ELL News Headlines

In the spring of 2022, the U.S. Department of the Interior released an investigation into the systematic physical and emotional abuse and forced assimilation that Native American children suffered at more than 400 boarding schools in the 19th and 20th centuries. According to the federal investigation, the United States operated or supported these schools in 37 states or then-territories. In what is now the state of Oklahoma, there were 76 boarding schools alone — the highest number in the country. One of those schools was Chilocco Indian School, which opened in 1884 and continued the government’s abusive form of instruction until the early 1930s when federal policy reforms introduced some improvements to boarding schools. By the time Chilocco closed in 1980, 18,000 students had attended the school. Eugene Howe (Ponca) graduated from Chilocco in 1950, where he excelled in athletics. He would later talk to his son Dwight fondly about his experience there. From a young age, Dwight Howe (Omaha/Ponca), knew he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps to attend Chilocco. Here, the younger Howe looks back at his experience at the school as a pivotal one that helped shape his identity — even as he questions whether a different educational experience might have taken him down another path.

Children in kindergarten when the pandemic broke out in the spring of 2020 are now roughly eight years old and in third grade this 2022-23 school year. A new report by the nonprofit educational assessment maker NWEA documents that third graders are currently suffering the largest pandemic-related learning losses in reading, compared to older students in grades four to eight, and not readily recovering.

Next month, New York City will begin providing subsidized child care to low-income, undocumented families, who typically can’t access such services because of their immigration status. 

When you're looking for a friend, there are things that matter, and things that don't. Julie Fogliano's I Don't Care is about what's not important as well as what is, and it's illustrated by two artists who happen to be best friends: Molly Idle and Juana Martinez-Neal.

Last week, the state of Maine swore in the most diverse state legislature in its history, including its first Black speaker of the House, its first Black woman state senator and its first two Somali American state representatives. Maine Public Radio's Ari Snider has this report.

December 2022 marks 10 years since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, when 20 students and six educators were killed. Davis Dunavin, who covered the Sandy Hook shooting in December 2012 as a young reporter, is behind a new podcast looking at the community a decade since the shooting.

As of February 2022, Texas led the nation in the number of Afghan refugees it had received, a number that exceeded 10,000 at the time. Here, one Austin middle schooler who arrived from Afghanistan in 2021 and has been enrolled in school for a year, shares his experience.

Ashally De La Cruz is a senior at Central Park East High School in New York City. In this essay about her experiences growing up in poverty, she writes, "It feels good to admit the things I have always been afraid to tell others. Maybe kids whose families struggle — or just don’t have as much as their friends do — will feel less alone. Maybe they will feel proud of the sacrifices their immigrant parents have made."

By helping young students develop social awareness and emotional literacy, teachers can create a calm environment in the classroom—and build the foundation for lifelong learning.

A new program wants to help Indiana teachers get licensed to teach the state’s growing population of English language learners. The Indiana Teacher of English Language Learners (I-TELL) program will pay for tuition and fees for current educators to earn the additional licensure they need to become teachers of record for students who are learning English. It’s a partnership between the Indiana Department of Education and University of Indianapolis’ Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning.