ELL News Headlines

Larry Ferlazzo is retiring this year after teaching social studies and English classes for 22 years at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento. He’s long been a teacher of English learners and new immigrant students. He has also written 10 books for teachers and maintains a popular blog and a column for teachers, where he shares resources and tips.

The U.S. Department of Justice released guidance to federal agencies on July 14 on how to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order from March declaring English the nation’s official language. While experts on English-learner education saw no immediate effects for K-12 schools, they say the new guidance, alongside several recent federal policy changes this year affecting English learners, raises concerns about the executive order’s broader implications for public education.

Dr. Brittany Daley is the principal of Hamilton Elementary School in San Diego, California. She writes, "I’m constantly thinking about how to center family engagement in staff meetings, in attendance meetings, in literacy and math plans, in behavioral and counseling plans and in meetings about school procedures and budgets. It’s a strategy that not only involves families but also supports academic achievement and student well-being. For me, family engagement is the ultimate strategy for academics."

Some Head Start programs could be forced to close because of the steep cost of complying with a new Trump administration policy that requires them to verify the immigration status of students and parents, 21 Democratic attorneys general argue in a new lawsuit.

This final piece in The Century Foundation’s focus group series with teachers of English learners (ELs) discusses the evolving practices around literacy.

Immigrants play a crucial role in home-based child care, as well as America’s broader child care system of more than 2 million predominantly female workers. Caregivers are notoriously difficult to find and keep, not only because the work is difficult, but because of poverty-level wages and limited benefits. Nationwide, immigrants make up nearly 20 percent of the child care workforce.

A school leader explains how he uses the summer to reflect on what has worked well and how to adjust where necessary.

With billions of federal dollars frozen by the Trump administration, 85% of school district leaders say they now have to find alternative sources to pay for contracts they have already entered into. Half those leaders say they will have to cut staff to make ends meet if the money doesn’t arrive, according to a new survey.

The Trump administration told states Friday that it will send every state on Monday their formula funding allocations for before- and after-school programs nationwide — but the funding will come with a new requirement for states to certify compliance with federal civil rights laws.

English learners and their families in the Roanoke City public school district in Virginia rely on specially trained tutors who help students improve their English-language proficiency during and after the school day. But these tutors are funded through federal Title III formula grants, a $890 million program that is part of the billions in congressionally appropriated dollars the Trump administration is currently withholding from schools.