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Arizona's ELL Classrooms Struggle With Teacher Shortages, Low Graduation Rates

ELL Teachers
(Photo by Caitlin O'Hara)
Bedelicia Reyna works with her kindergarten student Iker Grijalva on an assignment to identify rhyming words in English during class.

Arizona schools will serve about 67,000 students considered English Language Learners (ELLs) this year. And how these kids learn a new language as well as their grade-level curriculum has been the subject of debate for decades. In a special edition of KJZZ's ongoing series Inside Arizona Classrooms, reporters visited two schools for a closer look at why.


Carrie Jung was a senior field correspondent from 2014 to 2018.