ELL News Headlines

Don't let the name fool you. It’s no cake walk putting out the Easy English Times. Four thousand copies of the Napa Valley-based adult literacy and English-as-a-Second-Language newspaper are printed at a Healdsburg press and sent to readers across 20 states, 10 times per year, said publisher and co-founder Betty Malmgren.

A Raleigh author is celebrating after his new book made the New York Times Best Seller’s List. Kwame Mbalia's novel, "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky," highlights a demographic that often lacks representation in children’s literature. According to Mbalia, the book is based on African folktales. It tells the story of an African-American boy who is sucked into a world where folktales and West African gods are in conflict. "This is one of the [few] times that we’ve seen them on the front cover of a major publisher to be exposed to millions of kids," said Mbalia, who spends his career trying to put narratives featuring African Americans in the spotlight. Although this is Mbalia's first book, several big names took notice while he was still writing. "Tristan Strong" is presented by Rick Riordan, the well-known author of the Percy Jackson series.

Equity in education, broadly speaking, means that schools provide all students the supports they need to reach their fullest potential. Officials often focus on racial, economic, and gender gaps in academic performance, and how school policies perpetuate those disparities. Drawing attention to longstanding racial inequities in school district practices is challenging, exciting, and essential work, according to chief equity officers interviewed in six districts and one charter network.

The school walkouts that have spread across the country since early last year have rallied the public behind teachers. But high on the list of priorities in more recent protests, especially in large urban districts like Chicago, are demands for support staff focused on students' well-being — counselors, nurses and psychologists.

Latinx students at a San Antonio college are learning to challenge negative perceptions around Spanglish.

Mayko Calmo-Gomez, 19, is among a new generation of Latino students in Sampson County, North Carolina who are striving for something that eluded their parents. The county is known for hogs and blueberries, which provide jobs that have attracted hundreds of Latino immigrant families. The percentage of Latino students in the county has grown from 27 to 40 percent in the last decade. But the jobs have a downside. The work is hard, the hours are long and the pay is meager, exacerbating a cycle of poverty that has been tough to break. Just 31 percent of Latino adults who are older than 25 have a high school diploma, one of the lowest rates in the country.

The number of Latino kids in Tennessee grew more than 250% over the span of 17 years, helping lead the growing diversity among the state's children.

Four months after taking over management of the Adams 14 school district north of Denver, MGT leaders have submitted a plan to the federal government on how they will educate English learners.

Pine Forest Elementary School fourth grader Julietta Ramirez won Florida's Hispanic Heritage Month Essay contest for a piece she wrote on Circuit Court Judge Tatiana Radi Salvador. Both Julietta and Judge Salvador are Colombian. "Not many fourth-graders would choose to spend their free time researching for an essay and setting up appointments to interview judges," fourth-grade teacher Michelle Lovelace said. "But Julietta is very passionate about public service and Hispanic representation in her community. She is proud of her roots and wants to share that with the world around her."

The Chicago teachers' strike is now in its fifth day, with no clear indication of when it might end. Teachers are calling for changes that include increased compensation, but also go beyond it -- and they charge that the city's new mayor, Lori Lightfoot, has shifted her position since coming into office in May. John Yang reports and talks to reporter Brandis Friedman of Chicago's WTTW.