ELL News Headlines

Throughout the week, Colorín Colorado gathers news headlines related to English language learners from around the country. The ELL Headlines are posted Monday through Friday and are available for free!

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Pasadena schools get help for students coping with trauma of Eaton Fire

When the Eaton Fire burned through parts of Los Angeles County this January, it destroyed thousands of homes. The hardest-hit district was Pasadena Unified School District, where around 10,000 students out of the district’s 14,000 were displaced. Principals across the district called for help from the county office of education, so that when kids impacted by the fires returned to school, they’d have the mental health support they needed.

College Board cancels award program for high-performing Black and Latino students

The College Board this month changed the criteria for its National Recognition Program awards in a move that could shift tens of thousands of scholarship dollars from Black and Latino students to white students.

Colleges used the awards to recruit and offer scholarships to high-performing students from groups underrepresented in higher education. The award previously recognized academic achievement by students in five categories — Black, Hispanic, Native American, first-generation and those living in rural areas or small towns.

The racial categories have been eliminated.

What California can learn from Texas about bilingual education

We visit an elementary school and a middle school in Austin, Texas, where students learn in Spanish and English. And we talk with a researcher about why Texas is so much farther ahead than California in bilingual education.

Public officials and mayoral candidates condemn ICE detention of Bronx high schooler

Politicians across the city rallied on Tuesday around a Bronx high school student who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after showing up for a routine immigration court hearing, calling for his immediate release. Dylan attended ELLIS Prep, which caters to older newly arrived immigrants, and remained determined to make it to college. He is the first known current New York City public school student detained by ICE during Trump’s second administration, as Chalkbeat first reported on Monday.

California program offers $500 in scholarships, but many students miss out

Students from low-income families and English learners are automatically awarded $500 for college or career training through a California program. Foster youth and homeless students get another $500 on top of that. But students, or their parents or guardians, have to claim the money. And many families are unaware of this program. How do you find out if you have money waiting for you? What is California doing to try to get more students to claim their accounts?

Kermit the Frog set to deliver U-Md. commencement speech Thursday

The University of Maryland lit its most iconic buildings green. Graduates have claimed a record-breaking number of tickets. And Kermit the Frog, the superstar of "Sesame Street" and "The Muppet Show" fame, is preparing to find "that rainbow connection' onstage in front of thousands of graduates. Kermit the Frog is a familiar figure in College Park. Jim Henson, who graduated from U-Md. in 1960, initially used his mother’s coat, a pair of his blue jeans and a sliced ping-pong ball to create the first version of Kermit, according to the National Museum of American History, where the first Kermit puppet is stored. Henson, who died in 1990, was the brains and voice behind Kermit for years. He is memorialized in a statue with his most famous creation outside the U-Md. student union.

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