ELL News Headlines

"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.

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.

"Dual Immersion" is a phrase you hear more-and-more in education circles.  This column from Larry Ferlazzo will explore what it means in practice with Elizabeth B. Beltran, Barbara Gottschalk, Dr. Conor P. Williams, Carol Salva, Margarita Calderón, Ph.D., Shawn Slakk, and Leslie Davison.

It was supposed to be a day like any other for Amanda Alexander. The District’s chief of elementary schools ran 3½ miles on the treadmill and arrived at work with plans to visit two schools and meet with some of her ­deputies. But then Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) summoned Alexander in the morning with a startling question: Would she be willing to run the entire D.C. Public Schools system? Chancellor Antwan Wilson was being forced to resign, and Bowser needed someone immediately to take charge for the rest of the school year. Alexander accepted and, by late Tuesday afternoon, became interim chancellor of a system engulfed in two scandals, one involving graduation policy and the other the school lottery.

In a new report, Latino teachers say they have unique strengths that benefit their students and the whole school—but that sometimes hamper their own professional success. The report, released by The Education Trust, tells the stories of Latino teachers who say they want to advocate for their students, which might mean incorporating the Spanish language or Latino culture into their classrooms or accepting the added responsibilities of being a translator. But when they do this work, they say, they are viewed as being inferior teachers or only good for Latino students—and that they are overlooked for advancement opportunities.

Alt.Latino shares some great new music in celebration of Black History Month: songs with a musical or cultural connection to Africa and Latin America — which is not hard to do given the dark historical shadow of the slave trade in the Americas. This week, we pull some tracks aside that reflect the connection in ways that would surprise.

Students and community members grieving the largest mass shooting at an American high school express a common sentiment that’s as much a challenge as it is a prediction: Nothing will change. Now grief and anger are driving students in Parkland to ask tough questions of the adults responsible for protecting them.

Tommy Rock has had three graduations — high school, college and graduate school. And no one from his family was there — no one to cheer for him, no one to take his picture. And when he came home to Monument Valley, few really cared. After Rock graduated from high school, he did what everyone else did in Monument Valley: He worked in the tourism industry. But he had his sights set on college.

In the over three decades he hosted the children's television show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood,' Fred Rogers conveyed virtue and kindness with his signature zippered cardigans and puppet friends. Next month, the United States Postal Service will immortalize Mr. Rogers, who died of cancer in 2003, alongside cultural and political icons such as Elvis, Big Bird and former presidents, when it introduces a Forever postage stamp with his portrait.

Robert Runcie, the superintendent in Broward County, Fla., had just finished a big celebration—handing the keys of a new Toyota Camry to his school district's teacher of the year—when the barrage of urgent text messages started.