ELL News Headlines

Just days into the new school year, hundreds of schools and universities across four states shut their doors as communities braced for Hurricane Dorian, which was expected to bring high winds and heavy rain to the U.S. mainland.

The numbers appeared troubling. During the 2016-2017 school year, 64 percent of English-language learners who took state reading exams in Virginia passed, according to state data. Two years later, passing rates plunged to 35 percent. But the numbers didn't paint a complete picture. Previously, Virginia education officials included the scores of those former English-language learners in their calculation of overall passing rates, for up to two years after the student was no longer classified as an English-language learner. That had the effect of inflating the passing rate for that group of students overall.

Two years ago, she waited 12 hours in line for ice after Hurricane Maria devastated her town in Puerto Rico. Julian Rodriguez, 28, feared she would face similar circumstances as Hurricane Dorian threatened her new life in Orlando. 

The threat of Hurricane Dorian is forcing school districts in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Volusia and Lake to cancel classes Wednesday. Public schools across Central Florida were already scheduled to be closed Tuesday.

Years after reports surfaced of alarmingly high lead levels in the water system, the toll of the crisis is becoming clear: At least 1 in 5 students in Flint's public schools are eligible for special education—and the school system is buckling under the weight of federal requirements and costs for providing programs and services. The percentage of special education students has increased by 56 percent, rising from 13.1 percent in 2012-13, the school year before the water crisis began, to 20.5 percent last school year.

Debbie Reese shares her review for THANKU: Poems of Gratitude. This poetry anthology, illustrated by Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota/Mohegan/Muscokee Creek) and edited by Miranda Paul, explores a wide range of ways to be grateful (from gratitude for a puppy to gratitude for family to gratitude for the sky) with poems by a diverse group of contributors, including Joseph Bruchac, Margarita Engle, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Naomi Shihab Nye, Charles Waters, Jane Yolen, and Kimberly Blaeser.

A coalition of 20 states led by California and Massachusetts on Friday announced a lawsuit against the Trump administration's proposed rule to amend the longstanding court order that limits the detention of migrant minors to 20 days.

Whether they're a newcomer to the United States, a longterm ELL struggling with academic English, or a student who is somewhere in-between, English-learners have diverse academic and linguistic needs—and a new study argues that there are vast differences in what they need and how they perform in school.

Thanks to a program created through a partnership between the Office of the State Superintendent of Education and the Department of Parks and Recreation, staff members caring for school gardens were joined by a resident from the neighborhood to help keep the plots producing while school was out of session. And in return, her volunteer got a chance to practice her gardening skills and take home some summer produce.

Detaining children indefinitely, particularly in a place where their basic needs are not met, can cause long-term damage, according to decades of research on early child development. The Trump administration plans to detain immigrant children who enter the U.S. illegally with their families with no deadline for release, ending a long-standing settlement that capped the detention of immigrant children at 20 days. The government says holding children in the facilities is for their own safety and well-being. But child advocates and pediatric health experts are outraged and say these children and their needs are being neglected and whole families left traumatized.