAFSA fact sheets are displayed at College Information Day at UC Berkeley in Berkeley on Oct. 14, 2023. \u003cem>(Juliana Yamada for CalMatters)\u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s less staff at the Department of Education to consult with community-based organizations like SoCal CAN (College Access Network) and our members,” De Lucca said. “So for us, it’s been more difficult to reach folks at the department when we do have questions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/student-aid-policy/2025/03/27/how-education-department-cuts-could-jeopardize-fafsa\">Inside Higher Ed reported\u003c/a> in March that the staff reductions in the Office of Federal Student Aid would impact the staff’s ability to fix technical issues with the form, which were prevalent last year. Additional cuts were made to the FAFSA call center and training for financial aid practitioners, according to the same story by Inside Higher Ed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/22/education-department-court-ruling-firings-00365170\">federal judge blocked Trump’s executive order\u003c/a> that led to the massive staff reduction at the education department in May. However, on July 14 \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-trump-education-layoffs-9370415531185092341b16a6bfea9344\">the U.S. Supreme Court allowed for the president’s plan to continue\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The education department’s press office did not respond to repeated requests from CalMatters about the number of staff cuts at the Office of Federal Student Aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During last year’s updated FAFSA rollout, students faced technical issues with the application’s overhaul, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gao.gov/blog/botched-fafsa-rollout-leaves-uncertainty-students-seeking-financial-aid-college\">prompting a review by the U.S. Government Accountability Office\u003c/a>. Revisions to the application included reducing the number of questions by pulling students’ and parents’ financial information straight from the IRS. If parents were missing Social Security numbers then students could not submit a financial aid application.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students had to wait until March 12, 2024 for the glitch on the website to be fixed before completing their submission, still ahead of the state’s extended deadline of May 2. The issues with the application last year resulted in 9,642 fewer federal financial aid applications submitted by May 2 from students in mixed-status families in the state compared to this year, according to the California Student Aid Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sacramento State senior Fernanda Arteaga spent four months trying to submit a FAFSA last year due to her parents not having Social Security numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arteaga tried calling the office about six times to ensure that her application had the necessary information to be submitted, but each time she had to wait for assistance, leading her to hang up and try again at another time. Finally, Arteaga was able to reach a staff member and submit her application. Experts from the federal \u003ca href=\"https://www.gao.gov/blog/botched-fafsa-rollout-leaves-uncertainty-students-seeking-financial-aid-college\">Governmental Accountability Office\u003c/a> testified before Congress in the fall of 2024 that 74% of the calls to the department’s call center went unanswered due to understaffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/032025-Fernanda-FAFSA-CM-01-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"A person with dark hair pulled back by a headband stands in front of a colorful mural featuring Indigenous and cultural motifs. They wear a floral-patterned dress with a square neckline and gold hoop earrings. Their expression is calm and confident, with soft lighting highlighting their face. Lush greenery surrounds the scene, and a modern glass building is visible in the background.\">\u003cfigcaption>Cal State Sacramento senior Fernanda Arteaga stands by Lassen Hall, where students can access assistance with their financial aid and scholarships, on Jan. 16, 2025. Arteaga, who comes from a mixed-status family, faced difficulties when applying for federal financial aid last year due to glitches on the site. \u003cem>(Mercy Sosa/CalMatters)\u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I would mainly say that I just overcame those obstacles by just constantly checking in with the (Office of Federal Student Aid) and making sure that everything I could do on my end was done, and that everything I had was there,” Arteaga said. She finally received her financial aid a month into the fall 2024 semester and was granted an extension to pay for her tuition by the university while the funds were disbursed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With this year’s federal financial aid application, Arteaga did not encounter any website glitches, and had an easier process applying. Instead, Arteaga was concerned about the implications of applying for federal student aid given the political climate. Arteaga and her parents accepted the risk of immigration enforcement accessing their personal information through the application and ultimately applied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obviously it is a federal organization,” Arteaga said. “So we were concerned that … our information wasn’t going to be protected. But my parents, since we’ve already done applications … in the past, they were like just do it. We really need the money, and we want to get you to finish your last year in college.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>California offers alternative financial aid application\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Students who lack permanent legal status themselves are not eligible for federal financial aid. However, since 2013, the state has administered the California Dream Act Application, also known as CADAA, for those students to apply for state and campus-based aid. When students from mixed-status families were unable to submit a federal application in 2024, California opened its financial aid application temporarily to those students so they could at least apply for state aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Student Aid Commission again opened the Dream Act application to \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/cadaa-msf\">students from mixed-status families\u003c/a> this year to provide them a state-protected way to apply for financial aid. California \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=7284.8.\">state law\u003c/a> protects students and families by not sharing their personal information with immigration officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now a state senator is proposing to open the financial aid application permanently to students from mixed-status families. State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, a Democrat from Pasadena, proposed \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb323\">Senate Bill 323\u003c/a>, which would require the California Student Aid Commission to ensure that the state application can be used by “any student eligible for state financial aid programs,” according to the bill text.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is crucial we provide California college bound students with a stable, safe, and alternative state-based financial aid application to feel safe in applying for financial aid and choosing to go to college,” \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/hearings/259431?t=1593&f=ac41f44fc0a8b5d4e237cc540187d245\">Pérez said on the Senate floor June 2\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emmanuel Rodriguez, senior director of policy and advocacy at The Institute for College Access and Success, said California’s Dream Act application adds a level of security for applicants as the information they receive is only shared with the campuses listed on a student’s application to determine whether the student is eligible for financial aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Financial aid advocates say that each family applying for financial aid must make a decision based on their specific situation and whether they should submit the federal application, the state Dream Act application, or both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Samantha Yee contributed to this story. Mercy Sosa is a fellow with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2025/07/financial-aid-immigration-deportation-fears/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Despite fears the federal government will use personal information from financial aid applications to identify immigrant parents who lack legal status, the number of high school senior applicants from mixed-status families has not decreased as much as some thought it would, according to the California Student Aid Commission.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While witnessing a rise in deportations across the country, college-bound high school seniors with immigrant parents in California had to decide this spring whether to submit a federal financial aid application. Their fear: The federal government will use sensitive personal information from the application to identify people in the country who lack legal status. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/04/08/g-s1-59056/irs-dhs-information-sharing-deal-immigrants-tax-records\">An agreement\u003c/a> between the IRS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share tax information is already in motion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the latest data available from the California Student Aid Commission shows that the number of high school senior applicants from mixed-status families has not decreased as much as \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/02/financial-aid-2/\">some financial aid advocates feared\u003c/a> it would. In fact, the number of high school senior applicants with at least one parent lacking legal status has nearly rebounded to the 2023 number after the revised financial aid form last year kept them from being able to apply without parental Social Security numbers for several months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the risk of exposing their parents to a deportation dragnet, 35% more college-bound high school seniors from mixed-status families have submitted a Free Application for Federal Student Aid as of the May 2 deadline compared to applications submitted by the same date last year. However, 9% fewer high school seniors from mixed-status families submitted their FAFSA compared to the same date two years ago. Community college students are notably excluded from these numbers as they have a separate deadline of Sept. 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students who choose not to submit a financial aid application lose potential federal aid through grants, work study and loans. While the federal deadline is not until the end of the academic year for which a student applies, California sets its own early deadline for the FAFSA to determine state aid such as Cal Grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California officials gave students a one-month extension from April 2 to May 2 to submit the FAFSA after the U.S. Department of Education opened the application in December 2024 rather than the usual launch of October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/about\">California Student Aid Commission\u003c/a> administers financial aid programs for students in California and helps organizations that counsel students on their financial aid applications. The commission’s spokesperson, Shelveen Ratnam, said the federal student aid application should have been a little easier for mixed-status families this time around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now the concern this year has kind of been the federal landscape, the federal administration, given… all the increased immigration enforcement (and) the unprecedented data sharing between federal agencies,” Ratnam said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the federal financial aid application, parents must submit personal details such as their Social Security numbers. If parents do not have them due to their legal status, they need to click a box that says “I do not have a SSN.” Although Ratnam and fellow staff at the commission are not currently aware of any efforts by immigration enforcement to access the personal information of FAFSA applicants, some students said they are concerned about the possibility that the personal details of their parents might be used to deport them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Students and parents face a tough choice\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>College-bound high school seniors in California who spoke to CalMatters for this story say the importance of going to college outweighs fears of their parents being deported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A graduate of Hawthorne High School in Los Angeles, Janet said she and her parents were antsy as they filled out the application together for the first time. Due to her family’s mixed legal status, she asked to go by her first name only. Janet recalls the concern from one of her parents who lacks permanent legal status that by submitting the application to the federal government they would be exposing themselves to immigration enforcement. However, her parents decided it was more important that their daughter receive financial aid for college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we submitted the application together, they said to me, ‘This is for you Janet. This is for the future generations and I hope we stay together,’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/032725_CJN-FAFSA_AJ_05-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003cfigcaption>Janet, a high school senior, outside of Hawthorne High School in Los Angeles on March 27, 2025. Janet is hoping to study theatre in college. \u003cem>(Alisha Jucevic for CalMatters)\u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Alondra, a graduate of University High School Charter in Los Angeles, says she feels stress because most of her family does not have permanent legal status. Alondra also requested to use only her first name to protect her family from potential deportation. Alondra said it surprised her family when she informed them of the possible risk if they apply. However, a counselor in the One Voice Scholars Program, which works with low-income, first-generation students, pointed out that Alondra’s parents already share their personal information with the federal government when they file taxes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So, it’s like we already know that my parents are already in the system, so we just kind of hope that me submitting my FAFSA isn’t adding on to that risk,” Alondra said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some students from mixed-status families who have older siblings may already have shared their data with the U.S. Department of Education, according to Alison De Lucca, executive director of the Southern California College Access Network. She said each family has to determine the pros and cons of the implications when applying for financial aid. Mixed-status families are also likely sharing their data with the state and federal government when they file taxes, get a driver’s license, or adjust their immigration status.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Angela, a graduate of the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts who also requested to use her first name only due to her family’s mixed legal status, said she started grappling with the decision of whether to apply for federal student aid during her sophomore year. At the time, her parents were still in the process of obtaining their citizenship and did not know if they would receive it in time for Angela’s financial aid application.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They just really wanted me to be able to go (to college) for as cheap as possible,” Angela said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angela’s parents were able to obtain citizenship recently. However, she feels some of her college options are “off the table,” including Cornell University, which had offered her a scholarship that would have funded her first year at the university. Angela grew concerned about attending universities in New York after hearing reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement “targeting” students that led pro-Palestinian protests, such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mahmoud-khalil-columbia-ice-deportation-rcna199814\">Mahmoud Khalil\u003c/a> at Columbia and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/momodou-taal-cornell-student-activist-surrender-ice-rcna197604\">Momodou Taal\u003c/a> at Cornell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also feels guilt as some of her extended family and friends who are applying for financial aid do not have parents with permanent legal status in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m happy for myself but that feels selfish,” Angela said. “I know that I can help my family in that sense, but it’s really upsetting. You worry for your friends that might not be able to do it, might not be able to get that future that they really dream of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Federal financial aid application faces new problems\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Following President Donald Trump’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/improving-education-outcomes-by-empowering-parents-states-and-communities/\">executive order \u003c/a>to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, the department’s spokesperson James Bergeron wrote \u003ca href=\"https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/electronic-announcements/2025-03-17/acting-under-secretary-james-bergeron-letter-education-stakeholders-march-14-2025\">in a letter on March 14\u003c/a> that those working directly with the federal financial aid application or student loan servicing were not affected by the staff reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Bergeron’s letter addressed the department’s staff reduction, De Lucca said that she and fellow staff at the College Access Network are concerned that layoffs at the department could lead to less support available for students and families when they call for assistance with their financial aid applications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/101423_Collge-Info-Berkeley_JY_CM_22-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003cfigcaption>FAFSA fact sheets are displayed at College Information Day at UC Berkeley in Berkeley on Oct. 14, 2023. \u003cem>(Juliana Yamada for CalMatters)\u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s less staff at the Department of Education to consult with community-based organizations like SoCal CAN (College Access Network) and our members,” De Lucca said. “So for us, it’s been more difficult to reach folks at the department when we do have questions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/student-aid-policy/2025/03/27/how-education-department-cuts-could-jeopardize-fafsa\">Inside Higher Ed reported\u003c/a> in March that the staff reductions in the Office of Federal Student Aid would impact the staff’s ability to fix technical issues with the form, which were prevalent last year. Additional cuts were made to the FAFSA call center and training for financial aid practitioners, according to the same story by Inside Higher Ed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/22/education-department-court-ruling-firings-00365170\">federal judge blocked Trump’s executive order\u003c/a> that led to the massive staff reduction at the education department in May. However, on July 14 \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-trump-education-layoffs-9370415531185092341b16a6bfea9344\">the U.S. Supreme Court allowed for the president’s plan to continue\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The education department’s press office did not respond to repeated requests from CalMatters about the number of staff cuts at the Office of Federal Student Aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During last year’s updated FAFSA rollout, students faced technical issues with the application’s overhaul, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gao.gov/blog/botched-fafsa-rollout-leaves-uncertainty-students-seeking-financial-aid-college\">prompting a review by the U.S. Government Accountability Office\u003c/a>. Revisions to the application included reducing the number of questions by pulling students’ and parents’ financial information straight from the IRS. If parents were missing Social Security numbers then students could not submit a financial aid application.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students had to wait until March 12, 2024 for the glitch on the website to be fixed before completing their submission, still ahead of the state’s extended deadline of May 2. The issues with the application last year resulted in 9,642 fewer federal financial aid applications submitted by May 2 from students in mixed-status families in the state compared to this year, according to the California Student Aid Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sacramento State senior Fernanda Arteaga spent four months trying to submit a FAFSA last year due to her parents not having Social Security numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arteaga tried calling the office about six times to ensure that her application had the necessary information to be submitted, but each time she had to wait for assistance, leading her to hang up and try again at another time. Finally, Arteaga was able to reach a staff member and submit her application. Experts from the federal \u003ca href=\"https://www.gao.gov/blog/botched-fafsa-rollout-leaves-uncertainty-students-seeking-financial-aid-college\">Governmental Accountability Office\u003c/a> testified before Congress in the fall of 2024 that 74% of the calls to the department’s call center went unanswered due to understaffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/032025-Fernanda-FAFSA-CM-01-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"A person with dark hair pulled back by a headband stands in front of a colorful mural featuring Indigenous and cultural motifs. They wear a floral-patterned dress with a square neckline and gold hoop earrings. Their expression is calm and confident, with soft lighting highlighting their face. Lush greenery surrounds the scene, and a modern glass building is visible in the background.\">\u003cfigcaption>Cal State Sacramento senior Fernanda Arteaga stands by Lassen Hall, where students can access assistance with their financial aid and scholarships, on Jan. 16, 2025. Arteaga, who comes from a mixed-status family, faced difficulties when applying for federal financial aid last year due to glitches on the site. \u003cem>(Mercy Sosa/CalMatters)\u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I would mainly say that I just overcame those obstacles by just constantly checking in with the (Office of Federal Student Aid) and making sure that everything I could do on my end was done, and that everything I had was there,” Arteaga said. She finally received her financial aid a month into the fall 2024 semester and was granted an extension to pay for her tuition by the university while the funds were disbursed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With this year’s federal financial aid application, Arteaga did not encounter any website glitches, and had an easier process applying. Instead, Arteaga was concerned about the implications of applying for federal student aid given the political climate. Arteaga and her parents accepted the risk of immigration enforcement accessing their personal information through the application and ultimately applied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obviously it is a federal organization,” Arteaga said. “So we were concerned that … our information wasn’t going to be protected. But my parents, since we’ve already done applications … in the past, they were like just do it. We really need the money, and we want to get you to finish your last year in college.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>California offers alternative financial aid application\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Students who lack permanent legal status themselves are not eligible for federal financial aid. However, since 2013, the state has administered the California Dream Act Application, also known as CADAA, for those students to apply for state and campus-based aid. When students from mixed-status families were unable to submit a federal application in 2024, California opened its financial aid application temporarily to those students so they could at least apply for state aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Student Aid Commission again opened the Dream Act application to \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/cadaa-msf\">students from mixed-status families\u003c/a> this year to provide them a state-protected way to apply for financial aid. California \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=7284.8.\">state law\u003c/a> protects students and families by not sharing their personal information with immigration officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now a state senator is proposing to open the financial aid application permanently to students from mixed-status families. State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, a Democrat from Pasadena, proposed \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb323\">Senate Bill 323\u003c/a>, which would require the California Student Aid Commission to ensure that the state application can be used by “any student eligible for state financial aid programs,” according to the bill text.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is crucial we provide California college bound students with a stable, safe, and alternative state-based financial aid application to feel safe in applying for financial aid and choosing to go to college,” \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/hearings/259431?t=1593&f=ac41f44fc0a8b5d4e237cc540187d245\">Pérez said on the Senate floor June 2\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emmanuel Rodriguez, senior director of policy and advocacy at The Institute for College Access and Success, said California’s Dream Act application adds a level of security for applicants as the information they receive is only shared with the campuses listed on a student’s application to determine whether the student is eligible for financial aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Financial aid advocates say that each family applying for financial aid must make a decision based on their specific situation and whether they should submit the federal application, the state Dream Act application, or both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Samantha Yee contributed to this story. Mercy Sosa is a fellow with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2025/07/financial-aid-immigration-deportation-fears/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters.\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students don’t have the same incentives to talk to their professors — or even their classmates — anymore. Chatbots like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chatgpt\">ChatGPT\u003c/a>, Gemini and Claude have given them a new path to self-sufficiency. Instead of asking a professor for help on a paper topic, students can go to a chatbot. Instead of forming a study group, students can ask AI for help. These chatbots give them quick responses, on their own timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For students juggling school, work and family responsibilities, that ease can seem like a lifesaver. And maybe turning to a chatbot for homework help here and there isn’t such a big deal in isolation. But every time a student decides to ask a question of a chatbot instead of a professor or peer or tutor, that’s one fewer opportunity to build or strengthen a relationship, and the human connections students make on campus are among the most important benefits of college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Julia Freeland-Fisher studies how technology can help or hinder student success at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.christenseninstitute.org\">Clayton Christensen Institute\u003c/a>. She said the consequences of turning to chatbots for help can compound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[ad fullwidth]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over time, that means students have fewer and fewer people in their corner who can help them in other moments of struggle, who can help them in ways a bot might not be capable of,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As colleges further embed ChatGPT and other chatbots into campus life, Freeland-Fisher warns that lost relationships may become a devastating unintended consequence.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Asking for help\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Christian Alba said he has never turned in an AI-written assignment. Alba, 20, attends College of the Canyons, a large community college north of Los Angeles, where he is studying business and history. And while he hasn’t asked ChatGPT to write any papers for him, he has turned to the technology when a blank page and a blinking cursor seemed overwhelming. He has asked for an outline. He has asked for ideas to get him started on an introduction. He has asked for advice about what to prioritize first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s kind of hard to just start something fresh off your mind,” Alba said. “I won’t lie. It’s a helpful tool.” Alba has wondered, though, whether turning to ChatGPT with these sorts of questions represents an overreliance on AI. But Alba, like many others in higher education, worries primarily about AI use as it relates to academic integrity, not social capital. And that’s a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988686\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988686\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17.jpg\" alt='A sign that reads \"Can I Use ChatGPT?\" is posted on the wall behind a white woman with glasses.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A poster with information for students on using ChatGPT, an AI platform, in English teacher Jen Roberts’ class at Point Loma High School in San Diego on May 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Adriana Heldiz/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jean Rhodes, a psychology professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston, has spent decades studying the way college students seek help on campus and how the relationships formed during those interactions end up benefitting the students long-term. Rhodes doesn’t begrudge students integrating chatbots into their workflows, as many of their professors have, but she worries that students will get inferior answers to even simple-sounding questions, like, “How do I change my major?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A chatbot might point a student to the registrar’s office, Rhodes said, but had a student asked the question of an advisor, that person may have asked important follow-up questions — why the student wants the change, for example, which could lead to a deeper conversation about a student’s goals and roadblocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand the broader context of students’ lives,” Rhodes said. “They’re smart but they’re not wise, these tools.”[aside postID=news_12048270 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/Teens-and-AI-Chatbots_web-img.png']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rhodes and one of her former doctoral students, Sarah Schwartz, created a program called Connected Scholars to help students understand why it’s valuable to talk to professors and have mentors. The program helped them hone their networking skills and understand what people get out of their networks over the course of their lives — namely, social capital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Connected Scholars is offered as a semester-long course at U Mass Boston, and a forthcoming paper examines outcomes over the last decade, finding that students who take the course are three times more likely to graduate. Over time, Rhodes and her colleagues discovered that the key to the program’s success is getting students past an aversion to asking others for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students will make a plethora of excuses to avoid asking for help, Rhodes said, ticking off a list of them: “‘I don’t want to stand out,’ ‘I don’t want people to realize I don’t fit in here,’ ‘My culture values independence,’ ‘I shouldn’t reach out,’ ‘I’ll get anxious,’ ‘This person won’t respond.’ If you can get past that and get them to recognize the value of reaching out, it’s pretty amazing what happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Connections are key\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Seeking human help not only leaves students with a resolution to a single problem, but it also gives them a connection to another person. And that person, down the line, could become a friend, a mentor or a business partner — a “strong tie,” as social scientists describe their centrality to a person’s network. They could also become a “weak tie” that a student may not see often, but could, importantly, still offer \u003ca href=\"https://news.mit.edu/2022/weak-ties-linkedin-employment-0915\">a job lead\u003c/a> or crucial \u003ca href=\"https://www.mariosmall.com/_files/ugd/4a8452_e96d220a75184b14aee623b41c7e7f30.pdf\">social support\u003c/a> one day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniel Chambliss, a retired sociologist from Hamilton College, emphasized the value of relationships in his 2014 book, “How College Works,” co-authored with Christopher Takacs. Throughout their research, the pair found that the key to a successful college experience boiled down to relationships, specifically two or three close friends and one or two trusted adults. Hamilton College goes out of its way to make sure students can form those relationships, structuring work-study to get students into campus offices and around faculty and staff, making room for students of varying athletic abilities on sports teams, and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989313\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989313\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The OpenAI ChatGPT logo. \u003ccite>(Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In fact, \u003ca href=\"https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/how-ai-and-human-behaviors-shape-psychosocial-effects-of-chatbot-use-a-longitudinal-controlled-study/\">a recent study\u003c/a> by researchers at the MIT Media Lab and OpenAI found that the most frequent users of ChatGPT — power users — were more likely to be lonely and isolated from human interaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What scares me about that is that Big Tech would like all of us to be power users,” said Freeland-Fisher. “That’s in the fabric of the business model of a technology company.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yesenia Pacheco is preparing to re-enroll in Long Beach City College for her final semester after more than a year off. Last time she was on campus, ChatGPT existed, but it wasn’t widely used. Now she knows she’s returning to a college where ChatGPT is deeply embedded in students’ as well as faculty and staff’s lives, but Pacheco expects she’ll go back to her old habits — going to her professors’ office hours and sticking around after class to ask them questions. She sees the value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She understands why others might not. Today’s high schoolers, she has noticed, are not used to talking to adults or building mentor-style relationships. At 24, she knows why they matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A chatbot,” she said, “isn’t going to give you a letter of recommendation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/07/chatbots/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters.\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students don’t have the same incentives to talk to their professors — or even their classmates — anymore. Chatbots like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chatgpt\">ChatGPT\u003c/a>, Gemini and Claude have given them a new path to self-sufficiency. Instead of asking a professor for help on a paper topic, students can go to a chatbot. Instead of forming a study group, students can ask AI for help. These chatbots give them quick responses, on their own timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For students juggling school, work and family responsibilities, that ease can seem like a lifesaver. And maybe turning to a chatbot for homework help here and there isn’t such a big deal in isolation. But every time a student decides to ask a question of a chatbot instead of a professor or peer or tutor, that’s one fewer opportunity to build or strengthen a relationship, and the human connections students make on campus are among the most important benefits of college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Julia Freeland-Fisher studies how technology can help or hinder student success at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.christenseninstitute.org\">Clayton Christensen Institute\u003c/a>. She said the consequences of turning to chatbots for help can compound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over time, that means students have fewer and fewer people in their corner who can help them in other moments of struggle, who can help them in ways a bot might not be capable of,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As colleges further embed ChatGPT and other chatbots into campus life, Freeland-Fisher warns that lost relationships may become a devastating unintended consequence.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Asking for help\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Christian Alba said he has never turned in an AI-written assignment. Alba, 20, attends College of the Canyons, a large community college north of Los Angeles, where he is studying business and history. And while he hasn’t asked ChatGPT to write any papers for him, he has turned to the technology when a blank page and a blinking cursor seemed overwhelming. He has asked for an outline. He has asked for ideas to get him started on an introduction. He has asked for advice about what to prioritize first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s kind of hard to just start something fresh off your mind,” Alba said. “I won’t lie. It’s a helpful tool.” Alba has wondered, though, whether turning to ChatGPT with these sorts of questions represents an overreliance on AI. But Alba, like many others in higher education, worries primarily about AI use as it relates to academic integrity, not social capital. And that’s a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11988686\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11988686\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17.jpg\" alt='A sign that reads \"Can I Use ChatGPT?\" is posted on the wall behind a white woman with glasses.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/050324_School-AI-San-Diego_AH_CM_17-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A poster with information for students on using ChatGPT, an AI platform, in English teacher Jen Roberts’ class at Point Loma High School in San Diego on May 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Adriana Heldiz/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jean Rhodes, a psychology professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston, has spent decades studying the way college students seek help on campus and how the relationships formed during those interactions end up benefitting the students long-term. Rhodes doesn’t begrudge students integrating chatbots into their workflows, as many of their professors have, but she worries that students will get inferior answers to even simple-sounding questions, like, “How do I change my major?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A chatbot might point a student to the registrar’s office, Rhodes said, but had a student asked the question of an advisor, that person may have asked important follow-up questions — why the student wants the change, for example, which could lead to a deeper conversation about a student’s goals and roadblocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand the broader context of students’ lives,” Rhodes said. “They’re smart but they’re not wise, these tools.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rhodes and one of her former doctoral students, Sarah Schwartz, created a program called Connected Scholars to help students understand why it’s valuable to talk to professors and have mentors. The program helped them hone their networking skills and understand what people get out of their networks over the course of their lives — namely, social capital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Connected Scholars is offered as a semester-long course at U Mass Boston, and a forthcoming paper examines outcomes over the last decade, finding that students who take the course are three times more likely to graduate. Over time, Rhodes and her colleagues discovered that the key to the program’s success is getting students past an aversion to asking others for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students will make a plethora of excuses to avoid asking for help, Rhodes said, ticking off a list of them: “‘I don’t want to stand out,’ ‘I don’t want people to realize I don’t fit in here,’ ‘My culture values independence,’ ‘I shouldn’t reach out,’ ‘I’ll get anxious,’ ‘This person won’t respond.’ If you can get past that and get them to recognize the value of reaching out, it’s pretty amazing what happens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Connections are key\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Seeking human help not only leaves students with a resolution to a single problem, but it also gives them a connection to another person. And that person, down the line, could become a friend, a mentor or a business partner — a “strong tie,” as social scientists describe their centrality to a person’s network. They could also become a “weak tie” that a student may not see often, but could, importantly, still offer \u003ca href=\"https://news.mit.edu/2022/weak-ties-linkedin-employment-0915\">a job lead\u003c/a> or crucial \u003ca href=\"https://www.mariosmall.com/_files/ugd/4a8452_e96d220a75184b14aee623b41c7e7f30.pdf\">social support\u003c/a> one day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniel Chambliss, a retired sociologist from Hamilton College, emphasized the value of relationships in his 2014 book, “How College Works,” co-authored with Christopher Takacs. Throughout their research, the pair found that the key to a successful college experience boiled down to relationships, specifically two or three close friends and one or two trusted adults. Hamilton College goes out of its way to make sure students can form those relationships, structuring work-study to get students into campus offices and around faculty and staff, making room for students of varying athletic abilities on sports teams, and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989313\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989313\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The OpenAI ChatGPT logo. \u003ccite>(Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In fact, \u003ca href=\"https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/how-ai-and-human-behaviors-shape-psychosocial-effects-of-chatbot-use-a-longitudinal-controlled-study/\">a recent study\u003c/a> by researchers at the MIT Media Lab and OpenAI found that the most frequent users of ChatGPT — power users — were more likely to be lonely and isolated from human interaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What scares me about that is that Big Tech would like all of us to be power users,” said Freeland-Fisher. “That’s in the fabric of the business model of a technology company.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yesenia Pacheco is preparing to re-enroll in Long Beach City College for her final semester after more than a year off. Last time she was on campus, ChatGPT existed, but it wasn’t widely used. Now she knows she’s returning to a college where ChatGPT is deeply embedded in students’ as well as faculty and staff’s lives, but Pacheco expects she’ll go back to her old habits — going to her professors’ office hours and sticking around after class to ask them questions. She sees the value.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She understands why others might not. Today’s high schoolers, she has noticed, are not used to talking to adults or building mentor-style relationships. At 24, she knows why they matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A chatbot,” she said, “isn’t going to give you a letter of recommendation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/07/chatbots/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Several weeks after students returned to Canyon Charter Elementary School following the Los Angeles fires in January, a second grade student at the school cried as his teacher packed up an absent friend’s belongings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What are you doing with this stuff?” the student asked, his grief ongoing, and mounting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Katje Davis said it was difficult to explain that his friend was displaced by the Palisades fire and had to move to another school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This loss was hard,” Davis said. “But … we’re good teachers here. And we’ve figured out how to put the kids first.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second grader was one of hundreds who left the Los Angeles Unified School District, which lost two elementary schools to the fires, and the Pasadena Unified School District, which encompasses Altadena, and was the hardest hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as the academic year comes to an end, teachers, administrators and experts have stressed that schools in areas affected by fires have remained a key source of stability, despite campuswide adjustments to a new normal and the ongoing grief expressed by students, many of whom lost their homes, pets and communities. Five months after the fires, students were back on track, making progress academically and emotionally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Schools provide a sense of continuity and safety for children,” said Pedro Noguera, the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of USC’s Rossier School of Education. “And, that’s why it’s so important to be in school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Nothing like COVID’: Returning to normalcy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite losing some schools to the fire, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/los-angeles-schools-close-brace-for-more-fire-wind-and-ash/724794\">Los Angeles Unified and Pasadena Unified\u003c/a> were \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/the-day-i-lost-my-house-school-communities-reel-from-eaton-palisades-fires/725439\">relatively quick to bring students back\u003c/a> and resume classes at their new locations. Many students returned by the end of January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The schools that burned down were relocated to new campuses, so students could stay with the same campus community, classroom, classmates and teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents at Canyon Charter Elementary were concerned about environmental risks, according to Davis, and many kept their kids home until the district completed a \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.lausd.org/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/Domain/135/Canyon%20Charter%20ES%20Fire%20Impact%20Assessment%20Report%20R1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Soil and Indoor Air Dust Report (PDF)\u003c/a> in late March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the months following the Eaton and Palisades fires, students who lived in impacted communities dealt with different circumstances and missed varying amounts of instruction. Some initially seemed happy to be back with their teacher and classmates; others struggled emotionally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is nothing like Covid — because at Covid times, everybody was in the same boat,” Davis said. Her school was in a unique position — they were the closest to the burn zone but did not perish. They also didn’t have running water until mid-March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wendy Connor, a veteran first grade teacher at Marquez Charter Elementary School, which did burn down in Palisades, said the initial days and weeks after they resumed in January at Nora Sterry Elementary were geared toward students’ emotional well-being. [aside postID=\"news_12031140,news_12025436,news_12028438\" label=\"Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers started marking tardies in mid-February, she said, and she tried to cover only the essential parts of each lesson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re reading a story. We’re writing. We’re practicing spelling and writing sentences and things like that,” Connor said in an interview with EdSource in February. “But, we’re just not doing it for as long as we normally would. If there’s five questions for them to answer, maybe I’ll just have them do three.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the weeks rolled on and students started to settle into their new environments, Connor said she felt she had been able to steer her first graders back into a more normal school day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By May, most of the kids at Marquez Charter Elementary had settled down and were happy at their new location, Connor told EdSource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s been some stories of a few different students from different classrooms whose parents wanted them to go to a different school … and the kids just refused to go. They wanted to stay at Marquez.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The efforts at Pasadena Unified have yielded some surprising results, according to Julianne Reynoso, Pasadena Unified’s assistant superintendent of student wellness and support services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although 10,000 of the district’s 14,000 students were evacuated from the Eaton fire, the district’s diagnostic assessments show that the number of students performing at or above grade level in math and reading across elementary and middle school has increased between the August/September and March/April assessment periods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Specifically, the number of elementary students who performed at mid- or above-grade level rose 15 percentage points in math and 14 percentage points in reading.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among middle schoolers, math scores rose by 11 percentage points and 6 percentage points in reading.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An LAUSD spokesperson said in an email to EdSource that they do not have any data measuring the impacts of the Palisades fire on students at Palisades Charter Elementary and Marquez Charter Elementary.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A changing landscape\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the final weeks of the spring semester, the school day looked similar to what it was before the fires, with one notable exception. Connor’s class is a lot smaller. Only 12 of her 20 students came back, and she made the most of the smaller class size.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you have 20, you have to run around to like six different kids that need your help. When it’s only 12, it’s like two kids,” Connor said. “And then we end up with extra time in the afternoon, and we’re starting to do some more coding activities … [and] other enrichment-type activities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least 89 students left Los Angeles Unified due to the fires, according to a district spokesperson, while Pasadena Unified lost roughly 420 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We did have families that left us,” Reynoso said. Other families maintained long-distance commutes to keep their kids in the same district school. “But what’s interesting about it is that they said, ‘We’ll be back. This is just temporary for us,’ I hope that’s true.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the fires, coupled with fears around immigration enforcement, also led to an uptick in the district’s rate of chronic absenteeism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, Reynoso said Los Angeles Unified unexpectedly gained 263 students. She speculates that this could be the result of a California executive order allowing students who were affected by the fires to attend schools in other districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But every fire is different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Noguera from USC, many communities in \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubbs_Fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Santa Rosa\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2018/paradise-high-seniors-lost-almost-everything-in-camp-fire-but-are-determined-to-salvage-their-final-year/606170\">Paradise\u003c/a> that suffered losses after fires returned and rebuilt. However, he cautioned that a large-scale return of families might be less likely in Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not everybody who was there will come back or can afford to come back,” he said. “It’s a process that’s going to take time, and we will only know, with time, how it all comes together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/students-return-fires-los-angeles/734370\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Several weeks after students returned to Canyon Charter Elementary School following the Los Angeles fires in January, a second grade student at the school cried as his teacher packed up an absent friend’s belongings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What are you doing with this stuff?” the student asked, his grief ongoing, and mounting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Katje Davis said it was difficult to explain that his friend was displaced by the Palisades fire and had to move to another school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This loss was hard,” Davis said. “But … we’re good teachers here. And we’ve figured out how to put the kids first.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second grader was one of hundreds who left the Los Angeles Unified School District, which lost two elementary schools to the fires, and the Pasadena Unified School District, which encompasses Altadena, and was the hardest hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as the academic year comes to an end, teachers, administrators and experts have stressed that schools in areas affected by fires have remained a key source of stability, despite campuswide adjustments to a new normal and the ongoing grief expressed by students, many of whom lost their homes, pets and communities. Five months after the fires, students were back on track, making progress academically and emotionally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Schools provide a sense of continuity and safety for children,” said Pedro Noguera, the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of USC’s Rossier School of Education. “And, that’s why it’s so important to be in school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Nothing like COVID’: Returning to normalcy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite losing some schools to the fire, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/los-angeles-schools-close-brace-for-more-fire-wind-and-ash/724794\">Los Angeles Unified and Pasadena Unified\u003c/a> were \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/the-day-i-lost-my-house-school-communities-reel-from-eaton-palisades-fires/725439\">relatively quick to bring students back\u003c/a> and resume classes at their new locations. Many students returned by the end of January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The schools that burned down were relocated to new campuses, so students could stay with the same campus community, classroom, classmates and teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents at Canyon Charter Elementary were concerned about environmental risks, according to Davis, and many kept their kids home until the district completed a \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.lausd.org/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/Domain/135/Canyon%20Charter%20ES%20Fire%20Impact%20Assessment%20Report%20R1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Soil and Indoor Air Dust Report (PDF)\u003c/a> in late March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the months following the Eaton and Palisades fires, students who lived in impacted communities dealt with different circumstances and missed varying amounts of instruction. Some initially seemed happy to be back with their teacher and classmates; others struggled emotionally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is nothing like Covid — because at Covid times, everybody was in the same boat,” Davis said. Her school was in a unique position — they were the closest to the burn zone but did not perish. They also didn’t have running water until mid-March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wendy Connor, a veteran first grade teacher at Marquez Charter Elementary School, which did burn down in Palisades, said the initial days and weeks after they resumed in January at Nora Sterry Elementary were geared toward students’ emotional well-being. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers started marking tardies in mid-February, she said, and she tried to cover only the essential parts of each lesson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re reading a story. We’re writing. We’re practicing spelling and writing sentences and things like that,” Connor said in an interview with EdSource in February. “But, we’re just not doing it for as long as we normally would. If there’s five questions for them to answer, maybe I’ll just have them do three.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the weeks rolled on and students started to settle into their new environments, Connor said she felt she had been able to steer her first graders back into a more normal school day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By May, most of the kids at Marquez Charter Elementary had settled down and were happy at their new location, Connor told EdSource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s been some stories of a few different students from different classrooms whose parents wanted them to go to a different school … and the kids just refused to go. They wanted to stay at Marquez.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The efforts at Pasadena Unified have yielded some surprising results, according to Julianne Reynoso, Pasadena Unified’s assistant superintendent of student wellness and support services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although 10,000 of the district’s 14,000 students were evacuated from the Eaton fire, the district’s diagnostic assessments show that the number of students performing at or above grade level in math and reading across elementary and middle school has increased between the August/September and March/April assessment periods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Specifically, the number of elementary students who performed at mid- or above-grade level rose 15 percentage points in math and 14 percentage points in reading.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among middle schoolers, math scores rose by 11 percentage points and 6 percentage points in reading.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An LAUSD spokesperson said in an email to EdSource that they do not have any data measuring the impacts of the Palisades fire on students at Palisades Charter Elementary and Marquez Charter Elementary.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A changing landscape\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the final weeks of the spring semester, the school day looked similar to what it was before the fires, with one notable exception. Connor’s class is a lot smaller. Only 12 of her 20 students came back, and she made the most of the smaller class size.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you have 20, you have to run around to like six different kids that need your help. When it’s only 12, it’s like two kids,” Connor said. “And then we end up with extra time in the afternoon, and we’re starting to do some more coding activities … [and] other enrichment-type activities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least 89 students left Los Angeles Unified due to the fires, according to a district spokesperson, while Pasadena Unified lost roughly 420 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We did have families that left us,” Reynoso said. Other families maintained long-distance commutes to keep their kids in the same district school. “But what’s interesting about it is that they said, ‘We’ll be back. This is just temporary for us,’ I hope that’s true.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the fires, coupled with fears around immigration enforcement, also led to an uptick in the district’s rate of chronic absenteeism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, Reynoso said Los Angeles Unified unexpectedly gained 263 students. She speculates that this could be the result of a California executive order allowing students who were affected by the fires to attend schools in other districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But every fire is different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Noguera from USC, many communities in \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubbs_Fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Santa Rosa\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2018/paradise-high-seniors-lost-almost-everything-in-camp-fire-but-are-determined-to-salvage-their-final-year/606170\">Paradise\u003c/a> that suffered losses after fires returned and rebuilt. However, he cautioned that a large-scale return of families might be less likely in Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not everybody who was there will come back or can afford to come back,” he said. “It’s a process that’s going to take time, and we will only know, with time, how it all comes together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/students-return-fires-los-angeles/734370\">\u003cem>This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Since Donald Trump’s first term in office, a UC Berkeley student group called Central Americans for Empowerment (CAFE) has been pushing for a Central American Studies department. For them, it would help raise visibility of Central Americans whose specific stories often get lost in broader conversations about Latinos and immigration in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC4135996503&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:09] Early in Donald Trump’s first term as president, caravans of Central Americans seeking asylum were arriving to Tijuana at the border with San Diego. Many groups here in the U.S. Made their way there to provide direct aid to the newly arrived migrants. One of them was a group of Central American students from UC Berkeley who’d started meeting as a way to build community and visibility around issues affecting Central Americans. On campus, they also had their own dreams of starting a Central American Studies Department at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Arlette Jacomé \u003c/strong>[00:01:54] There was just a lot around immigration and there was a lot around Central American migration and like the way Central Americans were being described in the public that really came to the forefront. And so I think it was very much perfect timing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:13] Cal students with roots in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Costa Rica wanted a closer study of their cultural backgrounds. For them, their specific stories often got lost in broader conversations about Latinos and even immigration in the U.S. And establishing a Central American Studies Department at UC Berkeley was one answer to that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lesly Reyes Reyes \u003c/strong>[00:02:42] Being Central American, we’re always seen as less than, just because our countries aren’t known as much. Being Salvadoran, everyone always assumed that, oh, you’re either affiliated with gang violence or they just assume a lot about the Civil War.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:59] Today, the students fighting for a Central American Studies Department at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:03:18] According to the Census, the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metropolitan area has a population of around 145,000 immigrants from Central America. So that’s also like not including like first gens like me who were born here, but our parents are from Central America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:43] Mel Velasquez is the production intern for The Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:03:48] Here in California, there’s a large population of Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants. They make up a majority of the Latine community, which is natural, there are more people in Mexico than in Central America. But what these other sources I’ve talked to and other people I’ve talk to have spoken about is just how a lot of the conversations are very Mexico-centric. It’s very like common for people to just be like, oh yeah, okay, so you’re Latino, so, you’re Mexican. That’s something I’ve gotten like my entire life. I actually didn’t even know I was Central American until like kindergarten. I always thought I was Mexican because other kids would be like yeah. And I was like, yeah, that makes sense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:39] Yeah, but like, as you were saying, there’s many people from these countries have their own histories. And for, I guess, people who don’t know what are some big moments that led Central Americans to come here to the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:04:53] The second half of the 20th century, there were the civil wars in Central America, which led a lot of folks from these countries to flee here, into the Mission District in particular. In Honduras, there was the presidential coup in 2009 that also led a lot of people here. And also the civil wars that happened from around like the 60s to the 90s. They were Cold War fears from the United States that like, oh, we’re gonna have communist regime like in our backyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ronald Reagan \u003c/strong>[00:05:34] Central America is America. It’s at our doorstep, and it’s become the stage for a bold attempt by the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Nicaragua to install communism by force throughout the hemisphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:05:52] Well, I know you met someone whose family is from Central America to talk about some of these just sort of shared histories that you’re talking about. Tell me about Arlette Jacomé. Who is she and what’s her background?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:06:07] I spoke with Arlette Jacomé and she was a student at UC Berkeley from around 2012 to 2017 and she’s Guatemalan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Arlette Jacomé \u003c/strong>[00:06:19] Specifically tried to take Spanish classes and Latin American studies classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:06:24] I wanted to talk to Arlette because she was the co-founder of CAFE, which is Central Americans for Empowerment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:34] How does Arlette describe her first years at Cal?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:06:38] So she felt like she was really alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Arlette Jacomé \u003c/strong>[00:06:42] I could spot Central Americans pretty easily and I was like you’re gonna be my friend but in terms of like structure or like organizationally or systemically speaking I was lonely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:06:54] She was a first gen college student and she was looking for a group to be a part of that reflected her identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Arlette Jacomé \u003c/strong>[00:07:04] But I always wanted more. I always want more Central American community. And in my heart of hearts, since probably freshman year, I was like, if we had a Central American group, I would join and I wish I could do that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:07:17] And there’s like other clubs, Latine affinity groups like MECHA, which is like a nationwide organization. And then there’s smaller clubs here and there that have specific needs for Latino students, but that she didn’t really identify with. And so she wanted to start CAFE, which is Central Americans for Empowerment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:42] I mean, this is 2016, 2017. What is the context around this time and what was happening in the news around immigration in particular as Arlette and other students were forming CAFE?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:07:56] Yeah, so around this time was the first Trump administration. So this was the beginning of the anti-immigration rhetoric about building a border wall and a lot of racist comments about Mexicans in general and also, like, Central Americans lumped in there as well. So, there was a lot of Central Americans coming into the United States during this time as well and more specifically the Honduran caravans that were coming here. And they were at the San Diego-Tijuana border, the U.S.-Mexico border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CNN reporter \u003c/strong>[00:08:42] I want to show you exactly what’s happening behind me. You can see on this side, there are quite a few of people from the caravan that has arrived here to the US-Mexico border. They sort of have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:08:55] So the cafe wasn’t built around that, those issues specifically, but it just happened to be that this was the political climate that CAFE was started in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Arlette Jacomé \u003c/strong>[00:09:06] At the time, the media was just disparaging Central Americans and the caravans. There weren’t a lot of spaces for Central Americans in general to really like talk about that in a way that was like personal. Cause for us, it’s personal, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:09:25] They did a lot of direct aid for the Honduran caravan at the border. Some students collected like clothes and money and toiletries and things that anybody can need. They went down south to Tijuana and they were talking to the women of the caravan and just giving them grooming services and helping them just feel normal, feel like a person. Another big goal of theirs was to create a Central American Studies Department. It doesn’t exist at Berkeley. Actually, no university in the Bay Area has a Central American Studies department. They have classes, but the first program for Central American Studies was created at Cal State Northridge. In the beginning, it was just like an idea. It was a dream. They didn’t actually think like when they were there that it would happen because… It’s a long process to create a department at a university. Other ethnicities and races have their own departments as well. And they have like the faculty and staff to educate other folks about things like Chicanx studies, and which is a very popular and nationwide program and that a lot of different universities have. So these students are like, okay, well, this exists somewhere. It exists at Cal State Northridge. Why can’t we have it over here? They want academics to teach Central American history, which is what they feel is very intertwined with U.S. History. The folks I talked to, they told me that they didn’t learn any of this when they were in school, and they were very interested in it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Arlette Jacomé \u003c/strong>[00:11:25] Central American studies is more than just students who are Central American, who wanna identify within this higher ed space. It’s about understanding a history that is very American because the U.S. Has done so much with their imperialistic endeavors that has impacted Central Americans to where we’re here and now we have this interconnected history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:52] Coming up, how CAFE students today are trying to move the needle on a Central American Studies Department. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:09] So CAFE started around the beginning of President Trump’s first term. It’s now 2025. How has it grown? Or changed?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:13:18] So it’s definitely gone through some ebbs and flows throughout the years, and especially during COVID. But now, in 2025, there’s more students who are active in organizing around a Central American Studies department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lesly Reyes Reyes \u003c/strong>[00:13:35] We’re fighting for a department that’s just very important to us, but then also to the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:13:43] I talked to Lesly Reyes Reyes. She’s going to be a sophomore at Berkeley. She’s a pre-med major. She was really ambitious right at orientation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lesly Reyes Reyes \u003c/strong>[00:13:55] And I see that they posted, oh, we’re having a board application. So I was like, should I just go for it? I was, like, I might regret if I don’t. So I went ahead and like applied for board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:14:06] Now, she is working on a class about Central American migration and identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lesly Reyes Reyes \u003c/strong>[00:14:14] We’re going to start with a timeline from the 1930s all the way to the present. And then later on, we’re focusing on identifying the different murals that are related to Central American diaspora in the Mission District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:14:27] There’s this thing at Berkeley called DeCal. So it’s basically a student-led class and there’s a faculty advisor, but it’s everything that a traditional class has, a syllabus, coursework, readings, lectures, and you can get units for them. She already made the syllabus. Now she’s working on the lectures and the homework and the readings. And so she told me that she wants this. Class to like encourage people of all backgrounds to join, not just Central American students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lesly Reyes Reyes \u003c/strong>[00:15:05] Someone that’s not Central American. I would just want them to feel more educated and kind of feel like, not pity that’s definitely not something I want someone to feel not pity for us, but kind of more like whoa like you guys are strong like you did that and like y’all are still fighting for your identities here in like the US\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:15:29] Why is doing this an important piece of the puzzle to eventually establishing a Central American Studies Department?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:15:38] I talked to Professor Enrique Lima. He is a continuing lecturer at Berkeley and he teaches two of the Central American classes at Berkeley. He was telling me that the university cares about enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Enrique Lima \u003c/strong>[00:15:55] My main concern for them was the university cares about numbers. The university is at some level an institution that cares about money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:16:08] And if the students can prove that they have the numbers in this class, so if they’re consistent with teaching the DeCal, maybe if that has demand, there can be another one, and hopefully it’ll snowball into something like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:28] What does Professor Lima think about CAFE’s goal of establishing a Central American Studies Department?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:16:37] Yeah, he’s excited about the idea, but he’s also a little skeptical about it as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Enrique Lima \u003c/strong>[00:16:45] It’s a lot of work. It’s not just where would it be housed, all the staff that would it would require.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:16:53] It’s really hard being a college student, first of all, and then a lot of them being first gen college students and also having to support their parents and their family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Enrique Lima \u003c/strong>[00:17:05] It would require immense planning. So it would be a multi-year process, I would imagine, even after the approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:17:13] The new class he started teaching this past semester, he told me that it took a lot to just even make one class that’s like approved by the university. And from start to finish, it took over a year for him to get the syllabus approved and the coursework approved. So he’s like, this is not gonna happen for a few years at least.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:17:40] And not to mention students graduating and moving on. And are people like Lesly feeling hopeful that they can actually make this happen?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:17:51] Lesly told me that she’s just really passionate about Central American history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lesly Reyes Reyes \u003c/strong>[00:17:57] For me as a student that’s teaching the class, I hope to feel like I did something more. We’re all like planting our seed to hopefully get the fruit, which is the Central American Studies Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:18:09] There’s no exact timeline for like, this department could be created. It’s more about proving to the university that there is a demand for a program and a department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:18:27] Well, Mel, this all started back in 2017, but what do the students you talk with say about how they’re thinking about the importance of CAFE and even the Central American Studies Department in this particular moment that we’re in now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:18:44] The students that I spoke to and the former students as well, were telling me that it’s important to know the context, especially right now with the ICE raids that are happening. It’s important for people to be educated around why Central Americans are immigrating here anyways. The students I spoke too were telling me that there are conditions in Central America that are, they’re there because the United States had influence in it in a way, so that led them to immigrating over here so they could flee violence. They could flee political repression. So they want people to know that there’s a reason why Central Americans are here. And there’s also a reason why we should protect them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:19:38] Yeah, I mean, what’s your takeaway from your reporting, Mel? I know this came from a very personal place for you, and now that you’ve finished all your reporting. I mean what, what are you walking away with?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:19:51] Um, I’m feeling very proud of my community, actually. I hope that people can also see that we’re beyond just immigration and drug violence and crime that’s happening. Even here in the Bay Area, that rhetoric has been going on for a long time, especially when it comes to drug trafficking. We’re more than that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:20:23] Well, Mel Velasquez, The Bay’s intern, thank you so much for joining me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:20:28] It’s always a pleasure, Ericka.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:20:37] That was Mel Velasquez, The Bay’s beloved production intern. This 38-minute conversation with Mel was cut down and edited by Alan Montecillo. Mel produced this episode, scored it, and added all the tape. Extra production support by me and Jessica Kariisa.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Since Donald Trump’s first term in office, a UC Berkeley student group called Central Americans for Empowerment (CAFE) has been pushing for a Central American Studies department. For them, it would help raise visibility of Central Americans whose specific stories often get lost in broader conversations about Latinos and immigration in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC4135996503&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:09] Early in Donald Trump’s first term as president, caravans of Central Americans seeking asylum were arriving to Tijuana at the border with San Diego. Many groups here in the U.S. Made their way there to provide direct aid to the newly arrived migrants. One of them was a group of Central American students from UC Berkeley who’d started meeting as a way to build community and visibility around issues affecting Central Americans. On campus, they also had their own dreams of starting a Central American Studies Department at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Arlette Jacomé \u003c/strong>[00:01:54] There was just a lot around immigration and there was a lot around Central American migration and like the way Central Americans were being described in the public that really came to the forefront. And so I think it was very much perfect timing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:13] Cal students with roots in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Costa Rica wanted a closer study of their cultural backgrounds. For them, their specific stories often got lost in broader conversations about Latinos and even immigration in the U.S. And establishing a Central American Studies Department at UC Berkeley was one answer to that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lesly Reyes Reyes \u003c/strong>[00:02:42] Being Central American, we’re always seen as less than, just because our countries aren’t known as much. Being Salvadoran, everyone always assumed that, oh, you’re either affiliated with gang violence or they just assume a lot about the Civil War.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:59] Today, the students fighting for a Central American Studies Department at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:03:18] According to the Census, the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metropolitan area has a population of around 145,000 immigrants from Central America. So that’s also like not including like first gens like me who were born here, but our parents are from Central America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:43] Mel Velasquez is the production intern for The Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:03:48] Here in California, there’s a large population of Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants. They make up a majority of the Latine community, which is natural, there are more people in Mexico than in Central America. But what these other sources I’ve talked to and other people I’ve talk to have spoken about is just how a lot of the conversations are very Mexico-centric. It’s very like common for people to just be like, oh yeah, okay, so you’re Latino, so, you’re Mexican. That’s something I’ve gotten like my entire life. I actually didn’t even know I was Central American until like kindergarten. I always thought I was Mexican because other kids would be like yeah. And I was like, yeah, that makes sense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:39] Yeah, but like, as you were saying, there’s many people from these countries have their own histories. And for, I guess, people who don’t know what are some big moments that led Central Americans to come here to the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:04:53] The second half of the 20th century, there were the civil wars in Central America, which led a lot of folks from these countries to flee here, into the Mission District in particular. In Honduras, there was the presidential coup in 2009 that also led a lot of people here. And also the civil wars that happened from around like the 60s to the 90s. They were Cold War fears from the United States that like, oh, we’re gonna have communist regime like in our backyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ronald Reagan \u003c/strong>[00:05:34] Central America is America. It’s at our doorstep, and it’s become the stage for a bold attempt by the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Nicaragua to install communism by force throughout the hemisphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:05:52] Well, I know you met someone whose family is from Central America to talk about some of these just sort of shared histories that you’re talking about. Tell me about Arlette Jacomé. Who is she and what’s her background?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:06:07] I spoke with Arlette Jacomé and she was a student at UC Berkeley from around 2012 to 2017 and she’s Guatemalan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Arlette Jacomé \u003c/strong>[00:06:19] Specifically tried to take Spanish classes and Latin American studies classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:06:24] I wanted to talk to Arlette because she was the co-founder of CAFE, which is Central Americans for Empowerment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:34] How does Arlette describe her first years at Cal?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:06:38] So she felt like she was really alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Arlette Jacomé \u003c/strong>[00:06:42] I could spot Central Americans pretty easily and I was like you’re gonna be my friend but in terms of like structure or like organizationally or systemically speaking I was lonely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:06:54] She was a first gen college student and she was looking for a group to be a part of that reflected her identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Arlette Jacomé \u003c/strong>[00:07:04] But I always wanted more. I always want more Central American community. And in my heart of hearts, since probably freshman year, I was like, if we had a Central American group, I would join and I wish I could do that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:07:17] And there’s like other clubs, Latine affinity groups like MECHA, which is like a nationwide organization. And then there’s smaller clubs here and there that have specific needs for Latino students, but that she didn’t really identify with. And so she wanted to start CAFE, which is Central Americans for Empowerment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:42] I mean, this is 2016, 2017. What is the context around this time and what was happening in the news around immigration in particular as Arlette and other students were forming CAFE?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:07:56] Yeah, so around this time was the first Trump administration. So this was the beginning of the anti-immigration rhetoric about building a border wall and a lot of racist comments about Mexicans in general and also, like, Central Americans lumped in there as well. So, there was a lot of Central Americans coming into the United States during this time as well and more specifically the Honduran caravans that were coming here. And they were at the San Diego-Tijuana border, the U.S.-Mexico border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CNN reporter \u003c/strong>[00:08:42] I want to show you exactly what’s happening behind me. You can see on this side, there are quite a few of people from the caravan that has arrived here to the US-Mexico border. They sort of have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:08:55] So the cafe wasn’t built around that, those issues specifically, but it just happened to be that this was the political climate that CAFE was started in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Arlette Jacomé \u003c/strong>[00:09:06] At the time, the media was just disparaging Central Americans and the caravans. There weren’t a lot of spaces for Central Americans in general to really like talk about that in a way that was like personal. Cause for us, it’s personal, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:09:25] They did a lot of direct aid for the Honduran caravan at the border. Some students collected like clothes and money and toiletries and things that anybody can need. They went down south to Tijuana and they were talking to the women of the caravan and just giving them grooming services and helping them just feel normal, feel like a person. Another big goal of theirs was to create a Central American Studies Department. It doesn’t exist at Berkeley. Actually, no university in the Bay Area has a Central American Studies department. They have classes, but the first program for Central American Studies was created at Cal State Northridge. In the beginning, it was just like an idea. It was a dream. They didn’t actually think like when they were there that it would happen because… It’s a long process to create a department at a university. Other ethnicities and races have their own departments as well. And they have like the faculty and staff to educate other folks about things like Chicanx studies, and which is a very popular and nationwide program and that a lot of different universities have. So these students are like, okay, well, this exists somewhere. It exists at Cal State Northridge. Why can’t we have it over here? They want academics to teach Central American history, which is what they feel is very intertwined with U.S. History. The folks I talked to, they told me that they didn’t learn any of this when they were in school, and they were very interested in it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Arlette Jacomé \u003c/strong>[00:11:25] Central American studies is more than just students who are Central American, who wanna identify within this higher ed space. It’s about understanding a history that is very American because the U.S. Has done so much with their imperialistic endeavors that has impacted Central Americans to where we’re here and now we have this interconnected history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:52] Coming up, how CAFE students today are trying to move the needle on a Central American Studies Department. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:09] So CAFE started around the beginning of President Trump’s first term. It’s now 2025. How has it grown? Or changed?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:13:18] So it’s definitely gone through some ebbs and flows throughout the years, and especially during COVID. But now, in 2025, there’s more students who are active in organizing around a Central American Studies department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lesly Reyes Reyes \u003c/strong>[00:13:35] We’re fighting for a department that’s just very important to us, but then also to the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:13:43] I talked to Lesly Reyes Reyes. She’s going to be a sophomore at Berkeley. She’s a pre-med major. She was really ambitious right at orientation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lesly Reyes Reyes \u003c/strong>[00:13:55] And I see that they posted, oh, we’re having a board application. So I was like, should I just go for it? I was, like, I might regret if I don’t. So I went ahead and like applied for board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:14:06] Now, she is working on a class about Central American migration and identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lesly Reyes Reyes \u003c/strong>[00:14:14] We’re going to start with a timeline from the 1930s all the way to the present. And then later on, we’re focusing on identifying the different murals that are related to Central American diaspora in the Mission District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:14:27] There’s this thing at Berkeley called DeCal. So it’s basically a student-led class and there’s a faculty advisor, but it’s everything that a traditional class has, a syllabus, coursework, readings, lectures, and you can get units for them. She already made the syllabus. Now she’s working on the lectures and the homework and the readings. And so she told me that she wants this. Class to like encourage people of all backgrounds to join, not just Central American students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lesly Reyes Reyes \u003c/strong>[00:15:05] Someone that’s not Central American. I would just want them to feel more educated and kind of feel like, not pity that’s definitely not something I want someone to feel not pity for us, but kind of more like whoa like you guys are strong like you did that and like y’all are still fighting for your identities here in like the US\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:15:29] Why is doing this an important piece of the puzzle to eventually establishing a Central American Studies Department?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:15:38] I talked to Professor Enrique Lima. He is a continuing lecturer at Berkeley and he teaches two of the Central American classes at Berkeley. He was telling me that the university cares about enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Enrique Lima \u003c/strong>[00:15:55] My main concern for them was the university cares about numbers. The university is at some level an institution that cares about money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:16:08] And if the students can prove that they have the numbers in this class, so if they’re consistent with teaching the DeCal, maybe if that has demand, there can be another one, and hopefully it’ll snowball into something like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:28] What does Professor Lima think about CAFE’s goal of establishing a Central American Studies Department?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:16:37] Yeah, he’s excited about the idea, but he’s also a little skeptical about it as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Enrique Lima \u003c/strong>[00:16:45] It’s a lot of work. It’s not just where would it be housed, all the staff that would it would require.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:16:53] It’s really hard being a college student, first of all, and then a lot of them being first gen college students and also having to support their parents and their family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Enrique Lima \u003c/strong>[00:17:05] It would require immense planning. So it would be a multi-year process, I would imagine, even after the approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:17:13] The new class he started teaching this past semester, he told me that it took a lot to just even make one class that’s like approved by the university. And from start to finish, it took over a year for him to get the syllabus approved and the coursework approved. So he’s like, this is not gonna happen for a few years at least.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:17:40] And not to mention students graduating and moving on. And are people like Lesly feeling hopeful that they can actually make this happen?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:17:51] Lesly told me that she’s just really passionate about Central American history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lesly Reyes Reyes \u003c/strong>[00:17:57] For me as a student that’s teaching the class, I hope to feel like I did something more. We’re all like planting our seed to hopefully get the fruit, which is the Central American Studies Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:18:09] There’s no exact timeline for like, this department could be created. It’s more about proving to the university that there is a demand for a program and a department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:18:27] Well, Mel, this all started back in 2017, but what do the students you talk with say about how they’re thinking about the importance of CAFE and even the Central American Studies Department in this particular moment that we’re in now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:18:44] The students that I spoke to and the former students as well, were telling me that it’s important to know the context, especially right now with the ICE raids that are happening. It’s important for people to be educated around why Central Americans are immigrating here anyways. The students I spoke too were telling me that there are conditions in Central America that are, they’re there because the United States had influence in it in a way, so that led them to immigrating over here so they could flee violence. They could flee political repression. So they want people to know that there’s a reason why Central Americans are here. And there’s also a reason why we should protect them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:19:38] Yeah, I mean, what’s your takeaway from your reporting, Mel? I know this came from a very personal place for you, and now that you’ve finished all your reporting. I mean what, what are you walking away with?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:19:51] Um, I’m feeling very proud of my community, actually. I hope that people can also see that we’re beyond just immigration and drug violence and crime that’s happening. Even here in the Bay Area, that rhetoric has been going on for a long time, especially when it comes to drug trafficking. We’re more than that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:20:23] Well, Mel Velasquez, The Bay’s intern, thank you so much for joining me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mel Velasquez \u003c/strong>[00:20:28] It’s always a pleasure, Ericka.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:20:37] That was Mel Velasquez, The Bay’s beloved production intern. This 38-minute conversation with Mel was cut down and edited by Alan Montecillo. Mel produced this episode, scored it, and added all the tape. Extra production support by me and Jessica Kariisa.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
"airtime": "SUN 9pm-10pm",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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},
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510312/podcast.xml"
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},
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.commonwealthclub.org/podcasts",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Commonwealth-Club-of-California-p1060/"
}
},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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},
"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
}
},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"id": "here-and-now",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Here-And-Now-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510308/podcast.xml"
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
"imageAlt": "KQED Hyphenación",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"meta": {
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/6c3dd23c-93fb-4aab-97ba-1725fa6315f1/hyphenaci%C3%B3n",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0OLWoyizopu6tY1XiuX70x",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id73801135",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
}
},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-breakdown/id1327641087",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5Nzk2MzI2MTEx",
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