ELL News Headlines

The school year is ending amid immigrations raids at businesses, protests, and the activation of National Guard troops and Marines.

Students from low-income families and English learners are automatically awarded $500 for college or career training through a California program. Foster youth and homeless students get another $500 on top of that. But students, or their parents or guardians, have to claim the money. And many families are unaware of this program.

In the panicked moments after immigration agents detained Dylan Lopez Contreras in a Manhattan courthouse last month, his mother dialed a familiar number. It was Hedin Bernard, a counselor at her son’s high school, English Language Learner and International Support Preparatory Academy, or ELLIS Prep — a nod to the famous island through which millions of immigrants entered New York City last century. Dylan’s arrest two weeks ago — the first known case of a New York City public school student detained by immigration agents in President Donald Trump’s second term — has galvanized local opposition to federal immigration policy and sparked a fierce debate about the city’s role in protecting immigrant students. His detention also has put a spotlight on the unique brand of public education offered by schools like ELLIS Prep.

I’m retiring from K-12 teaching next week (though will continue to write this blog AND will be a volunteer teacher to the incarcerated). Here are some things I will and won’t miss after 23 years in a high school classroom.

Fifty-one years ago, the United States Supreme Court decided a case that would forever change education for English learners in this country. On this episode of Education Beat, we bring you the story of how this case began and how it changed education, from the perspective of a teacher.

For Choua Lor, a 2nd grade teacher at Vang Pao Elementary in Fresno, Calif., teaching is a calling. But working in the school’s Hmong dual-language immersion program is what she calls her life’s purpose.

Giving students a choice of electives increases engagement and allows them to develop skills outside of core academic subjects.

An effort led by Oklahoma’s state superintendent to require parents to provide proof of citizenship when enrolling their children in school failed in the state legislature this month.

Illinois lawmakers have passed a bill that will help school districts expand dual language programs, in which students are taught in English and another language throughout the school day.

When the Eaton Fire burned through parts of Los Angeles County this January, it destroyed thousands of homes. The hardest-hit district was Pasadena Unified School District, where around 10,000 students out of the district’s 14,000 were displaced. Principals across the district called for help from the county office of education, so that when kids impacted by the fires returned to school, they’d have the mental health support they needed.