Plus, DEI may hurt men in college admissionView in browser [link removed]

**Weekly Update**

**A newsletter from The Hechinger Report**

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**In this week's edition:** San Francisco, like many other places, turned to apprenticeships to lure and keep teachers in preschools and boost access to child care [link removed]. Experts say the Trump administration's ban on DEI is likely to hit another underrepresented group of applicants: men [link removed]. Plus, universal preschool promised equity but benefits went to the wealthy [link removed].

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Early childhood educator apprentice Mayra Aguilar, right, writes on a chalkboard with preschooler Manuel during outdoor playtime at the Wu Yee Children’s Services Bayview Early Learning Center in San Francisco. Credit: Emmanuel Guillén Lozano for The Hechinger Report

**One city’s big bet on finding badly needed early educators — and getting them to stay**

In a playground outside a YMCA, Mayra Aguilar rolled purple modeling dough into balls that fit easily into the palms of the toddlers sitting across from her. She helped a little girl named Wynter unclasp a bicycle helmet that she’d put on to zoom around the space on a tricycle. 

Aguilar smiled, the sun glinting off her saucer-sized gold hoop earrings. “Say, ‘Thank you, teacher,’” Aguilar prompted Wynter, who was just shy of 3. Other toddlers crowded around Wynter and Aguilar and a big plastic bin of Crayola Dough, and Aguilar took the moment to teach another brief lesson. “Wynter, we share,” Aguilar pressed, scooting the tub between kids. “Say, ‘Can you pass it to me?’” 

Aguilar and Wynter are both new at this. Wynter has been in the structured setting of a child care center only since mid-August. Aguilar started teaching preschoolers and toddlers, part-time, in February. 

It has been life-changing, in different ways, for them both. Wynter, an only child, is learning to share, count and recognize her letters. Aguilar is being paid to work and earning her first college credits — building the foundation for a new career, all while learning new ways to interact with her own three kids.

Early educators are generally in short supply, and many who attempt this work quickly quit. The pay is on par with wages at fast food restaurants and big box stores, or even less. Yet unlike some other jobs with better pay, working with small children and infants usually requires some kind of education beyond a high school diploma. Moving up the ladder and pay scale often requires a degree. 

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**Trump’s attacks on DEI may hurt men in college admission  **

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Brown University, one of the most selective institutions in America, attracted nearly 50,000 applicants who vied for just 1,700 freshman seats last year.

The university accepted nearly equal numbers of male and female prospects, even though, like some other schools, it got nearly twice as many female applicants. That math meant it was easier for male students to get in — 7 percent of male applicants were admitted, compared to 4.4 percent of female applicants, university data show.

The Trump administration’s policies may soon end that advantage that has been enjoyed by men, admissions and higher education experts say.

While much of the president’s recent scrutiny of college admissions practices has focused on race, these experts say his ban on diversity, equity and inclusion is likely to hit another underrepresented group of applicants: men, and particularly white men — the largest subset of male college applicants.

“This drips with irony,” said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, or ACE, the nation’s largest association of universities and colleges, who said he expects that colleges and universities are ending consideration of gender in admission. “The idea of males, including white males, being at the short end of the stick all of a sudden would be a truly ironic outcome.”

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**One state made preschool free. Then dozens of child care centers closed in its largest city**

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Universal preschool promised equity but benefits went to the wealthy.

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“We found this worrisome finding that the death rate, so to speak, of pre-K centers has accelerated since the governor moved toward universal access.” [link removed]

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****Reading list****

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Child care workers are building a network of resistance against ICE [link removed]
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Providers, a substantial portion of whom are immigrants, are setting up detailed protection plans with the families in their care

A new ‘solution’ to student homelessness: A parking lot where students can sleep safely in their cars [link removed]

A California community college started its Safe Parking Program for housing-insecure students, while other colleges have students sleeping in alumni’s homes, napping pods, Airbnbs, even an assisted living facility

Tracking Trump: His actions on education [link removed]

The president is working to eliminate the Education Department and fighting ‘woke’ ideology in schools. A week-by-week look at what he’s done

TEACHER VOICE: Students must be taught about the potential harms of AI along with its benefits [link removed]
There are many unknowns, which is something that all teachers, professionals, legislators and education leaders should reckon with

[link removed] OPINION: Students will benefit from systems that make it easier for them to focus on learning, so let’s cut barriers instead of budgets [link removed]
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Removing the small but persistent hassles and ambiguities that slow students down will lighten their loads

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