ELL News Headlines

A large poster hangs on the wall close to the door of Claudia Quezada's classroom in Franklin. The poster reads, "We can make a difference." Below the text is an illustration of children holding hands around the world. Quezada, an English Language Learner teacher at Johnson Elementary, said she likes the poster because of it's message of acceptance. Quezada did not know English when she moved to Franklin at the age of 10. Now the 28-year-old helps kids learn English in the same school district in which she grew up.

A federal judge in California has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's efforts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for undocumented immigrants, the Associated Press reports. On Tuesday, Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California in San Francisco ruled that the Department of Homeland Security must allow former DACA recipients who failed to renew their status by an October 5 deadline a chance to submit renewal applications for the program, which grants work permits and protection from deportation for 700,000 immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children.

The National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Gene Luen Yang passed the baton to his successor Jacqueline Woodson on Tuesday. NPR takes a look at where young people's literature is now and where the new ambassador would like to take it in the coming year.

Ten years ago, girls were so scarce in high school computer science classes that the number of female students taking Advanced Placement tests in that subject could be counted on one hand in nine states. In five others, there were none. Latino and African American students were also in short supply, a problem that has bedeviled educators for years and hindered efforts to diversify the high-tech workforce. Now, an expansion of AP computer science classes is helping to draw more girls and underrepresented minorities into a field of growing importance for schools, universities and the economy.

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.