ELL News Headlines

Colleagues share an appreciation of NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro, who's leaving the network after 17 years. She was the first Latina to host a flagship program at the network.

Since the 1990s, a growing number of states have begun to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day – a holiday meant to honor the culture and history of the people living in the Americas both before and after Columbus’ arrival. In the following Q&A from The Conversation, Susan C. Faircloth, an enrolled member of the Coharie Tribe of North Carolina and professor of education at Colorado State University, explains the history of Indigenous Peoples Day and what it means to American education.

Meet Mauricio Peña, a Chicago reporter who has covered the Southwest Side and migrant farmworkers in Southern California. At Chalkbeat, Mauricio will be covering Chicago Public Schools. This personal essay is his introduction to Chalkbeat readers.

Last fall, the share of Native American students enrolled in college for the first time plummeted by almost a quarter, more than for any other racial or ethnic group, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. In part because they make up less than 1 percent of all undergraduates, Native American students often have trouble finding professors, peers and mentors who understand them and can help them create a sense of community on campus. The pandemic made finding those connections even more difficult, said Megan Red Shirt-Shaw, the director of Native student services at the University of South Dakota, who is Oglala Lakota.

We've all heard about the benefits of learning to read quietly and independently. A big part of learning at school is all about reading, but it's not always easy to find time for more reading at home. Families have busy schedules filled with after-school activities and homework. Plus — let's be honest — with all the tech at kids' fingertips and school days already filled with required reading, it can be hard convincing kids that reading isn't a chore. But Keisha Siriboe says there is a way, and it doesn't have to be independent or quiet! Her solution: reading aloud as a family.

A Modesto professor has received hundreds of emails from Afghan students asking for help over the past couple of months. Since Afghanistan’s government collapsed and the Taliban seized power, Modesto Junior College professor Ruth Luman has created an informational advocacy website, organized community events and multiplied communications with local resettlement agencies.

The College of Southern Idaho hosted a number of events on Monday, to kick off a weeklong celebration of the school's designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution. The school is Idaho’s first college or university to receive that designation, for schools where Hispanic students comprise at least 25% of the population. As part of the day’s events, Idaho Education News' Sami Edge moderated a panel discussion with CSI Hispanic students, to talk about their experiences with the Idaho education system and share their recommendations for how CSI and other colleges can best serve Hispanic youth.

A new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom Tuesday requires all state-subsidized preschool programs to identify the languages children speak at home and the language spoken by program staff. The bill, AB 1363, authored by Assemblymember Luz Rivas, D-North Hollywood, requires preschool programs that receive state funds to serve low-income children to identify the language spoken at home of every child enrolled, as well as the languages used in the classroom and spoken by the preschool teachers.

In her debut novel-in-verse When We Make It, Elisabet Velasquez shares the story of Sarai, a first-generation Puerto Rican eighth grader living in Bushwick, Brooklyn, as she navigates family traumas, toxic masculinity, gentrification, and more. Velasquez talks with SLJ about weaving joy into the heaviness of life, helping young people feel heard, and how stories can give readers a mirror to see their reflections.

They say necessity is the mother of invention. In this case, it’s the mother of a talking cartoon named Mrs. Panda, invented by a highly regarded research professor in education at UC Riverside, Linda Ventriglia-Navarrette, Ph.D., who directs an early childhood initiative focused on English learners called Project Adalente Moving Forward.