Learning the Language
Education Week reporters covered English-language learners, bilingual education, and civil rights issues and explored the educational, policy, and social issues surrounding ELLs in U.S. schools. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: English language learners and bilingual education.
Assessment
Proportion of ELLs in L.A. Scoring Proficient in English Dips
The proportion of ELLs in Los Angeles scoring proficient in English dipped slightly in 2009 over the previous year.
School & District Management
English-Learning Blog Carnival Submissions Due May 31
Submissions for the next English-Learning Blog Carnival are due May 31.
States
Next Steps for Common Standards and ELLs?
It will be left up to states to create English-language-proficiency standards to align with the common standards.
Equity & Diversity
'Immigrant Integration' Awards
The Migration Policy Institute gave out awards this week to honor organizations that are successfully helping immigrants to adapt to and thrive in the United States.
Equity & Diversity
2nd Grader Asks First Lady About Immigration
A 2nd grader blurts out to first lady Michelle Obama that her mom doesn't have "papers" to live legally in this country.
States
National News Tidbits About ELLs
A U.S. Department of Education spokesman says the department has a "short list" of candidates to fill the post of director of the office of English-language acquisition.
Equity & Diversity
District Bars Basketball Team From Visiting Arizona
Officials of a suburban school district in Illinois have created a stir by barring a girl's high school basketball team from participating in a tournament in Arizona in reaction to Arizona's new immigration-enforcement law.
School & District Management
Researchers Advise Race to Top Applicants on ELLs
In a policy brief, researchers give recommendations on how to include English-learners appropriately in assessments.
Education
Audit: ELLs Aren't Central to Buffalo District's Plans
English-language learners don't have adequate access to the core instructional program in the public schools of Buffalo, N.Y., concludes the Council of the Great City Schools in an audit of the district's ELL programs.
Law & Courts
Memories of Mendez v. Westminster
StoryCorps has captured what Sylvia Mendez remembers of a federal court case, Mendez v. Westminster, concerning access to a high-quality schooling for Latino children.
Assessment
WIDA Tally: Missouri Joins Consortium
Missouri is the latest state to adopt the ACCESS for ELLs test, which is the nation's most popular English-language-proficiency test for K-12 students.
Assessment
Tennessee Rolls Out Simplified English Test for ELLs
The state implemented its new modified English test for English-language learners this spring.
School & District Management
Not Many Hispanic Dropouts Are Getting GEDs
Only one in 10 Hispanic high school dropouts gets a General Educational Development credential, compared with two in ten African-American dropouts and three in ten white dropouts
Federal
A One-Stop Shop for Info. on Federal ELL Programs
In the new Administrator's Guide to Federal Programs for English Learners, Ellen Forte and Molly Baulkner-Bond have put together in one place lots of answers to questions educators might have about federal programs for ELLs.