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The Nationality Act
This was a revision of the law from 1870 that required all immigrants to learn English in order to become a naturalized citizen. This was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt. When immigrants reached America they were required to apply for their citizenship and learn the English language. This act made it so that language was used as a mode of exclusion and discrimination. -
Meyer v. Nebraska
Nebraska passed a law in 1919 that schools were not allowed to teach foreign languages to students until they are in high school. This was taken to court by a teacher named Robert T. Meyer. This case went to the U.S. Supreme Court where it was decided that the law goes against the 14th amendment where it says that “No State shall . . . deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law (twitter buttons).” This is one of the first times in which a court case was ruled -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
As a part of Lyndon B. Johnson's " War on Poverty" he managed to not only introduce, but have passed and enacted in three months time, the most extensive federal education bill in history to ever be passed. This was the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. A former teacher, President Johnson believed that equal access to education was vital to a child’s ability to lead a productive life (Social Welfare History Project). Through this bill large amounts of resources were set aside in order t -
Bilingual Education Act
This act was the first to give federal recognition to the needs of students with limited English speaking ability. It is an amendment of the ESEA. Since this act first came into being, it has been reauthorized four times with added amendments in order to keep up with the changes in the needs of students and society. At the beginning, Title VII or the Bilingual Education Act, was enacted as mainly a remedy for all of the civil rights violations. This also allowed for the federal government to -
Lau v. Nichols
This court case took place, because when California schools were integrated, out of the 2800 Chinese children that went to school only 1000 of them were getting instruction in English. It was discover by the supreme court that the California Education Code required that the English language was the basic language of instruction in all schools, and that it was a policy of the state to ensure the mastery of English by all students in the schools. -
Serna v. Portales Municipal Schools
n the out come of this case the schools were made to implement a bilingual/bicultural curriculum in order to accommodate the non-English speaking students of the district. They were also to recruit and hire bilingual school personnel in order to teach these students. Review of testing was another requirement of this case outcome that was set to make sure that this curriculum was working. -
Equal Education Opportunities Act of 1974
The Equal Educational Opportunities Act (EEOA) prohibits the denial of equal educational opportunity based on race, color, sex or national origin (Equity in Education Legal Database). It is a amendment that was added to the ESEA. This is used as a beginning point when it comes to ELL students and addressing the violations of their rights. -
Castaneda v. Packard
This case was first taken to court by Mr. Castaneda and his two daughters in 1978. The Courts ruled in favor of the Raymondville School district in Texas. In 1981 This case was again taken back to the courts. Mr Castaneda was saying that the school disrtict is discriminating against his daughters by puttign them in classes that are segregated. In 1981 the US Court of Appeals Fifth Circut changed the rulling and set up a criteria to be used for Bilingual Education Programs. The criteria is as -
Proposition 227
Was a ballot that was passed in 1998 in California, by a 61-39% margin, that replaced almost all bilingual education with English immersion programs. The purpose of this was to quickly give LEP students a good working knowledge of English and put them in regular classes. The controversy that came from this was politically geared from issues that included race, immigration, and poverty. Even after 10 years the debate went on about whether this was working or not. -
No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
Is the latest re authorization of the ESEA. Title III is the one that affects ELL learners when it comes to NCLB. It is requires that schools offer ALL ELL learners quality instruction in the English language as well as the academic content for their grade level. This also allows for school districts the choice to choose what programs they use in order to teach ELL students as long as the teachers meet the high demands for accountability towards these students.
