ELL News Headlines

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.

Students all over Arizona are suspended for not showing up to class, whether it’s because they arrive late, leave campus midday or fail to make it at all, an investigation by The Hechinger Report and the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting has found. And, the data shows, Black, Latino and Native American students are frequently overrepresented among those blocked from class for missing class — what some argue is evidence of a potential civil rights violation.

On Nov. 8, Californians overwhelmingly passed Proposition 28, which will bring a windfall of arts education funding to California schools. Advocates say the investment is long overdue, as arts education has declined in most districts — particularly those in low-income areas — for decades. While the state requires arts education in grades one to six and a year of arts education in high school, it’s up to districts to decide how to fund and implement it. The result has been an inconsistent patchwork of arts programs that leave many children with little exposure to music, dance, art and other creative forms of expression. 

At first glance, the 60 trees that border Tehipite Middle School in Fresno may not look like much. Only a few years old, they are still short and thin, some supported by wooden poles on each side. But their potential is large, especially for the health of students and staff.

In response to book banning attempts that are disproportionately impacting diverse books and authors, We Need Diverse Books is launching "Books Save Lives," a new initiative to fight back against censorship and support students and authors.