ELL News Headlines

Illinois' use of English-language-learner data as an "emerging bright spot" for states looking to better serve and understand the growing, but often misunderstood, student population, according to a report from a Washington-based think tank. In the new report, New America examines how the state's effort to use longitudinal data could serve as a model for other states seeking guidance on how to accurately evaluate the academic growth and needs of their English-language learners. New America also praises Illinois' partnership with the Latino Policy Forum, a Chicago-based advocacy group that advises state on English-learner issues.

After a decade of large-scale growth in overseas enrollment, the number of international students studying at U.S. colleges and universities is dropping — leading some schools to make budget cuts. It's these students who frequently pay full tuition and fees at American schools, netting more revenue per student than from in-state or scholarship students. Admissions officials say one of the reasons for the decline is a more skeptical view of the U.S. from prospective students.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie Bezos, have donated $33 million to a scholarship fund for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children — the biggest grant in the organization’s history. "My dad came to the U.S. when he was 16 as part of Operation Pedro Pan," Jeff Bezos said in a statement Friday. "He landed in this country alone and unable to speak English. With a lot of grit and determination – and the help of some remarkable organizations in Delaware – my dad became an outstanding citizen, and he continues to give back to the country that he feels blessed him in so many ways. MacKenzie and I are honored to be able to help today's Dreamers by funding these scholarships."

Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. (Thanks to Teaching Tolerance for reminding us of this video!)

How do we love and care for one another? Award-winning author de la Peña sets out not only to count the ways but also to help young people recognize and take these tender mercies to heart, especially when times are tough and beyond the control of the adults around them.

The Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee, a refugee aid group, won a first-of-its kind $100 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in late December for an ambitious education and outreach program designed to address the needs of displaced Syrian children. The program was selected for the five-year grant from a list of finalists for the foundation's 100&Change competition, which asked organizations to propose "bold solutions to critical problems of our time."

Prolific author Carole Boston Weatherford's picture book biography Schomburg:​ ​The​ ​Man​ ​Who​ ​Built​ ​a​ ​Library (Candlewick), about the Afro-Latino bibliophile and historian  Arturo Schomburg, has garnered the first-ever Walter Award in the Younger Readers category. Long Way Down (Atheneum) by Jason Reynolds won the top award in the Teen category. Reynolds's All American Boys, coauthored by Brendan Kiely, received the inaugural "Walter" in 2016. Both of this year's winners were selected as 2017 SLJ Best Books. In its third year, The Walter honors outstanding titles for young people that celebrate diversity.

Despite its widespread use — Paraguay is the only country in the Americas where the majority of the population speaks a single indigenous language — the Guaraní language has long been considered palatable for use on the streets and at home, but unsuitable in the spheres of power. Yet today, officials and intellectuals in Paraguay are working to promote a positive image of the language, in an effort to make good on the 1992 Constitution's aim to put it on equal footing with Spanish. It has been a slog. Centuries of subjugation made Guaraní a second-class language in the minds of many Paraguayans.

Too often, low-income, black and Latino students end up in schools with crumbling walls, old textbooks and unqualified teachers, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The commission said inequities are caused by the fact that schools are most funded with state and local tax dollars. More than 92 percent of funding comes from nonfederal sources, according to the Education Department.

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.