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June 10, 2021

Dear John,

The $1.9 trillion federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) signed into law in March includes a historic $122 billion in funding for elementary and secondary schools to address the disproportionate impacts that COVID-19 has had on vulnerable students in the United States, including English Learners (ELs).

For the nation's 5 million ELs, who even prior to the pandemic were behind their peers in almost every measure of academic achievement, this funding, if properly invested, could reset educational trajectories that were disproportionately disrupted by the education, public-health, and economic crises.

A new commentary by the Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy discusses key targets that school districts and states should consider as they submit their plans outlining use of ARP funding. These include professional development for teachers to work with ELs, strengthening partnerships with community-based organizations, and incorporating culturally and linguistically responsive strategies into family outreach.

"As [school districts] emerge from a long year of crisis control, their work must begin by prioritizing ELs and other students disproportionately affected by the pandemic," Melissa Lazarín and Jazmin Flores Peña write. "While remote learning and other pandemic-mitigation efforts have unintentionally deepened opportunity and academic gaps between ELs and their peers, the response must be deliberate and targeted if the nation hopes to fully recover from this unprecedented education crisis."

Read the commentary here: www.migrationpolicy.org/news/pandemic-investment-rebuilding-education-english-learners.

And for more of the Center's work on K-12 education and English Learner and immigrant students, visit: www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/nciip-early-childhood-and-k-12-education.

Best regards,

Michelle Mittelstadt
Director of Communications and Public Affairs,
Migration Policy Institute

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Migration Policy Institute
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