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Judge temporarily blocks effort to deport Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia student protests; Power of rural organizing reflected in SD carbon pipeline law; Safety at risk as budget cuts hit Indiana Dunes National Park; Barriers to tracking bird flu mount amid federal changes.

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House Democrats won't back the GOP budget bill. Ontario reacts to Trump trade moves by enacting energy export tariffs, and a new report finds mass deportations don t help the labor market.

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Immigrant communities are getting advice from advocates as the reach of ICE expands, experts in rural America urge lawmakers to ramp up protections against elder abuse, and a multi-state arts projects seeks to close the urban-rural divide.

Some New York Children Struggling to Keep Up

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Monday, August 17, 2015   

NEW YORK – More New York state third through eighth graders passed the Common Core standardized tests in both English and math this year, but not everyone is improving at the same rate.

Over the last two years, a much smaller percentage of children with disabilities and those learning English have received passing grades.

Maggie Moroff, a special education policy coordinator at Advocates for Children of New York, says the gap between those students and their peers has grown larger.

"There were slight bump ups for both English language learners and students with disabilities, but there were larger bump ups across the state,” she points out. “So, the discrepancy is growing."

In math, there was no bump up this year for New York City children with disabilities. The percentage of children passing actually fell, contributing to the discrepancy.

Advocates for Children has been asking city and state departments of educations to develop plans to close the growing gap.

Carmen Fariña, the New York City Schools chancellor, recently announced the school system will add 80 minutes a week of professional development for school staff to help improve overall scores.

Moroff says that's an opportunity to make a difference.

"One of the things that we've been pushing for is that some of that professional development be about targeting interventions that do work specifically for many kids with disabilities and for students who are English language learners," she explains.

Advocates for Children says non-English speaking children who have been in this country for less than two years should be exempt from taking the standardized English test while they learn their new language.





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