ELL News Headlines

A new pilot program aiming to offer more students in Montgomery County, MD access to enrichment programs has proved so successful that the school district plans to expand it system-wide in the fall. That means all third graders will be evaluated for enrichment programs. And the county will open three new enrichment centers to serve more students. One big reason for the racial and income disparities, school administrators have concluded: making parents responsible for applying to have their child admitted to gifted programs.

Dozens of parents from Sunset Elementary School in San Ysidro graduated Wednesday from a program that empowers them to be involved in their child's education. The program is called Parent Engagement in Education Program. It's a part of PIQE, the Parent Institute for Quality Education. PIQE teaches parents to stay involved in their children's education. It helps them create a homework structure at home and helps parents teach their children self-confidence. 

When Sasha Ariel Alston pursued her love for coding, she noticed there were never many girls ― especially girls of color ― pursuing it, too. That's why she decided to write a children's book to encourage girls to learn about coding and STEM fields at an early age. 

Teaching Tolerance, an education project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, has published an online guide designed to help educators ensure that English-language learners and their families have equitable experiences at school. The primer offers advice on topics ranging from family engagement and anti-bias strategies to classroom culture and instruction. The recommendations were adapted from Critical Practices for Anti-Bias Education, the organization's professional-development guide, and advice from the Southern Poverty Law Center's legal team.

Margot Sanchez has big dreams of fitting in at the new, expensive prep school her family has sacrificed to send her to. But it's summer and instead of going to the Hamptons with her rich, white friends, she's stuck working at her family's business in the Bronx. Margot is the protagonist of Lilliam Rivera's new young adult novel, The Education of Margot Sanchez. Rivera explains that Margot is "being punished because she stole her father's credit card to charge some pants and clothes for herself, and her punishment is to work off her debts at her father's supermarket." Needless to say, she isn't happy about it. But it turns out to be a summer of revelation for Margot. "She's going to realize that there are things that she is going to love about the Bronx," Rivera says.

In her latest article for The Huffington Post, Dr. Rebecca Palacios, Senior Curriculum Advisor for Age of Learning / ABCmouse.com and an advisor for Colorín Colorado writes, "Did you go outside and play when you were a young child? Did you love that special time of freedom to look at leaves, play with pets, spend time with friends, or simply lay down and look at the sky? Many young children today don't have that opportunity. Through the years, we've lost some of that freedom we had as children, when our parents opened the door and said, 'Go play outside.' It was our chance to use our imaginations, jump rope, play jacks, play ball, play with toys outside, or do whatever we wanted to do. It was completely our own time until we were called for lunch or dinner."

Vickie Ramos Harris is the Associate Director of Education Policy at Advancement Project California. In this column, she writes, "Because English Learners comprise 9% of the public school population in the United States, their education is an important issue for every school system in the country.  California's leadership in this area is critical.  In fact, California is uniquely positioned to lead the nation on English Learner education as nearly a quarter (22%) of the state's public school students are English Learners, and nearly 60% of children birth to age five live in a home where English is not their primary language."

Researchers and language experts have long criticized the subjectivity and variations in criteria that California districts have used to determine when English learners are proficient in English. But proposed legislation to create uniform, statewide standards for doing so has hit a snag, with some of the nation’s leading academic experts expressing strong opposition to the bill.

The Poetry Foundation has named Margarita Engle the Young People’s Poet Laureate. The title is awarded every other year and comes with a $25,000 prize, in recognition of an exceptional career in writing poetry for youth.

When word came to New York's City Hall on Thursday, it appeared to confirm the administration’s worst fears: federal immigration agents had been to an elementary school in Queens to inquire about a fourth-grade student. However, the immigration agents who visited Public School 58 in Maspeth on May 11 were not enforcement officers, but fraud investigators for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, said Katherine Tichacek, a spokeswoman for the agency. The agents were trying to determine if a student was enrolled in order for a parent to qualify for an immigrant benefit, which could be permanent residency or a work authorization.