History of Multicultural Education

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Jul 2, 1964

Though this event did not specifically target schools, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited racial segregation of public accommodations. This further emphasized the ruling of the Civil Rights Act of 1954.

Indian Education Act of 1972

Jun 23, 1972

The Indian Education Act recognized the different cultural needs of American Indians. It provides services to American Indians, and it is targeted at all grade levels.

Arthur Garrity Boston Bus Ruling

Oct 5, 1974

Arthur Garrity ordered that mostly caucasian schools in Boston have African-Americans bussed in from other parts of the city. This was an attempt to achieve racial desegregation, and provide better educational opportunities to children in low-income areas.

Education for All Handicapped Children Act

Jan 1, 1975

Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. This requires all public schools to allow handicapped children access to education. This allowed for a great change, because up until this point only 1 in 4 handicapped children received education.

The Refugee Education Assistance Act

Oct 10, 1980

This act provided assistance to educational agencies who worked with Cuban and Haiti refugee children. This act provided special aid to many children who were brought to the US as part of the Refugee act of 1980.

Plyer v. Doe Ruling

Jun 1, 1982

This Texas ruling made it illegal for schools to refuse education immigrant children who lack documentation. This act also refused to allow the school to charge each student $1,000 as it was a public school.

Honig v Doe

Jan 20, 1988

This ruling made it illegal for a school to suspend students for behavior related to their disabilities. It was found that a California school had violated the Education for All Handicapped Children when it suspended a student for disruptive behavior regarding his disability.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Jul 26, 1990

This act prohibits the discrimination of people based on their disabilities. It encompasses all public areas including education.

Improving America’s School Act

Jan 1, 1994

This was signed into place by Jimmy Carter. It gave large increases to bilingual and immigrant funding.

Virginia Tech School Shooting

Apr 16, 2007

This tragic event occurred when a college youth took a machine gun to school and killed 32 people, then himself. It began an era heavy with school shootings, and seems to have become more common today.