ELL News Headlines

Pura Belpré Awards honor outstanding books celebrating the Latine cultural experience. Here are the 2026 winners from the ALA Youth Media awards.

Renée Watson’s “All the Blues in the Sky,” in which the author blends poetry and prose to tell the story of a teen confronting the death of her best friend, has won the John Newbery Medal for the year’s best children’s book.

Today’s post is the final one in a series where educators share potential challenges that might exist in teaching English Learners, and how to respond to them.

Millions of children have grown up watching PBS Kids’ educational TV, geared toward 2- to 8-year-olds—from classics like “Sesame Street” and “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” to recently added shows like “Lyla in the Loop.” Over the years, the content has evolved to include digital games, apps, and podcasts across a variety of platforms, plus curriculum-aligned videos, interactives, and lesson plans from PBS Learning Media. But access to this educational content is in jeopardy due to federal funding cuts.

Artificial intelligence is already reshaping how we work, communicate and create. In education, however, the conversation is stuck...And that is why, last year, rather than debate whether AI belongs in schools, approximately 40 policymakers and sector leaders took stock of the roadblocks in an education system designed for a different era and wrestled with what it would take to move forward responsibly.

A growing number of education advocacy groups say aggressive immigration enforcement tactics are having a devastating impact on students’ access to education. They are calling on Congress to make funding for the Department of Homeland Security conditional on a less-disruptive approach to enforcement than what agents from Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have used.

An upcoming episode of a popular PBS Kids show will be told from the viewpoint of a character with autism.

Educators and school leaders now face urgent questions around misinformation, academic integrity, and critical thinking.

Districts nationwide are increasingly weighing virtual learning as families express concern about the growing presence of federal immigration agents in communities and near schools, according to local news reports and advocates for immigrant students.

On January 26, the American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books, digital media, video, and audiobooks for children and young adults — including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery, Printz awards, and Pura Belpré awards — at its Youth Media Awards Announcements in Chicago.