Transforming education
by putting children first

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IDRA Launches Resource Hub to Promote Accurate and Inclusive Education

New Hub Provides Lesson Plans and Tools for Teaching History and Current Events About Race and Gender in Today’s Classroom Censorship Climate

In statehouses across the country, opponents of public education seek to censor teacher speech, limit what students can say and learn about racism and current events, and whitewash history. But as IDRA’s new We All Belong – School Resource Hub shows, these forces will not prevail. Educators are committed to serving their students well by strengthening education, not watering it down or hiding from the truth.

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Six Teens Win VYP National Essay Contest Awards

IDRA Valued Youth Partnership Program Tutors Share Stories of the Program's Impact on Their Lives

Six students received prizes in a national competition among participants in the IDRA Valued Youth Partnership program, a nationally-recognized cross-age tutoring program. The VYP tutors wrote about how the program helped them do better in school and how they had helped their tutees to do better.

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Supreme Court Further Erodes Separation of Church and State in Public Schools

Public School Employees Should Not Elevate Any Faith Over Another

In yet another opinion centering extremist views, the U.S. Supreme Court has further constrained public schools’ ability to protect all students’ religious freedom and free expression. The Court’s 6-3 opinion in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District held that a public high school violated the free speech and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment when it required a football coach to respect the rights of students from all religious and cultural backgrounds by directing the coach to stop publicly praying on the field immediately after games.

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Plyler v. Doe Supports High-Quality Schools

U.S. Supreme Court Ruling 40 Years Ago Today Confirms Immigrant Students' Rights to Attend Public Schools

Then, on June 15, 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public schools must serve all children, including undocumented students. In honor of the Plyler v Doe's 40th anniversary, IDRA released resources and tools to support schools in welcoming immigrant students. Learn more about the history of the cases that lead to the final decision, including a video interview with Dr. Albert Cortez, who testified in one of the early cases.

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IDRA Federal Education Policy Update

• IDRA Denounces Court Ruling Jeopardizing Texas’ Dream Act
• Resources to Address Digital Equity
• Introducing IDRA’s Youth Advisory Board
• IDRA Joins More than 200 Organizations and Individuals to Push for an End to Corporal Punishment

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IDRA Valued Youth Partnership Re-engages Struggling Students

See How the IDRA Valued Youth Partnership Works

Valued Youth Partnership helps students build their socio-emotional skills

It is more important than ever to strengthen the school-family-community dynamic in order to reconnect with students, especially those that have been harder to reach during this time of distance learning.

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New Power Advisory Team Guides Program to Support Budding Teen Software Designers

San Antonio Middle School Students to Become Software Designers in IDRA & Texas A&M University–San Antonio “VisionCoders™ Program

Education innovation requires brilliant leadership. To provide such leadership for the VisionCoders program, IDRA established the VisionCoders advisory committee, composed of prominent education and STEM experts. The advisory committee provides students with opportunities that focus on three key areas: empowerment, education and encouragement. These opportunities empower a sense of responsibility in leadership roles, engage students through meaningful experiences, and give recognition for student accomplishments and effort.