ELL News Headlines

As Florida schools open their doors to hundreds of new students from storm-struck Puerto Rico — with even more expected to arrive in the weeks and months to come — district leaders are calling on state and federal lawmakers for help.

English Language Learners, also referred to as dual Language Learners (DLLs) — those under age 8 with at least one parent who speaks a language other than English at home — make up 32 percent of the U.S. young child population and a growing share of children in most states. While these young learners stand to benefit disproportionately from high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC), they are less likely than their peers to be enrolled in such programs—potentially contributing to lags in kindergarten readiness and later academic achievement.

Reading instruction, especially if you're in a state with the Common Core Standards, is the responsibility of all teachers these days.  However, there are probably more ways to teach reading that you can "shake a stick at." And, with all the often competing research recommendations, it can be unclear to teachers which ones they should use in the classroom. This four-part series will specifically examine the biggest mistakes many teachers make when it comes to reading instruction.

When Hurricane Maria struck, Aida Díaz hid in her bathroom with four other family members, including her mother and sister. When she emerged, water had come into her home through the roof. After she tended to more immediate concerns in her home, Díaz, the head of the 40,000-member Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico, had thousands of members of her teacher’s union to think about.

The schools in Puerto Rico are facing massive challenges. All the public schools are without electricity, and more than half don't have water. More than 100 are still functioning as shelters. But Puerto Rico's Secretary of Education, Julia Keleher, tells us that the schools that are open are serving as connection points for communities. They've become a place where children and their families can eat a hot meal and get some emotional support, too.

In the years after the Supreme Court's landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, many Southern states revolted against school desegregation orders. Not Florida. There, leaders accepted them. But there is growing evidence the schools in the nation's third most-populous state are resegregating, according to a report released last month by UCLA’s Civil Rights Project.

Can Puerto Rico's schools get back on their feet in just over a month after the island was devastated by Hurricane Maria? The U.S. territory's top school official is making a push to do just that.

An Education Week reporter and photojournalist went to Puerto Rico this month to see firsthand the devastation on the island after Hurricane Maria. They learned that the island's education secretary hasn't even heard from 20 percent of Puerto Rico's nearly 1,200 schools, and many people are still struggling to access basic supplies, including food and water. When Education Week shared these stories on social media, readers wanted to know: How can we help? People asked about sending supplies. Teachers even asked if they could travel to the island to teach while schools and communities rebuilt. Here are some ways educators can help.

Celia C. Pérez and Jennifer Mathieu, authors of the recently published The First Rule of Punk (Viking, Aug. 2017; Gr 4-7) and Moxie (Roaring Brook, Sept. 2017; Gr 8 Up), respectively offer middle grade and young adult readers complex protagonists who express themselves and their incipient feminism and activism through zines.

Latino students have been making progress in college and earning degrees at a faster rate than in the past, but not at nearly the same rates as their peers, a new report shows. Even as Latinos move up the educational ladder, whites and blacks are outpacing them, which will leave them at a disadvantage as the economy increasingly demands degrees in exchange for decent jobs.