Since publishing our last edition on September 24th, we've been focused on ramping up our Take the Pledge scholarship efforts. The idea is simple - you pledge to advocate for ELL success in your community and we contribute $1 to our scholarship fund. Meet last year's winners here.

Join the thousands of educators who have taken the pledge!

Check out the resources below and take 5 minutes per week to watch Whiteboard Wednesday for ELL Community highlights! 

Policy and Practice

• From Education Week, Corey Mitchell reports on the importance of prioritizing teacher and principal training for successful dual language program implementation.

• New America's Ingrid T. Colón offers valuable insight and actionable recommendations on how dual language teachers can become language policy-makers within their programs.

• The 74 contributor Mark Keierleber analyzes the effects of immigration enforcement on students in US schools. He suggests that it is not just undocumented students who are struggling. 

• In a multimedia piece by The 74, Beth Hawkins profiles San Antonio ISD's efforts to rethink school integration and weed out segregation.

• From the online Master's in Counseling at New York University, this report provides valuable statistics on who our ELLs are, how schools support them, and what culturally responsive practices look like. 

• In another New America piece, Ingrid T. Colón analyzes a new study that examines the cost of dual language immersion programs.

• From EdSource, Ashley Hopkinson reports on the $5 million in grants to help meet demand for bilingual teachers in California school districts and county offices of education. 

• Education Northwest has released a compilation of studies examining how long it takes ELLs to reach proficiency and reclassify or exit programs. 

Teaching and Learning

• Education Week's Catherine Gwertz highlights employers' need for strong speaking skills in the workplace and provides examples of what schools can do to support them. How might we apply this information to ELLs?

• In an article from MultiBriefs, Douglass McGrath of The University of South Florida explains why cultural understanding is essential when working with ELLs.

• In another piece from Education Week, Catherine Gwertz discusses the gap between what literacy skills schools teach and what employers demand - something educators need to think about when working with ELL students.

• From eSchoolNews, principal Judith Sauri highlights 6 ways her large urban bilingual school school improved literacy for a diverse group of students.

ELL Spotlight

• DISH and Sling TV have launched a new English learning channel called "Inglés Para Todos" with the sole purpose of helping viewers learn and improve their English proficiency.

• Community Impact Newspaper's Emma Fraser reports on how Austin ISD's bilingual program is narrowing the achievement gap. 

• From WFAE in Charlotte, Jessa O'Connor reports on how Charlotte-Mecklenburg is turning to dual language programs to close education gaps.

Which resources did you find most valuable? Share them with your PLN using  #ELLReads.