ELL News Headlines

Illinois school districts are reporting a shortage of bilingual education teachers with as many as 100 vacancies, as of October. To help fill the void, the Illinois State Board of Education announced the launch of a $4 million grant to cover tuition costs for teachers interested in becoming licensed to teach English-language learners.

Kim Hanley has over three decades of teaching and coaching experience. She is currently a Title III instructional coach for Capistrano Unified, a public school district in California; an English/language arts reviewer for EdReports; and a consultant for the English Learners Success Forum. In this column, she reflects on her experience of working with ELLs through many changes in the education landscape.

It's Tuesday morning and Hanna Kudrinova's 5th grade English class is signed on to Google Meet. Kudrinova starts like a lot of teachers everywhere, with a check-in. She asks the students to turn on their cameras and show a thumbs up if they're happy, thumbs down if they are sad, and sideways if they are feeling so-so. Today, Maksym Radzievsky, a boy with a round face and a striped shirt who seemingly always has his hand raised, says he is so-so because he's tired. He is in Munich, Germany, in an earlier time zone than Ukraine, so he had to start class at 7:30.

Ramadan, which begins April 2 and ends May 2 this year, also falls during the last stretch of the school year for many school districts in the state. As a result, some Muslim parents are seeking accommodations from their schools for practicing students. Parent advocates say a lack of guidance from the Louisiana Department of Education makes it tough to navigate their religious beliefs. 

As with other problems that long dogged the education system, the pandemic exposed the lack of resources along with barriers that English-learning students face in receiving an equitable education, says Leslie Villegas, a senior policy analyst at New America’s Education Policy Program.

Aria Young didn't become Aria Young until she was 16 years old. She was moving to Lancaster, Pa., from her home in Shanghai for high school. Her Chinese name, 杨沁悦, or Yáng Qìn Yuè, was "too hard for the English tongue to pronounce," Young explains in "What's in a Name," her entry for NPR's College Podcast Challenge. Judges selected Young's audio story as the grand-prize winner from 10 finalists.

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.