ELL News Headlines

The city of St. Louis is struggling to cope with the aftermath of a high school shooting. On Monday, a 19-year-old gunman killed teacher Jean Kuczka and 15-year-old student Alexandria Bell and wounded many others. With residents still on edge, local officials are facing growing pressure to address gun violence. Communities reporter Gabrielle Hays joined Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) recently announced awards of nearly $120 million over five years under the National Professional Development Program (NPD) to support educators of multilingual learners.

According to Human Rights Watch, 32,000 people passed through the Darién Gap in August, a treacherous 66-mile stretch of jungle that straddles the border between Panama and Colombia. That's 40 times more than the same month last year and includes migrants from around the world. Many of the current migrants include families with young children who must navigate deep mud, swift river currents, and steep mountains — as well as the dangers of theft, sexual assault, and travel along drug and human trafficking routes. What's it like to trek through the Darién Gap? And why are so many more migrants choosing to make this week-long journey?

A child who does not speak English is made to enroll in school online — in a language they don’t understand. A young Ukrainian refugee is told district staff won’t translate records from home, delaying their start date. Kristina Moon, senior attorney with the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, has fielded such reports from across the state — all tied to a recent wave of new arrivals. She and other immigrant advocates say it’s the type of discrimination that grows when these children come to the United States in numbers as they are now, with many speaking uncommon languages.

Many school districts have long struggled to hire teachers prepared to work with students with disabilities and with those who don’t speak English as their first language. It’s even harder to find a teacher qualified to do both. The BUENO Center for Multicultural Education, at the University of Colorado Boulder, has secured a federal grant to expand its ongoing work to get more teachers earning those dual certifications.

Maritza Lopez-Gonzalez moved to Philadelphia when she was 13, after Hurricane Maria ravaged her native Puerto Rico. She knew no English. That Lopez-Gonzalez, now 18, won a prestigious award from Major League Baseball last week — and is about to board a plane for Houston to watch the Phillies take on the Astros in the World Series as a guest of the league — is a little bit about luck. But it’s mostly about the kind of person Lopez-Gonzalez is: brave, kind, hardworking, smart, strong.

The number of homeless students is rising, especially in Queens, where families have lost jobs during the pandemic.

Despite measures meant to protect renters during the pandemic, homelessness among Latino residents has spiked in San Francisco.

Friends and family members are remembering Alexzandria Bell as a bright and energetic young woman with a strong personality who looked forward to moving from intermediate dance classes to more advanced training. Bell was less than a month from her 16th birthday when she was killed in a shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School on Monday.

It’s not uncommon for teachers to remain in the same school their entire careers. Even when they do switch schools, they often stay within the same district. Venturing across state lines for a new teaching job, let alone leaving one’s homeland, was once exceedingly rare. But as school districts seek to address stubborn teacher vacancies and hire educators who reflect the diversity of their student bodies, some are extending their recruiting efforts beyond the United States mainland.