English-Language Learners Blog

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 This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: English language learners and bilingual education.

In this Thursday, May 23, 2013 photo, students in Lisa Cabrera-Terry's first grade class line up to go to recess at Jay W. Jeffers Elementary School, in Las Vegas. Caberera-Terry teaches about 20 of the 800 students that attend the school and where 83 percent of the incoming kindergartners don’t speak English.
In this Thursday, May 23, 2013 photo, students in Lisa Cabrera-Terry's first grade class line up to go to recess at Jay W. Jeffers Elementary School, in Las Vegas. Caberera-Terry teaches about 20 of the 800 students that attend the school and where 83 percent of the incoming kindergartners don’t speak English.
Julie Jacobson/AP
English-Language Learners Identifying Gifted and Talented English-Learners: Six Steps for District Leaders
Learn some of the steps schools can take to identify more English-language learners for gifted and talented education.
Corey Mitchell, February 4, 2020
2 min read
English-Language Learners Teaching, Technology, and English-Learners: 5 Things to Know
Few teachers reported assigning English-learners to use digital learning resources outside of class, in part because of concerns about students' lack of access to technology at home, finds a U.S. Department of Education survey.
Corey Mitchell, January 16, 2020
2 min read
Curriculum Spanish Dominates Dual-Language Programs, But Schools Offer Diverse Options
Mandarin Chinese, French, German, and Vietnamese are also among five most-offered types of dual-language programs, a new federal report shows.
Corey Mitchell, January 14, 2020
2 min read
English-Language Learners How Many English-Learners Do Districts Serve? Data Are Inconsistent
An Education Week analysis finds some big holes in a federal database on English-language-learner students in the nation's school districts, and that's a concern for researchers in the the field.
Maya Riser-Kositsky, January 8, 2020
3 min read
English-Language Learners U.S. Schools See Surge in Number of Arabic- and Chinese-Speaking English-Learners
While Spanish remains the most commonly spoken English-learner language by far, the numbers for speakers of Arabic and Chinese have grown dramatically over the past decade, federal data show.
Corey Mitchell, January 7, 2020
2 min read
English-Language Learners On Bilingualism, Bias, and Immigration: Our Top English-Learner Stories of 2019
Education Week's top English-language learner stories on 2019 explored who's teaching the nation's English-learners and the struggles those educators encounter on the job, how the Trump administration's immigration policies affected students and their families and examined why more schools in the United States are embracing bilingualism.
Corey Mitchell, December 31, 2019
2 min read
Education Federal ELL Official Leaves for Job With Rosetta Stone
José Viana led the office of English-language acquisition since April 2017. The Education Department has not announced a successor.
Corey Mitchell, December 16, 2019
1 min read
Families & the Community Connecting With English-Learner Families: 5 Ideas to Help Schools
English-language-learner families are less likely to attend parent-teacher conferences and other school-related events, which means they miss out on important opportunities to communicate about their children's academic progress.
Corey Mitchell, November 27, 2019
2 min read
Federal José Viana, Head of Federal ELL Office to Resign
"I will forever be grateful for the opportunity and privilege I have been given to serve my country and its learners," Viana wrote in an email to supporters this week.
Corey Mitchell, November 14, 2019
2 min read
Education High School Students Stage Walkouts to Support DACA Program
In Washington, D.C., Oklahoma City, and other cities last week, high school students staged walkouts to support an Obama-era program that rotected young immigrants who were undocumented from deportation.
Megan Ruge, November 8, 2019
3 min read
Equity & Diversity The Latino Teacher-Student Divide: 5 Steps to Close the Gap
The number of K-12 Latino teachers has more than quadrupled over the last three decades, but the growth has not kept pace with the explosive growth in the nation's Latino student population. A new report from New America suggests ways to narrow the gap.
Corey Mitchell, November 1, 2019
4 min read
English-Language Learners 100,000 Students Earned the Seal of Biliteracy, But They're in a Handful of States
Dozens of states offer the seal of biliteracy, but more than 80 percent of students who earn the honor are concentrated in just five states, a new report reveals.
Corey Mitchell, October 15, 2019
2 min read
Federal For English-Learners to Excel, More Collaboration Needed, Researcher Argues
A 'lack of communication and collaboration' between researchers who focus on English-learners and those who specialize in content areas such as English, mathematics, and science could pose problems for efforts to close opportunity gaps.
Corey Mitchell, October 8, 2019
1 min read
English-Language Learners A 'One-Size-Fits-All' Approach to English-Learner Education Won't Work. Here's Why
The current system results in less access to academic classes for long-term English-learners, a new study argues, while more recent arrivals sometimes fare better.
Corey Mitchell, August 15, 2019
3 min read