ELL News Headlines

Dominique Marshall moved a lot in her youth. She called many different places "home" over short periods of time when she was 17. She learned at a young age that the public school staff and liaisons she grew up around weren't adequately trained to recognize homeless students.

The Spring ISD board of trustees unanimously voted to name Lupita Hinojosa as the district's new superintendent Jan. 28 — a little over three months since the superintendent search began. “I want us to have joy in the work that we do,” Hinojosa said. “Joy for our students that are coming to school every single day, and joy in the spirits of our parents and our community that they believe and they trust in us.” Hinojosa gave her speech first in English and then in Spanish. Aspects of the meeting were also repeated in Spanish, and in an interview with Community Impact Newspaper on Jan. 28, Hinojosa said she plans to keep making this service available at future board meetings.

On a recent cold Saturday afternoon, Iris Hernandez and Carmen Colon were helping six Morales children through the letters, sounds, and words in the book “DJ’s Busy Day” about a bunny and his fun-filled adventures in ordinary places – the grocery store, on the bus, in his home.

Dale Farran has been studying early childhood education for half a century. Yet her most recent scientific publication has made her question everything she thought she knew. "It really has required a lot of soul-searching, a lot of reading of the literature to try to think of what were plausible reasons that might account for this." And by "this," she means the outcome of a study that lasted more than a decade.

Many college students lack the necessary support to finish college. For students who were in the foster care system, sometimes there’s no support at all. A bill in the Colorado legislature would waive college tuition and fees for students who were in foster care past the age of 13. About 4,500 students would be eligible for the tuition waiver, but only about 15% would participate, according to a state analysis. The cost to the state would be about $694,000 a year, according to a legislative analysis.

With more asylum seekers coming to Maine and being housed in South Portland hotels, the schools have been getting ready for more English language learners and welcome the new students with excitement. 

For one out of every three students in Worcester Public Schools, English is not the primary language. Out of the nearly 23,000 students in the school district, about 7,500 are English language learners with more than 70 languages represented including Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Arabic and Twi, the native language of Ghana, according to Carmen J. Melendez-Quintero, manager of multilingual education for Worcester Public Schools. The number is about three times the state percentage.

Ashley Bryan, a celebrated children’s author whose joyous, vividly illustrated picture books pulsed with the rhythms of modern poetry, African folk tales and Black American spirituals, died Feb. 4 at his niece’s home in Sugar Land, Tex., outside Houston. He was 98.

In January, the American Indian Library Association announced its 2022 Youth Literature Awards at the livestream of the American Library Association's youth media awards. Here is a list of the winners and honor books.

Districts across the country, including Chicago and New York City, have experienced a decrease in students getting referred or evaluated for special education services, raising concerns that children with disabilities aren’t getting the help they need. District administrators and special education teachers cite a host of challenges: staffing shortages, increased paperwork, new demands related to remote learning, and a hesitation to designate kids as having learning disabilities when they may be suffering the effects of remote learning and pandemic-related family trauma instead.