“Sylvia Mendez on Civil Rights in the 1940s and Today” IDRA Classnotes Podcast Episode 123
Sylvia Mendez remembers vividly the day in March of 1945 when her family was told she and the other children had to the "Mexican school." Her father knew it wasn’t right. So, along with other families and with the help of LULAC, the Mendez sued four local school districts for segregating their children. Thurgood Marshall co-authored an amicus brief filed by the NAACP. The subsequent 1946 ruling in Mendez vs. Westminster and the California Board of Education ended segregation in California school districts. In this interview, Sylvia Mendez tells her story and describes how the Mendez case foreshadowed Brown vs. Board of Education less than a decade later. She cautions that schools are more segregated today then in the 1940s. She is interviewed by Kristin Grayson, M.Ed., an IDRA education associate and Bradley Scott, Ph.D., director of the IDRA South Central Collaborative for Equity, provides and introduction.

Fostering Mutually Affirming Relationships, Curriculum Rigor and Relevance – Science Strategies for English Language Learners
In diverse classrooms where there are ELL students, teachers often ask themselves what they can do to help students learn the English language while teaching the content that is required on top of preparing all the students to meet standards of a rigorous curriculum and state assessments. IDRA’s publication, Science Instructional Strategies for English Learners – A Guide for Elementary and Secondary Grades, presents seven umbrella research-supported strategies for the science classroom (Villarreal, et al., 2012). In this article, Nilka Avilés, Ed.D., describes one of the strategies: foster mutually affirming relationships, curriculum rigor and relevance in successful bilingual and ESL science. The strategies also can be used as a base for teacher professional development at both the elementary and secondary levels.

May issue of the IDRA Newsletter Focusing on College Access and Success
Take a look at our latest newsletter with articles on teaching quality, civil rights concerns with state ESEA flexibility waivers, student tracking, and effective dropout prevention, IDRA’s Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program. The IDRA Newsletter is now in a mobile-ready e-Letter format! So you can choose how you want to receive the newsletter, which is also published in print and on the IDRA website. Sign up to get the IDRA Newsletter by email today!

Science Classroom Strategies for English Learners – iPads and Other Tablets for Teachers
Having already explored some iPad possibilities as a student tool in their previous article, in which they discussed the learning potential for students when the iPad becomes a medium for producing knowledge, Veronica Betancourt, M.A., and Paula Johnson, M.A., shift their focus to how teachers, as instructional leaders, can maximize the capabilities of iPads and other tablets in the classroom as a teacher tool. In addition to giving examples of how teachers are using iPads, this article presents steps to ensuring teachers feel comfortable in implementing apps in the classroom.