ELL News Headlines

When the school year began in August for the Cajon Valley Union district in California, some members of the school community from Afghanistan were missing. Through local and international phone calls, staff in the district tracked down eight families who, after going to visit relatives in Afghanistan, had been unable to return to the United States amid the chaos of military evacuations and rising Taliban control, said Michael Serban, director of the district’s family and community engagement office. Like administrators in some other districts, Serban’s staff suddenly found themselves contacting legislators and government agencies to help bring families back.

Heejae Lim is the founder of TalkingPoints, a nonprofit, multilingual educational technology platform that helps teachers and families connect for student success. In this commentary, she writes, "If the last year and a half of virtual learning and debates about school closures has taught us anything, it is that family-school connections are critical to student well-being and learning."

After spending much of the 2020-2021 school year learning in virtual environments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students are once again filling classrooms this fall. Juli Dominguez, a teacher at Kekionga Middle School, says she can feel a renewed sense of excitement and relief among her students.

Dr. Trini Hernandez is a new associate principal at Montgomery C. Smith Elementary School. Prior to becoming an administrator, she taught Spanish to junior and senior high school students. As an assistant principal, she collaborated with teachers and administrators to develop strategies to increase individual student achievement and prepare students for a successful transition, whether it be into their career or higher education. Dr. Hernandez also served as the Director for the Questar III BOCES Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network.

Nearly a month after the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan, hundreds of refugees who fled the Taliban are preparing to settle here in Western New York.

In California, home to the largest number of Afghan refugees in the country, school officials are preparing for an influx of refugee students who fled Afghanistan with their families after the Taliban seized power in the country last month.

In Port Orford, Oregon, it's a quick walk from the elementary and middle school building to the town library — the two buildings are right down the street from each other. In fact, the town library and school are linked by more than geography, since the school district's two libraries became part of the Port Orford library system in 2017. The town's library system stepped in to assist the district in buying books, organizing the collection, and other management tasks.

Debbie Reese shares her review of The Diné Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature.

The nation's top education official stopped in South Bend on Wednesday to celebrate the safe return of in-person classes at schools, including the use of masks, as part of his tour across the Midwest. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona joined South Bend school district leaders at Madison STEAM Academy for his "Return to School Road Trip" bus tour. While at Madison, Cardona visited several classrooms, ranging from an English Language Learners room to a STEM maker-space.

Kansas City Public School District (KCPS) is rethinking the methods they use to teach immigrants and refugee students. When the district returned to school this fall, English Language Learners (ELLs) were welcomed to the new International Welcome Center. The center will also serve as a "one-stop shop" for resources, enrollment, translation and other services for their families.