In 2017, readers of Education Week’s Learning the Language blog were drawn to stories about foreign language education, the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, and research that explored the benefits of bilingualism.
Here’s a look at the top 10 most-read posts of 2017. For bonus viewing, some of the year’s most-watched videos on English-language learners and immigrant students and teachers are also embedded below:
10. Teaching Materials for English-Learners Are in Short Supply. That Could Soon Change
A common complaint among English-language-learner educators is that high-quality learning materials are hard to come by. The Council of the Great City Schools wants to do something about it.
9. What Can Educators Do to Increase Graduation Rates for English-Learners?
Schools that want to improve the educational prospects for English-language learners should take account of what’s happening in their students’ lives outside the classroom, a new report from the research arm of America’s Promise Alliance finds.
8. English-Language Learners: How Schools Can Drive or Derail Their Success
Where English-language learners attend school can determine how quickly they are reclassified as English-proficient, researchers find.
7. Americans Are Falling Behind in Foreign-Language Learning
A critical shortage of qualified foreign language teachers in the United States could leave the nation at a competitive disadvantage in an increasingly global, multilingual society, according to an American Academy of Sciences report.
6. Early Bilingualism Helps With Learning Languages Later in Life, Study Shows
People who grow up bilingual or learn another language at an early age are better equipped at an early age, researchers find.
5. Does English-Language-Learner Classification Help or Hinder Students?
Designating early elementary students who are close to being proficient in English as English-language learners can have “significant and positive effects on the academic achievement” of the students.
4. Trump Cancels DACA, Impacting Tens of Thousands of Students and Teachers
President Donald Trump ends Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that gives protection to an estimated 800,000 immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children.
3. If Immigration Agents Come Knocking, Schools Must Follow These Steps
Districts across the country pass resolutions affirming that they will do everything they can to protect undocumented students who are on school grounds or participating in off-site school-related activities.
2. Schools Often Fail to Educate, Support English-Language Learners
Schools across the United States often provide substandard instruction and social-emotional support to the nation’s English-language learners--and fail to properly train the educators who teach them, a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine finds.
1. How Much Foreign Language Is Being Taught in U.S. Schools?
A first-of-its-kind national survey sought to examine the state of foreign language education in primary and secondary schools.
Related Videos
Photo Credit: Berenice Oliva, a DACA recipient, is a sophomore at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tenn. Oliva earned a college scholarship from Equal Chance for Education, a group that grants financial support to DACA-protected students.
--Joe Buglewicz for Education Week