ELL News Headlines

Mastering algebra in middle school can give kids an advantage for the rest of their educational trajectory. But in Chicago, access to the course before high school has long been inequitable. Schools without algebra in the middle grades have been largely located in predominantly Black and lower income neighborhoods on the south and west sides. For students who do take algebra in eighth grade, state data shows white and Asian American students in Chicago Public Schools are more than twice as likely to pass than Black and Latino students. But the district says it is trying to address the inequity and has found some success.

María Emilia Martin, the pioneering radio journalist and founder of Latino USA, media educator and tireless advocate for Latinos, Latinas, and Indigenous voices in journalism, passed away due to health complications in Texas over the weekend. Born in Mexico City and raised in California, Martin dedicated half a century to her work on public radio. Her 2020 book, "Crossing Borders, Building Bridges: A Journalist's Heart in Latin America," chronicles her journey overcoming racism and sexism in U.S. media. She paved the way for new generations of Latino journalists, particularly women.

This obituary remembers Dr. Jean Pierre-Louis, a pioneer in the field of Bilingual Education. His family writes that he believed "in equal opportunities for immigrant students and in making learning accessible to all students, regardless of their language proficiency. In this regard, Jean was one of the first Haitian resource specialists hired by the New York City Board of Education, Office of Bilingual Education. Moreover, he worked with other advocates to establish and support Haitian Creole Bilingual programs in New York City schools." 

Community groups have been working with Detroit school communities on absenteeism for more than a decade. Despite their limited staff and budgets, they help fill gaps in the strategies schools and the district use to improve student attendance, focusing on specific barriers, such as inconsistent transportation, food insecurity, and lack of clean clothes.

This North Country Public Radio news program includes the following topics: Governor Kathy Hochul summoned the likely Democratic nominee to run to replace ousted Congressman George Santos; we'll meet immigrants learning English at a literacy class in Plattsburgh; and renting woes turned DIY art.

Red Clay Consolidated School District shared plans last month to "phase-out" Spanish immersion at Marbrook Elementary, sending letters home on Nov. 6. After a heated parent meeting nearly a month later, it would become clear the decision is bigger than one elementary school and impacts several New Castle County families banking on immersive instruction for their kids.

Boston Public Schools has hired a new chief of its troubled Office of Multilingual and Multicultural Education, about one and a half years after the department’s last administrator was forced to resign amid another controversy over the way students learning English are taught. Starting in January, Joelle Gamere, assistant principal and director of the Toussaint L’Ouverture Academy at Mattahunt Elementary School in Mattapan, will lead the department, formerly known as the Office of English Learners, making her the seventh person to helm the office since 2019. Gamere assumes her new role at a time of political and strategic upheaval for the district’s English learners programming.

Back in her early days of teaching, Rebecca Bergey thought it was her job as a teacher of English learners to prepare her students with enough language to survive in content area classes. But as Bergey — now a principal researcher at the nonprofit American Institutes for Research — grew in her teaching, she realized that language learning operates at a systems level.

Mayra Calderon Diaz’s kids are all enrolled in Savannah public schools, between grades 2 and 7. The Mexican mother of three says she has tried to be as involved as possible in her children’s education, but a persistent language barrier has made that difficult. Over the years, communicating with front desk staff posed challenge after challenge, and meetings with teachers came with a $50 price tag – to cover the cost of bringing a translator with her. Once, a communication issue kept her daughter off the school bus route for weeks. During the pandemic, there was difficulty keeping up with the schools’ announcements about the shift to remote learning.