ELL News Headlines

Marley Dias was 10 when she first decided to distribute children’s books with black girl leads – a campaign that has taken her to the White House. Now she’s written a book of her own.

It was the summer of 2018, and facilities that housed unaccompanied migrant children were facing a crisis. As the Trump administration rolled out its "zero tolerance" immigration policy, the facilities were asked to detain and care for children who were younger than those they typically held and were enduring trauma staff members were unprepared to address: forced separation from their parents. "The little ones don't know how to express what they are feeling, what has happened. Communication is limited and difficult. They need more attention," one program director told investigators with the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG). The agency recounted problems caused by the short-lived "zero tolerance" policy in a pair of reports released Wednesday.

The devastation in the Bahamas from Hurricane Dorian is unprecedented and catastrophic. Although homes, roadways and some airports remain submerged, chef José Andrés has traveled to the territory with his nonprofit organization, World Central Kitchen, on a mission to feed the victims of the disaster. He spoke with Judy Woodruff about why the islands are so vulnerable and how Americans can help.

Hurricane Dorian struck the northern Bahamas as a Category 5 hurricane on Sunday and stalled over the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama Island for two days. The destructive winds, torrential rains and relentless flooding has likely destroyed more than 10,000 homes and wiped out much of the infrastructure, especially in the Abacos. Aid experts say there will be immediate emergency needs before the long, arduous task of rebuilding begins.

Just days into the new school year, hundreds of schools and universities across four states shut their doors as communities braced for Hurricane Dorian, which was expected to bring high winds and heavy rain to the U.S. mainland.

The numbers appeared troubling. During the 2016-2017 school year, 64 percent of English-language learners who took state reading exams in Virginia passed, according to state data. Two years later, passing rates plunged to 35 percent. But the numbers didn't paint a complete picture. Previously, Virginia education officials included the scores of those former English-language learners in their calculation of overall passing rates, for up to two years after the student was no longer classified as an English-language learner. That had the effect of inflating the passing rate for that group of students overall.

Two years ago, she waited 12 hours in line for ice after Hurricane Maria devastated her town in Puerto Rico. Julian Rodriguez, 28, feared she would face similar circumstances as Hurricane Dorian threatened her new life in Orlando. 

The threat of Hurricane Dorian is forcing school districts in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Volusia and Lake to cancel classes Wednesday. Public schools across Central Florida were already scheduled to be closed Tuesday.

Years after reports surfaced of alarmingly high lead levels in the water system, the toll of the crisis is becoming clear: At least 1 in 5 students in Flint's public schools are eligible for special education—and the school system is buckling under the weight of federal requirements and costs for providing programs and services. The percentage of special education students has increased by 56 percent, rising from 13.1 percent in 2012-13, the school year before the water crisis began, to 20.5 percent last school year.

Debbie Reese shares her review for THANKU: Poems of Gratitude. This poetry anthology, illustrated by Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota/Mohegan/Muscokee Creek) and edited by Miranda Paul, explores a wide range of ways to be grateful (from gratitude for a puppy to gratitude for family to gratitude for the sky) with poems by a diverse group of contributors, including Joseph Bruchac, Margarita Engle, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Naomi Shihab Nye, Charles Waters, Jane Yolen, and Kimberly Blaeser.