ELL News Headlines

Mulberry School for Girls serves a population that is 94 % Bangladeshi and 98% Muslim, girls who are growing up in one of the poorest areas of England. A core tenet of the school is "women as leaders"—this focus helped turn the school around and make it one of the leading schools for girls in the country. First Lady Michelle Obama was so impressed with the school that she invited a delegation of the girls to Washington, DC, to get their input on the formation of the Let Girls Learn campaign, an effort to support education for girls around the world. Instead of just going to DC, they established a civil rights club at the school and extended the visit to a weeklong tour of the southern United States to learn about the American civil rights movement.

Latino parents in the DeKalb and Sycamore school districts are preparing for the spring session of Universidad para Padres (Parent University), a free program that empowers mothers, fathers and grandparents to take active roles in their personal growth along with their children's academic success. During program sessions, local experts cover everything from bilingual education in the local K-12 education system to the ins and outs the college exploration and application process.

A new San Francisco Public Library program, We Love Diverse Books includes 50 events during January to broaden the scope of what patrons read, including author discussions, cooking lessons and manga art workshops. The program emphasizes the importance of "literary mirrors," where readers see themselves and their identities reflected in the books they read.

Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Department of Education, sought to use her confirmation hearing to beat back the notion that she would undermine public education as head of the department, as Democrats pressed her on everything from her views on the civil rights of gay and lesbian students, to states' responsibilities for students in special education, and guns in schools. 

As the Penn State College of Education's relationship with the community of Hazleton and its school district continues to expand, so do opportunities for the city's English learners. The U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition awarded Penn State a five-year, $2.1 million grant that is intended, among other things, to foster ambitious science and language teaching practices in Hazleton elementary classrooms that contribute to English learners' academic success.

School talk today is generally around rigorous content and 21^st-century skills and how we can measure those to make schools accountable. There is, however, a much more powerful, if subtle, set of factors that makes going to school worthwhile for both students and teachers. Any teacher-student relationship involves a whole cluster of things going on: trust, motivation, purpose, persistence, curiosity.  Humor--and joy. Multiply that by 30--or 150--students every day.

At ReNEW Cultural Arts Academy, students put their multiplication tables to song, while eighth graders use the musical "Hamilton" to study debate. The public charter school's curriculum is a product of a federal effort to use arts education to boost achievement in the nation's lowest performing schools. Jeffrey Brown reports.

Since 2014, the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks has grown into the We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) nonprofit organization supporting diversity in children's literature with special events, panel discussions, writing contests, grant awards, mentorships, resources for teachers and librarians, and now, its first book — "Flying Lessons & Other Stories," a middle-grade anthology for children ages 8 to 12 released this week by Crown Books for Young Readers. The anthology features award-winning authors Kwame Alexander, Soman Chainani, Matt de la Peña, Tim Federle, Grace Lin, Meg Medina, Tim Tingle, and Jacqueline Woodson.

Now that voters have passed Proposition 58, school districts and principals across the state are trying to figure out whether to grow bilingual education programs – and if so, how. Three experts talk about what should happen next.