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Meyer v. Nebraska
The Supreme Court ruled that a Nebraska law violated the due process clause of the 14th amendment and that proficiency in a foreign language was constitutional.
*Note: This began to pave the way for talk about the use of language education in America. -
Farrington v. Tokushige
A supreme court decision that struck down Hawaii's law making it illegal for schools to teach foreign languages with out a permit because it violated the due process law but gave parents the right to teach language instruction in after school programs.
*Note: this basically gave schools the authority to determine the language of instruction in schools. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Regarding education this is one of the most important cases throughout history. Children in schools were being segregated and the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional.
*Note: I believe that this led states to providing all students with equal education opportunities especially English language learners. -
The Civil Right Act- Title VI
Title VI set a standard for the education of any student by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, color or national origin in a federally assisted program.
*Note: this helped parents receive communications from schools about their children in a language they can understand. -
Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
The act was an extensive statute that funded elementary and secondary education and also emphasized equal access to education, high standards and accountability.
*Note: I believe this act benefited low income families and provided funds, shaped policies and procedures for education. It also helped pave the way to shape English Language education. -
Title VII-Bilingual Education Act
Schools were mandated to provide bilingual education programs. It provided federal funding to encourage schools to try to incorporate native language instruction.
*note: This act really helped school districts provide the needed resources for their English learners. -
Lau v. Nichols
A California school failed to provide English language support to Chinese speaking students. The Supreme court ruling that guaranteed children have an opportunity to a meaningful education regardless of their language background. English learners are also ensured to have access to the same curriculum provided to provided to their peers.
*Note: I believe this case really opened educators eyes on how to teach English language students and look at more equitable ways. -
Equal Education Opportunities Act
The act declared that no state shall deny educational opportunities to an individual because of their race, color, sex, or national origin. It also states that no state can deny students the right to equal education by "failure by an educational agency to take appropriate action to overcome language barriers that impede equal participation".
*Note: I believe this act was great to hold schools accountable and provide opportunities for English learners. -
Castaneda v. Pickard
Federal Court ruling that the criteria for English learning programs must be (1) based on "sound educational theory". (2) implemented effectively with sufficient resources (3) evaluated and proven effective.
Note: Before inadequacies could be pointed out time went by which hurt the students affected by those standards, but gave way to decisions about policies and quality of eudcation. -
Gomez v. Illinois State Board of Education
Here it was argued that tests students were using didn't measure language proficiency accurately so these students were not labeled correctly and given the proper services that they were required.
Note: This made sure schools were properly testing students and giving them the correct service. -
Flores v. Arizona
In this case the state failed to regard programs for students with limited English proficiency which violated the EEOA. The programs that were being used did not meet the criteria set by the EEOA, and the state was not realistically allocating money for funding English language programs.
*Note:This lead to protecting programs for English Language learners. -
No Child Left Behind
This act makes federal funding for states dependent on student progress. According to the act: "States that do not meet their performance objectives for Limited English Proficient students could lose a portion of their funding for all Elementary and Secondary Education Act grants.
Note: The expectations of this law were so unrealistic that it ended up doing more harm than good, especially to English learners. -
Title III- Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient and Immigrants
Title III is money that is provided to schools that have English language and academic content. It holds schools accountable by requiring English Language Proficiency standards and assessments. -
Title I- Improving the Achievement of the Economically Disadvantaged
Title I was created to allow students to have "fair,equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high quality education". The funds required states to make adequate yearly progress for all students, including English language learners.
*note: Since all students are required to make progress this really shifted the focus of how we teach our English language learners. -
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
This was a huge reform to help reshape education in America. This act included $44 billion for funding education. *This I believe helped education tremendously in general, and was able to put funds into ESL programs for school districts. -
Race to the Top
As part of the ARRA, this provided $4 billion in grants for states to begin education reforms. States had to adhere to 4 requirements to have access to these funds.
Note: This really puts pressure on teachers because of high stakes testing still in place so teachers could be penalized if English learners under perform which doesn't seem fair. -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act Flexibility
For No Child Left Behind, the majority of the states were failing to make annual yearly progress. The Obama administration invited states to apply to the ESEA flexibility.
Note: I believe it helped schools have some leeway from NCLB and began to help create more effective ways to teach English learners. -
Every Student Succeeds Act
This law replaced NCLB but did not eliminate the requirements of standardized testing. It shifted the control to the states and districts in determining the standards that students are held to. All schools still have to demonstrate that they are improving the English language proficiency of their English-language learners.
Note: I believe this provides more flexibility in schools and will help support more programs to help fund English learners under Title III.
