ELL News Headlines

In the terrifying moments after a gunman opened fire on a crowded subway train in Sunset Park, Brooklyn on Wednesday, schools nearby immediately went into lockdown. The attack came on the heels of other high-profile gun violence across the city. Last week, 16-year-old Angellyh Yambo was killed a few blocks from her Bronx school, University Prep Charter High School, an unintended target as she walked home. Two other students were wounded. Last month, 12-year-old Kade Lewin was shot and killed as he sat in a car. He was remembered on Wednesday in a memorial service at his school, Brooklyn Science and Engineering Academy.

Learn how schools can support members of their school community impacted by the events in Ukraine, as well as how educators and families can discuss the conflict with young people.

In 2022, readers will find new books that will warm their hearts, spark their imaginations, and reflect their lived realities. Here are 12 exciting titles to add to the TBR pile this year.

At least 13 students who spend most of their school day in special needs classrooms did not receive the instruction they were due as English learners in the Adams 14 school district most of last school year. That’s the main complaint in the latest federal civil rights investigation into the Adams 14 school district. Adams 14, which has long struggled to comply with other civil rights agreements stemming from past investigations, is also facing possible drastic action by state officials trying to address lagging student achievement.

Adolescents who have recently immigrated to the United States comprise a large, growing population that faces a variety of academic and social-emotional risk factors. A healthy school climate — norms, goals, values and relationships within schools, along with teaching and learning practices, and organizational structures — is a key factor in protecting these newcomer immigrant adolescents from risk and promoting their success in school and life. However, research examining immigrant youths’ perceptions of school climate has been sparse, which limits efforts to develop interventions designed to improve school climate.

A new course, called Cultivating Compassion and Dignity in Ourselves and Our Schools, offered by the University of Colorado, Boulder, teaches the practice of compassion, and the philosophy that guides it. The course, which has been through the university’s review process, was co-designed by a team of educators, researchers and “contemplative experts,” said Ashley Potvin, one of the project’s leaders and a research associate at the university’s Renée Crown Wellness Institute, an interdisciplinary team of academics dedicated to youth wellness.

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine plays out in real time across news and social media, many parents and teachers are looking for guidance on how to talk to their young people about the crisis and how they can help.

Emilio Delgado, the actor whose decades-long portrayal of Sesame Street‘s fix-it shop owner Luis Rodriguez endeared him to generations of young viewers and was a pioneering force in TV’s depiction of Mexican-Americans, died in New York City recently just more than two years after being diagnosed with the blood cancer multiple myeloma. He was 81.

What happens to our souls when there is no more wilderness to underwrite them? Three new titles explore that question. “Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs,” “Every Leaf a Hallelujah” and “Wingbearer” all feature protagonists who become guardians of the natural world, and by extension of human spirituality.

The National Association of ESEA State Program Administrators (NAESPA) has named two Kentucky schools as National ESEA Distinguished Schools during its national conference on Feb. 16-19. The two are among 49 schools nationwide to receive the honor. Flaherty Elementary School (Meade County) was recognized for closing the achievement gap between student groups. Kenwood Elementary School (Jefferson County) was recognized for excellence in serving special populations of students, such as homeless, migrant and English learners.