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Civil Rights Act of 1964: Title VI
"No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any programor activity receiving Federal financial assistance" (García & Kleifgen, 2018, p. 36). Photo by Pascal Bernardon on Unsplash. -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act: Bilingual Education Act
Federal financial assistance provided to districts/local educational agencies to create and carry out programs in order to assist limited English speaking students within low socioeconomic families (García and Kleifgen, 2018, p. 36). Photo borrowed from Paul (2018). -
Bilingual Education Act: Reauthorization Part 1
Federal financial assistance now included limited English speaking students of all economic backgrounds. Also, the 1974 revamp defined bilingual education as "instruction given in, and study of, English and the native language of the children of limited English speaking ability) (García and Kleifgen, 2018, p. 36). -
Lau v. Nichols
A case in which Chinese American parents fought for more a equitable bilingual education for their children. The court sided with the parents, insisting upon school districts to take "'affirmative steps' to address the inequities" (García and Kleifgen, 2018, p. 38) yet did not give clear instructions on how to do so. In 1975, the "Lau Remedies" were created by the Office of Civil Rights, but unfortunately, were never truly set into action. Photo borrowed from Spitzer (2018). -
Bilingual Education Act: Reauthorization Part 2
This reauthorization of the act included even more students. Now, students with "more general limited English proficiency" were eligible for services (García and Kleifgen, 2018, p. 36). The programs were still created and carried out by districts. -
Bilingual Education Act: Reauthorization Part 3
The focus of educating emergent bilinguals shifted to supporting English-only programs, now setting aside 4% of funding to districts that used these types of programs... -
Bilingual Education Act: Reauthorization Part 4
Funding set aside for English-only programs jumps from 4% to 25%. Also, set limit of 3 years of participation in program; in other words, districts now had only 3 years to get students to fluent in English (García and Kleifgen, 2018, p. 37). -
Improving America's Schools Act
This Act essentially absorbed ESEA (and the Bilingual Education Act). It supported two-way bilingual education programs along with English-only. Photo borrowed from Clinton Foundation. -
Proposition 227 in California
According to García and Kleifgen (2018), software millionaire Ron Unz set forth into motion Prop 227 which banned the use of home language instruction within the classroom (p. 38). It passed with 61% in favor. Years later, Unz went to Arizona and Massachusetts with his restrictive ideas and succeeded in passing similar propositions. Photo borrowed from Morrison (2014). -
Amendment 31 in Colorado
This amendment almost made bilingual education in the state of Colorado illegal, but luckily, 56% of voted no. Interestingly, García and Kleifgen (2018) report, "The campaign to defeat the amendment focused on the threat to parental choice and local control of schools"; the campaign also warned that the amendment "would force children who can barely speak English into regular classrooms, creating chaos and disrupting learning" (p. 40). Photo of Colorado's state flag borrowed from Colorado.gov. -
No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
NCLB, signed into law by president George W. Bush, was the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (EASA). It supported the English-only approach and focused heavily on standardized test results (García and Kleifgen, 2018, p. 40). NCLB's policies and requirements for schools and districts became so difficult to maintain and meet that states were forced to lower standards and teachers were forced to teach to the test...Photo borrowed from Klein (2018). -
Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
Though set in motion in 2002, it wasn't until 2016 that almost all states adopted the standards. That being said, in 2017, 25% of those states altered or withdrew them. According to García and Kleifgen (2018), the standards only dedicated 2.5 pages to emergent bilinguals and "don't seem to have a coherent theory of language" (p. 42). Overall, the CCSS were not well received nor are they in use in all 50 states. Photo borrowed from Guliano (2013). -
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
ESSA, another reauthorization of the ESEA of 1968, was signed into law by President Obama and is the most current act in place. Regarding emergent bilinguals, now schools must monitor their EBs more closely and have "goals and interim targets" (García and Kleifgen, 2018, p. 44). The emphasis on standardized testing still remains, too, though slight changes have been made, one of them being that schools don't need to count scores until an EB's 3rd year. Photo borrowed from Library Development. -
