ELL News Headlines

Throughout the week, Colorín Colorado gathers news headlines related to English language learners from around the country. The ELL Headlines are posted Monday through Friday and are available for free!

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Trump Administration's Immigration Policies Hurting Academics and School Attendance, Survey Finds

Nearly 80 percent of educators report having students who have experienced emotional or behavioral problems because they are concerned about immigration enforcement, according to a new national survey from the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles. Overall, 84 percent of educators who participated in the survey said they have students who are concerned about immigration enforcement, with 36 percent of them reporting that students felt "nearly overwhelmed by fear and worry."

After a Dramatic Pause, Carvalho Decides to Stay in Miami — and New York Isn’t Happy

In a dramatic reversal that has angered Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has turned down a job as head of New York City schools. Carvalho had already privately accepted the job as New York City schools chancellor, which would have made him chief of the nation’s largest school system. Then, after a three-hour meeting in which School Board members, students and members of the public lavished Carvalho with praise, the superintendent appeared to have a change of heart.


Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article202867504.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article202867504.html#storylink=cpy

NEA Focuses Read Across America on Diversity, Not Dr. Seuss

Read Across America (RAA) and Dr. Seuss have always been linked. RAA events typically involve children in red-and-white striped hats, listening to a Dr. Seuss classic. In past years at the premier event in Washington, DC, local elementary students have heard Michelle Obama read The Cat in the Hat and the National Education Association (NEA) president recite Green Eggs and Ham. This year, however, they will listen to author Jesse Holland read an excerpt from his novel Black Panther: Who is the Black Panther? The 2018 Read Across America theme is "Celebrating a Nation of Diverse Readers" and the NEA press release notes that the hundreds of fourth graders in attendance on Thursday March 1 will be wearing "a rainbow of colors."

DeVos Moves to Delay Obama-Era Rule on Minority Special-Education Students

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is seeking public comment on a plan to delay the implementation of an Obama-era rule that is intended to prevent schools from unnecessarily pushing minority students into special education. The Education Department published a note in the Federal Register on Tuesday that says it wants to delay for two years the rule that was intended to be implemented starting in the 2018-2019 school year.

After Supreme Court Declines to Hear Trump's Appeal, DACA Is Still on the Books

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a lawsuit over the future of DACA, which protects 690,000 undocumented immigrants from deportation and grants them work permits. The High Court's decision represents a temporary victory for the young adults brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents or guardians under the program established by President Barack Obama in 2012: It ensures DACA will remain in effect for recipients after the March 5 deadline originally set by President Donald Trump. DACA-protected immigrants whose permits lapsed, or those with permits that will expire soon, may continue to apply for renewals for the time being. However, eligible undocumented immigrants who turned 15 after that date still won't be able to apply, and neither will immigrants who would have qualified for DACA but never applied.

See related coverage from The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, PBS NewsHour, and USA Today.

Schools Are Ill-Prepared to Educate 'Superdiverse' English-Learners

Public policy, research, and teaching methods have not adjusted to accommodate the nation's increasingly diverse English-language-learner population—and the problem begins well before children enter K-12 classrooms, a new report from the Migration Policy Institute finds.

'It's Not Just A Story. It's Our Lives': Student Journalists in Parkland

"Valentine's Day was a day of love, passion and friendships as Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School celebrated February 14, 2018 ..." That's how the student journalists writing for the Eagle Eye, the newspaper at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, started their story about one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern history. Student journalists often face a challenge balancing their roles as students and objective reporters. In the past year, intrepid high school journalists have made headlines for their coverage. But writing about your school becomes even harder when everyone else is writing about it, too.

School Boards Increasingly Embrace the ABCs of Social Activism

Long known as unflashy arbiters of budgets and boundaries, some city and suburban school boards are shedding their stodgy reputation and staking out ardent positions on political and social issues. Skeptics question the utility or appropriateness of those declarations, but some boards view decrying gender and racial inequity as part of their professional duty.

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