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Tara Garcia Mathewson

@taragarciam.bsky.social
1K followers 41 following 36 posts

Spencer Fellow at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Writing a book about bilingual education.

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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
ICYMI: the federal government has never banned bilingual education, but the Trump Administration has attempted to do just that through its proposal for overhauling Head Start. Don’t let this unprecedented language policy fly under the radar. taragarciam.substack.com/p/historic-h...
taragarciam.substack.com
Historic Head Start overhaul proposes a ban on bilingual education
A new English-only rule could transform preschool for many thousands of children
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
The Trump Administration’s proposed overhaul of Head Start includes an unprecedented power grab over language use in schools. No federal administration has ever tried to ban bilingual education before. This one is doing just that: taragarciam.substack.com/p/historic-h...
taragarciam.substack.com
Historic Head Start overhaul proposes a ban on bilingual education
A new English-only rule could transform preschool for many thousands of children
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Indian boarding schools have a horrific past, but when the Rough Rock Demonstration School opened to students in 1966 with classes in both Navajo and English, it was a model for a different future that still offers lessons for today. Read and subscribe! taragarciam.substack.com/p/from-the-h...
taragarciam.substack.com
From the horrors of boarding schools to a bicultural education
A school on the Navajo reservation opened in 1966 as an experiment in what Indian education could be
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Check out my latest newsletter post and subscribe if you haven’t yet! #thefutureisbilingual open.substack.com/pub/taragarc...
open.substack.com
'My grandmother never talked to me again'
When schools insist families prioritize English at home, everybody loses
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
The #scienceofreading sounds great but it is sidelining some very good research about biliteracy. Check out the latest edition of my newsletter, The Future is Bilingual, for more: taragarciam.substack.com/p/the-scienc... #literacy #education #phonics #duallanguage
taragarciam.substack.com
The “Science of Reading” ignores good science
Biliteracy research has long been clear: develop English-learners’ speaking skills before pushing phonics
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Did you know there’s a bilingual version of Aladdin with a plot twist? It premiered in Texas in 2005 and brought the community to tears. open.substack.com/pub/taragarc...
open.substack.com
A whole new (bilingual) world
A school district in Texas' Rio Grande Valley premiered a bilingual version of Aladdin in 2005. It brought the community to tears.
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
I have been fuming over the TPUSA "All-American" halftime alternative to Bad Bunny's performance for awhile now. So I wrote about it. Come for the rant, stay for the history and the kid art! ;)
open.substack.com
On Bad Bunny and being "American"
TPUSA's "All-American" halftime show ignores Spanish's long history in America
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Care about #bilingualeducation or #equity in #education? What about #EnglishLearners or #EmergentBilinguals? Sign up for my newsletter, The Future is Bilingual. It's free! taragarciam.substack.com/p/whats-this...
taragarciam.substack.com
The Future is Bilingual
Insights at the intersection of language, learning, and policy.
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
It has been 5 years since I stopped writing the Future of Learning newsletter at @hechingerreport.org. Time to dive back in, but this time writing about bilingual education! Check out my new, self-published newsletter, The Future is Bilingual, and subscribe: taragarciam.substack.com/p/whats-this...
taragarciam.substack.com
The Future is Bilingual
Insights at the intersection of language, learning, and policy.
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Last year, I reported on how high schoolers were kept from much of the internet because of overactive web filters/blockers. As you might imagine, prison education contexts are even more restricted. calmatters.org/education/hi...
calmatters.org
They're working toward degrees in California prisons, but tech limitations hold them back
California and other states have pushed to expand prison education, but students regularly face dead ends.
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
There are serious social capital implications of #chatbot use for #college students. Students are already inclined to avoid asking for help. When chatbots make it even easier, they lose opportunities to build connections that lead to long-term success: calmatters.org/education/hi...
calmatters.org
Chatbots help students be more independent, but the isolation could be career poison
As students use chatbots for quick answers, they can lose the human connections that are key to success in college and careers.
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Congress already approved K-12 spending for 2025 and schools budgeted around it, but the Trump Administration isn't releasing more than $6 billion it owes districts -- all aimed at programs it wants to zero out in 2026. calmatters.org/education/k-...
calmatters.org
California schools are scrambling as Trump administration withholds almost $811 million
Congress already approved the education funding, which pays for migrant education, after school programs and other services.
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
"But honest students are caught in the crossfire of an arms race between technology that mimics human speech and technology that claims to identify it." #AI #Turnitin #highered #ChatGPT calmatters.org/education/hi...
calmatters.org
California colleges spend millions on AI detectors. Is the faulty tech worth it?
Turnitin’s AI detectors are flawed and the company demands forever access to student papers.
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
"Turnitin tries to make the gray area of academic dishonesty into something black-and-white, and many faculty members drive demand, searching for the promise of algorithmic accuracy."
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
There are so many problematic things about Turnitin use in higher education it's hard to even write a headline. Can you just read the whole story? themarkup.org/artificial-i...
themarkup.org
California colleges spend millions to catch plagiarism and AI. Is the faulty tech worth it? – The Markup
Colleges and universities renew Turnitin subscriptions year after year even though its flawed detectors are expensive and require students to let the company keep their papers forever.
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
There are not enough school counselors for kids to get the college and career advising they need. But my latest story for @themarkup.org and @calmatters.org examines the downsides of turning to #AI #chatbots: themarkup.org/machine-lear...
themarkup.org
AI Chatbots Can Cushion the High School Counselor Shortage — But Are They Bad for Students? – The Markup
The more students turn to chatbots, the fewer chances they have to develop real-life relationships that can lead to jobs and later success
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
The Center for Democracy & Technology has new survey data showing the scope and scale of online censorship in schools. I spoke with a student in Northern California who said her Spanish class was recently derailed because Telemundo was unexpectedly blocked. themarkup.org/digital-book...
themarkup.org
Online Censorship In Schools Is ‘More Pervasive' Than Expected, New Data Shows – The Markup
Nationally representative survey data from The Center for Democracy & Technology finds schools subjectively and broadly block students from information online
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Gracias al Diario Sin Límites por invitarme a hablar acerca de la educación bilingüe en California en su podcast! Escucha aquí: citylimits.org/2025/01/13/p...
citylimits.org
PODCAST: ¿Cuáles son los desafíos que persisten tras el fin de la prohibición de la educación bilingüe en California?
La ley no sólo frenó el crecimiento de los programas bilingües en las escuelas sino que provocó un fuerte descenso en la preparación del profesorado que se certificaban en el estado.
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Escúchame hoy en Radio Bilingüe a las 12:30 PST/3:30 EST. Estaremos hablando acerca de la educación bilingüe en California, que investigué para CalMatters. En vivo: radio.radiobilingue.org.
radio.radiobilingue.org
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
California is the nation's most linguistically diverse state. Fully 60% of kids younger than 6 speak a language other than English at home. Yet California banned bilingual education from 1998-2016 and it is far from recovered. Read my in-depth story here: calmatters.org/education/k-...
calmatters.org
'We were punished for speaking Spanish': Inside California's slow recovery of bilingual education
After banning bilingual education in 1998, California voters brought it back 8 years ago. Schools are still trying to rebuild their programs.
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
I joined The Cyber|Show to discuss online censorship in K-12 schools and what I found in my "Digital Book Banning" investigation. Check it out: cybershow.uk/episodes.php...
cybershow.uk
The Cyber Show - Episodes
The Cyber Show podcast. Three real hackers, diverse in their world views and politics unite in a passionate, deeply critical quest to understand our technological society.
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 23/04/2024
An English teacher wanted her students to compare Emily Dickinson's letters and poetry. An athletic trainer wanted to create an exercise regimen for a high schooler. The sites they needed were blocked. Students aren't the only ones stymied by overzealous web filtering: themarkup.org/digital-book...
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 16/04/2024
In their own words: see what students have to say about running into blocked websites at school. From my latest investigation for The Markup. themarkup.org/digital-book...
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Tara Garcia Mathewson @taragarciam.bsky.social · 13/04/2024
You've heard of book bans. In schools, the digital version can happen under the radar. And sometimes the online blocking is political: I found districts censoring abortion information, sex ed and LGBTQ+ resources -- including suicide prevention. My latest! themarkup.org/digital-book...
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