ELL News Headlines

The Trump administration will end temporary legal immigration status for hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans who have been living in the United States since 2001. The decision could upend the lives of thousands of U.S.-born, school-age children in U.S. K-12 schools. How many children would be affected is unclear, but the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based research group, estimates that the decision could alter the immigration status of as many as one in every five Salvadoran immigrants living in the United States.

Columnist Andre Perry writes, "Broken boiler heaters forced numerous students in Baltimore to learn in freezing conditions and once again put Baltimore under scrutiny for its treatment of black residents. Students shivering in winter coats while trying to learn is horrific in itself, but the malfunctioning boilers are a metaphor for the wider problems with the criminal justice systems, schools, housing and economic development plans in the 'Charm City.'"

Jacqueline Woodson has been named the sixth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Woodson, a four-time Newbery Honor Medalist, Coretta Scott King Book Award winner, former Young People's Poet Laureate, and National Book Award Winner for her memoir in verse, Brown Girl Dreaming (Penguin, 2014), succeeds Gene Luen Yang in the position. The ambassadorship is jointly sponsored by the Children’s Book Council, Every Child a Reader, and the Library of Congress (LC). Ambassadors identify a platform for their two-year term, and Woodson has selected the phrase READING = HOPE x CHANGE (What's Your Equation?).

As the deadline for the end of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals nears, each week hundreds of young people who were brought to the United States illegally by their parents are losing the permits that allow them to legally work and stay in the country. The lack of progress and looming deadline has left undocumented residents, many of whom teach and learn in the nation's K-12 schools, in a state of constant uncertainty, with a sense of hopelessness already setting in for some.

On Sept. 20, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, initially wiping out electricity and cellular reception on the entire island and causing billions of dollars in structural damage. Nearly four months later, much of the island still has no power and there are debates over the official death toll. Although the island officially reopened its doors to tourism last month, locals and natives note that the Christmas holiday was understandably scaled back compared to years past. But while Christmas was subdued, morale on the island was being re-energized by this weekend's celebration of Three Kings Day.

Dual-immersion seems to be good at everything — for everybody. It’s popular with English-dominant families, it's good for ELs, it's effective at promoting integration and multilingualism. But — and here's the rub — if a two-way dual-immersion program helps generate middle-class interest in multilingualism, that dynamic could also undermine the program’s design and effectiveness. What happens when rising demand from privileged families starts pushing English learners out of these programs? Advocates for educational equity are already seeing this specific problem play out in their communities.

The most significant change for schools in the Republican tax reform plan is likely how state and local taxes are handled because of its potential impact on school funding. But why? And where could it have the greatest impact? Buckle up. 

Each year, states publish "report cards" on student performance in K-12 education, as measured by math and reading tests, graduation rates, and other key indicators. For the public, this information provides a critical snapshot of school quality. Now, as states shift to the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, federal law requires these report cards to include more meaningful data on English learner students.

Visit an elementary school in Kentucky's Jefferson County Public Schools and you may find students doing partner yoga poses. The activity, part of a massive study of a "whole-child" education program called the Compassionate Schools Project, has several purposes. When students do these partner poses, they practice mindfulness — paying attention to their own bodies — and they learn how to cooperate and problem-solve with a peer. It's a physical activity that asks students to practice balance and agility while also engaging them mentally and socially.

Remezcla wanted to learn more about how first-generation Latino students – those who are the first in their families to graduate from college – navigate the uncharted waters that they encounter. The team interviewed seven undergraduate and graduate students, 6 women and one man between the ages of 21 and 30, to understand what it takes to succeed at institutions that are often not equipped to support first-gen students. While their circumstances widely varied from one another, the Remezcla team found that they all credited their families and the connections they made during college as key to their success. Here are their stories.