Before you dig in to the articles and resources in this 26th edition of "What We're Reading", please take less than 1 minute to complete this survey to let us know how we can best provide you with the resources you need to maximize impact on your ELs. 

Teaching and Learning

• In a column from The Hechinger Report, Jill Barshaw digs into a study that shows immigrants learned English in half the time when they were held back in third grade.

• Larry Ferlazzo brings in a variety of experts to discuss how to promote speaking with ELs in part three of five-part series from Education Week.

• From Middle Web, ELL Community contributor Valentina Gonzalez writes about replacing strategies that don't work those that do when working with ELs.

• From Education Week, Joe Feldman takes a hard look at how we might make grading bias-resistant and fair for all students, including ELs.

• For some great success stories around immigrants and refugees, take a look at Southern New Hampshire University's Global Education Movement. 

Policy and Practice

• The U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) recently released the first part of their English Learner Family Toolkit as a way of helping answer questions families of ELs may have about school in the U.S.

• From THE Journal, Dian Schaffhauser lays out why and how education needs to revamp how to teach English Learners STEM, complete with actionable recommendations.

• In another STEM related article, Education Week's Corey Mitchell breaks down a Duke and Stanford study that shows immigrant students tend to study more STEM courses than their peers in high school and college.

• From New America, Jenny Muñiz breaks down more research that shows integrating home language in school does not negatively impact English learning.

• The Hechinger Report's Casey Parks highlights Louisiana State Athletic Association's decision to lift a rule requiring social security numbers for students to participate in sports.

ELL Community Updates

• Season 2 of the Highest Aspirations podcast is well underway with interviews on academic conversations with Jeff Zwiers and building relationships with immigrants communities with Laura Gardner. 

• Check out Whiteboard Wednesday, our weekly short video series where we bring you the week's most important ELL news and resources - all in less than 5 minutes.