ELL News Headlines

Immigrant students — whether they are refugees, unaccompanied minors, or migrants — are becoming increasingly visible in K-12 schools across the country as immigration topics dominate headlines.

Philadelphia celebrated the end of “Welcoming Week” by honoring city workers and community advocates who help immigrants, refugees, and others figure out how to make the city their new home.

Welcome centers with staff that reflect the culture and speak the languages of immigrant students and families. Bus tours of the school district’s neighborhoods. Even assisting in international evacuations of students.

Jennifer Founds had an eighth grade student who was always hanging out in the hallways when he was supposed to be in class at Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School (MLK) in San Francisco. She considered him to be one of her more challenging students, but when the class started a unit to see which student could build the most supportive bridge for a competition, he willingly showed up. “So we were like, ‘OK, this is something we really need to build on,’” Founds said. “They [came] to class when they felt that the work was hands-on, meaningful and interesting.”

The Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is providing free books to children in Dearborn until they are five years old. On Tuesday, Dearborn’s Mayor Abdullah Hammoud announced the partnership as a mission to promote early literacy among the city’s youth. The Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program will allow parents of eligible children to order one free book every month until their child turns five years old.

One late September morning at Su Casa Preschool, seven 4-year-olds sat cross-legged on their classroom’s reading rug, anxiously awaiting their turn to share what they had accomplished that morning. When tossed a tennis ball signaling her turn during recall time, or “tiempo de recordar,” Citlali declared in English that she’d played with blocks. She passed the ball to Alli, who recounted in Spanish making lemonade in their classroom’s play kitchen.

Millions of K-12 students missed school this week in Florida, as nearly every public school district in the state closed its buildings during the onslaught of Hurricane Ian. At least 55 of Florida's 67 public school districts closed for at least one day, according to the state's department of education, district websites and social media. The districts that remained open were largely in the state's panhandle.

In American history, schools have not just been places to learn the ABCs – they're places where socialization happens and cultural norms are developed. Arguments over how and what those norms are and how they're communicated tend to flare up during moments of cultural anxiety. Sesame Street was part of a larger movement in the late 1960s to reach lower income, less privileged and more "urban" audiences. It was part of LBJ's Great Society agenda. But Sesame Street is a TV show – not a classroom. And it was funded in part by taxpayer dollars. This story is about how a television show made to represent New York City neighborhoods – like Harlem and the Bronx – has sustained its mark in educating children in a divided country.

Colorado children from low- and even middle-income families could be eligible for 20 hours a week of free preschool next year under proposed rules set to be discussed this week. That’s double the 10 hours a week guaranteed to all 4-year-olds under the law. 

Yesabel Inga works at Bridges Academy at Melrose in East Oakland, where she is the only therapist for some 400 students, a quarter of them newcomers. The majority are from Guatemala and speak Mam, a Mayan language spoken by some half a million people in that country and Mexico.