ELL News Headlines

For months, in two of New York City’s most politically progressive neighborhoods, parents debated what to do about their deeply segregated schools. Now, after adopting a series of initiatives last year following many spirited and emotionally charged discussions, these neighborhoods are starting to see swift changes in enrollment, according to city data released on Monday. Several schools in districts in Manhattan and Brooklyn will be more racially and socioeconomically diverse on the first day of school this fall than they are today as a result of these new measures.

Two years ago, The Hechinger Report and The Nation published an investigation of efforts by Gardendale, AL to secede from Jefferson County to form a whiter, wealthier school district that excluded diverse neighborhoods. Now, a new report from EdBuild, a nonprofit that advocates for equitable school funding, shows just how common school secession efforts have become.

Hugo's novel tops Amazon's best-seller list in France, following Monday's fire that ravaged the cathedral. The 19th century story was a campaign to get the cathedral restored.

Author Hena Khan (featured on Colorín Colorado) shares her personal perspective as a mother in this column, writing, "There is a very disturbing trend in schools that is not getting enough attention, perhaps because it is not quantified: hate-laced speech against Muslims that is being normalized and accepted by children. This includes my own children, and it breaks my heart."

A coalition of states and advocacy organizations sued the Trump administration on Wednesday over its rollback of school nutritional standards championed by the former first lady Michelle Obama that required students be served healthier meals.

From Sonia De Los Santos's ¡Alegría!, which explores joy and happiness, to Ginalina's It Takes a Village to Legion of Peace: Songs Inspired by Nobel Laureates by Lori Henriques Quintet featuring Joey Alexander, many of this season’s children’s music selections are filled with thoughtful positivity. But there’s still plenty of room for goofiness and whimsy, as Tom Mason and the Blue Baccaneers' If You Want To Be a Pirate and The Story Pirates' Nothing Is Impossible demonstrate.

The new question-of-the-week is: "What are effective ways to use tech in science classes?" Ed-tech can have an important role in science classes, but, with all the possible options out there, what tools should be used and how should educators use them?

In Acacia WoodsChan's ethnic studies class at Castlemont High School in Oakland, California, students chat with each other in Spanish, Arabic and Mam, a Mayan language from Guatemala. The students have only been in the U.S. for a few weeks or months. Some are from Yemen and many are from countries in Central America — Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

The number of Central American children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally has risen sharply over the last three years, and those numbers are impacting the D.C. area. In 2016, nearly 80,000 unaccompanied minors from Central America were released to communities throughout the nation; roughly 4,000 of them settled in the Washington region. Advocates say the increase is being driven by migrants’ fears of gang violence in their home countries — fears that outweigh heightened concerns about deportation under the Trump administration. And this is what the organizers of a local play "Óyeme, the beautiful" hope to address.

"At Denver Public Library [DPL], trauma walks through our doors every day," says Elissa Hardy, licensed clinical social worker and DPL community resource manager. As a result, throughout the library system, social workers and peer navigators train staff on how to view potentially difficult patron encounters through a trauma-informed lens. "What might appear to be a behavior ‘problem’ may actually be how an individual—including children—has learned to cope in their world," Hardy says.