ELL News Headlines

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.

What are the best instructional strategies and lessons to use when teaching intermediate English-language learners?

Here are 28 books to share with kids and teens that chronicle the strength, tenacity, and joy of Black Americans throughout history.

Researchers, educators, teachers, administrators, school board members, and advocates with expertise in literacy and the education of English learner/emergent bilingual students have come together to form the National Committee for Effective Literacy (NCEL), with the aim of improving research, policies, and practices to ensure that English learner/emergent bilingual students leave school as proficient readers and writers in English (and preferably another language), who thrive and succeed at school and in their communities.

For millions of parents who don’t speak English, navigating their child’s school system can be a behemoth undertaking. It’s a reality that Marifer Sager is working to change in the Portland, Ore., school district as the senior manager of the language-access-services and multicultural affairs department. Sager oversees translation services for the 47,000-student district, which is home to families that speak more than 130 languages.

We spoke with a handful of child development experts about what parents, teachers and other caregivers can do to help prepare and protect kids from all the scary news out there, whether it's fighting overseas, a school shooting, devastating wildfire or a global pandemic. Here's what those experts had to say:

When Peter Kahn became an English teacher at the Chicago-area Oak Park and River Forest High School, he was terrified of teaching poetry. "Poetry was my least favorite subject as a student, and my least favorite subject to teach as a teacher," he says. "I was terrible at it." So he asked a former student of his for help, who suggested the idea of a poetry slam — a competition in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience. "The student with the lowest grade in my class ended up winning it," says Kahn. "And I realized this is something powerful."

America is facing a “crisis of kindness,” according to science journalist Melinda Wenner Moyer, citing some of the harsh messages kids are exposed to, whether parents like it or not. In order to help children have the tools to navigate a sometimes unkind world, Moyer went in search of ways to counteract the forces that drag us down. 

With close to one-third of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students living in households where the primary language is not English, the district’s need for translation services is growing. CMS is four months into using a Massachusetts-based company’s call center to provide 24/7 language translation service to families. The district says it’s an expansion to language and document interpretation services.