ELL News Headlines

Denver Public Schools is setting ambitious goals for Latino students, families, and employees in response to a report from earlier this year that highlighted “serious barriers” to their success.

Positive attitudes toward school and access to dual-language immersion programs are associated with better academic performance among English learners. Learning in overcrowded classrooms and having a disability, meanwhile, are characteristics associated with lower reading scores among this growing subset of the student population.

Teaching multilingual students about Greek and Latin roots in words can help them systematically build their knowledge of English.

Vowing to uplift student voices, Anely Cortez Lopez was sworn in as the Los Angeles Unified School District school board student board member on Aug. 13 — the second day of the 2024-25 school year. Lopez, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, said that from a young age, her mother would take her to town hall and neighborhood meetings where she would often help translate for her mother. That was where she quickly developed a passion for civic engagement — which has morphed into college plans for studying political science, with an emphasis on public health. 

California published a guide for how districts should serve English learners seven years ago. It’s called the English Learner Roadmap Policy, and it’s largely seen as groundbreaking. But many districts still haven’t used that road map to change their practices, advocates say.

Sandra Hernandez knows what a struggle it can be for students to learn English while in high school. She’s been raising four multilingual children, including a 17-year-old niece who just returned from Mexico to live with her in Durango in southwest Colorado.

Nikki Corbett was desperate. The mother and small business owner had searched online and in stores near her home in Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, but she could not find any books to teach her young children the Yup’ik language.

By creating ways for families to feel welcome and included, administrators can strengthen the relationship between home and school.

The National Book Foundation has announced the longlist for the 2024 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. The list includes books by Margarita Engle, Erin Entrada Kelly, and Violet Duncan (Cree and Taino).

Tuesday night’s presidential debate directed more attention to an Ohio city that has grown in recent years with the arrival of newcomers from Haiti. That growth in Springfield, Ohio, has not only spurred local population growth and economic development, but also enrollment growth for the local school district.