ELL News Headlines

Dual enrollment (DE) — taking college courses in high school — can help improve student access to and success in college. In the past few years, California has invested heavily in improving DE access and reforming assessments for English and English as a Second Language (ESL) — especially for historically underrepresented students.

A new nationwide report released Tuesday by the National Council on Teacher Quality warns that states need significant structural improvements to their teacher- preparation programs, in-service support, and pay systems to increase the teaching pipeline for the most vulnerable groups of students.

Yehiri Gonzalez first heard about a new program to shepherd Chicago students into teaching careers at the height of the pandemic. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, she had spoken little English in the early grades and struggled to keep up, at one point leaning on a tutor who came to the shelter where she had stayed for a time. She credits growing as a student and getting into the highly selective Lane Tech College Prep High School to finding peers and educators who shared and understood her background. She wanted to offer that support to other students.

Growing up, Al Roker loved animation. His Saturday mornings were devoted to Bugs Bunny and Road Runner, and he would spend hours studying Preston Blair’s book on how to draw cartoons. He dreamed of becoming an animator for Walt Disney. But when he grew up and became the “Today” weatherman instead, he had the idea to combine his love of weather with his love of animation into a children’s TV series.

State education agencies play a critical role in shaping the quality of English learners’ education. These agencies provide districts with technical support, guidance documents, and an educational vision for English learners within a given state. They can also help ensure equitable educational experiences for English learners, especially those with additional needs such as students new to the country, by establishing clear, statewide policies for all districts to follow, experts say. But the degree to which state education agencies invest in English-learner programs and policies varies widely from state to state. T

Under President Donald Trump, the federal government is systematically retreating from helping educate English learners and protecting their civil rights. In addition to yanking federal guidance and resources, the president is seeking to eliminate all $890 million in federal funding for English language acquisition programs in schools. All of that puts more responsibility on states and local schools to educate English learners.

This month teacher Megan Singh will stand at the front of a small class at Enlace Academy. But her students won’t be children — they’ll be parents, grandparents and relatives of Enlace students, learning English together to better support their kids at home.

The U.S. Department of Education has halted some of the 107 grants from the only federal program specifically created to help teachers improve techniques for working with English learners. Those grantees received non-continuation letters from the U.S. Department of Education on Sept. 23 and were given seven calendar days to file an appeal.

When Ameya Desai won the fourth grade prize of NPR's Student Podcast Challenge last year, something surprising happened: A neighbor reached out asking if the 11-year-old journalist would interview his grandmother, a survivor of the Japanese American incarceration camps. The result is Ameya's podcast, Far From Home - Shikata Ga Nai.

Dylan Lopez Contreras, a Bronx high schooler arrested by federal immigration agents in May, was denied asylum and ordered to be deported back to Venezuela, his attorneys said Wednesday.