From Policy to Practice:
How Educators Can Create Safe and Inclusive Schools for Immigrant Students Coast to Coast
CUNY-IIE and Heartwise Learning held a one-hour webinar in which educators and leaders explored key strategies for supporting immigrant students in the current political landscape. Presenters shared key insights from the policy context nationally and in California and New York, highlighting gaps in educator preparation, protections against immigration enforcement in schools, and language access requirements. Participants left with concrete ways they can advocate for their immigrant students at the local and state level, and key practices for creating safe and inclusive schools and classrooms that help students and families thrive. By highlighting the policy-to-practice relationship and implications for educators, this webinar provided practitioners and leaders with critical guidance on how to integrate advocacy-oriented practices for immigrant students at every level of the system.
Following the webinar, participants were invited to engage in 30 minutes of smaller group discussions to deepen understanding, share and learn promising practices with colleagues, and apply strategies to their context.
📆 Tuesday, January 27, 2026
⏲ 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM ET (3:30 - 5:00 pm PT)
📍 Zoom
Panelists included:
Tamara Alsace, PhD, Interim Co-Principal Investigator, CUNY-IIE
Kendra Fehrer, PhD, Founder and Principal, Heartwise Learning
Cristina Lash, PhD, Senior Consultant, Heartwise Learning
Carmina Makar, Ed.D., Associate Investigator, CUNY-IIE
Video recording of From Policy to Practice webinar hosted on January 27, 2026
Speaker bios:
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Tamara (Tammy) Alsace, Ph.D., is Interim Co-Principal Investigator at CUNY-IIE. She is retired from the Buffalo Public Schools, where she held various positions during her 32+ year career, including as a bilingual elementary and special education teacher, professional development specialist, and Director of Multilingual Education. In that role, she led the bilingual, ESOL, & world languages programs. Since retiring, she has worked as a consultant in a number of school districts as well as for the Regional Bilingual Ed Resource Network (RBE-RN) and the Council of the Great City Schools. Dr. Alsace serves on several non-profit boards and is active in professional & community organizations in Buffalo and at the state and national levels. A tireless advocate for the educational rights of multilingual/immigrant students and their families, she is a past president of the NYS Association for Bilingual Education (NYSABE) and currently co-chairs their advocacy committee. She is co-editor of the text Bilingual Special Education for the 21st Century: A New Interface (2022, IGI Global). Tammy has been part of CUNY-IIE since its inception.
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Kendra Fehrer, PhD, is Founder and Principal at Heartwise Learning. She is an educator, researcher, human services practitioner, and writer. She began her career as a scholar-activist working in Latin America, and has been involved in social justice and equity efforts ever since. She founded Heartwise Learning to support mission-driven organizations that want to better serve students' whole selves. Before launching Heartwise Learning, Kendra was a Senior Research Associate at the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University, where she led community -engaged research and collaborated with dozens of schools and youth-serving organizations to guide improvement efforts. Her background spans classroom teaching, outdoor education, preschool program development, student support groups, and bilingual education. At Heartwise, Kendra leads strategy, partnerships, and project work in community schools, school-based mental health, newcomer supports, and family engagement–while serving as a thought partner across the team.
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Cristina Lash, PhD, is Senior Associate at Heartwise Learning and an award-winning education researcher and coach. She is dedicated to working alongside educators and communities to co-create more equitable and just educational systems. Before joining Heartwise, Cristina was a professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she taught aspiring and current school leaders about data-driven school improvement, equitable practices, and resource allocation. She is widely recognized for her expertise in building school structures and cultures that support the inclusion, academic engagement, and civic development of immigrant students, English Learners, and students of color. During her time in Reno, Cristina was appointed to a state advisory committee, where she helped shape policies to support English Learners across Nevada. Her research on school inclusion, multicultural education, and civic development has been published in leading academic journals, including Teaching and Teacher Education, Theory & Research in Social Education, and Ethnic and Racial Studies.
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Carmina Makar is an Associate Investigator at CUNY-IIE. She was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico. She holds a BA in Communication Studies from ITESO University and earned her doctoral degree in International Education Development from Teachers College, Columbia University as a Fulbright Fellow. Her research and teaching interests focus on language development for diverse populations; non formal education settings and transnational approaches to education and teacher training. She currently teaches for the Programs of Bilingual Education and TESOL at The City College of New York.
