Major Legislation and Policy Events Regarding the Education of Emergent Bilinguals in the U.S.
By o_r39
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Segregated schools were unconstitutional (Garcia & Kleifgen, 2018).
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Prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin (Garcia & Kleifgen, 2018).
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ESEA is the largest and most influential federal education policy to date. It contained Title VII known as the Bilingual Education Act, that established a federal goal of assisting "limited-English-speaking" students in the acquisition of English. In addition, it put aside money for school district enrolling large numbers of language-minoritized students that chose to start bilingual education programs or create bilingual instruction materials (Garcia & Kleifgen, 2018).
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YouTube. (2016, December 7). Lau vs. Nichols: A Landmark Case for ELL Education [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYH_Cj9aRUM
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Eligibility for educational services was expanded to include students of any socioeconomic status who had limited English-speaking ability. In addition, it defined bilingual education for the first time as "instruction give in, and study of, English and (to the extent necessary to allow a child to progress effectively through the education system) the native language of the children of limited English speaking ability" (quoted in Garcia,2009a, p. 169; emphasis added) (Garcia & Kleifgen, 2018).
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Requires states to ensure that education agencies take "appropriate action to overcome language barriers that impede equal participation by its students in its instructional programs" (20 USC Sec.1703(f)) (Garcia & Kleifgen, 2018)
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It expanded eligibility for services even further, from students with LESA to students with more general limited English proficiency (LEP), while reinforcing the "transitional" nature of bilingual education (Garcia & Kleifgen, 2018).
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the Lau precedent that schools must take "appropriate action" to educate language-minoritized students and that such action must be based on sound educational theory; produce results; and provide adequate resources, including qualified teachers and appropriate materials, equipment, and facilities (Garcia & Kleifner, 2018)
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It provided funding for programs that used only English in educating English language learners, although only 4% of the funding was reserved for these kinds of programs (Garcia & Kleifgen, 2018).
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It further expanded the funding for programs in which only English was used to 25% of programs funded. Additionally, it imposed a 3-year limit in transitional bilingual education programs, meaning that schools had 3 years to move English language learners to fluency in English.
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It increased attention to two-way bilingual education programs, however, the cap for English-only programs that was previously legislated was lifted (Garcia & Kleifgen, 2018).
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Banned bilingual education in the state of Arizona. It limits school services fro emergent bilinguals to a 1-year English-only structured immersion programs that includes ESL and content-based interaction exclusively in English. Waivers are almost impossible to obtain (Garcia & Klefner, 2018).
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Law passed in Arizona that reshaped the structured immersion programs into a 4-hour-a-day block of interaction on English language development (Johnson & Johnson, 2015)(Garcia & Kleifgen, 2018).
