History of Multilingual Competency in the United States

The federal government forces Native-American children to attend off -reservation schools

Dec 31, 1864

Schools are English speaking only and Native Americans are punished for using their native language (Diaz-Rico, 2012).

First antibiligual education legislation is passed.

Dec 31, 1888

Wisconsin and Illinois attempt to institute English-only schooling (Diaz-Rico, 2012).

Del Rio Independent School District v. Salvatierra

Dec 31, 1930

A texas superior court finds that the Del Rio Independent school district cannot segregate Mexican students, but a higher court rules that the segregation is necessary to teach Engliush to Mexican students (Diaz-Rico, 2012).

Massive I.Q testing of Puerto Ricans in New York

Dec 31, 1936

I.Q testing of Puerto Ricans in New York was used to justify widespread school placement of Spanish-speaking children two to three years below grade level. This caused a launch of campaign for bilingual education by thousands of Puerto Ricans (Diaz-Rico, 2012).

Cuban immgirants demand Spanish-language schooling

Dec 31, 1961

Dade County, Florida, implements Spanish-English bilingual education (Diaz-Rico, 2012).

7.5 million authorization

Dec 31, 1968

Congres authorized $7.5 million to financ3e seventy-six bilingual education projects serving 27,000 children (Diaz-Rico, 2012).

Lau vs. Nichols

Dec 1, 1973

A group of non-English-speaking Chinese students sued San Francisco Unified School District officials. They claimed denial of language development services was a violation of their civil rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A program emerged in effect of the lawsuit (Diaz-Rico, 2012).

Memorandum from the Office for Civil Rights

May 25, 1975

Mandated by law, school districts with more than 5 percent national-origin minority children must offer special language instruction for students with a limited command of English. Assignemtn of students to classes for the handicapped on the basis of their English-language skills was prohibited (Diaz-Rico, 2012).

Gomez v. Illinois State Board of Education

Dec 31, 1987

State school boards can enforce state and federal compliance with EEOA regulations. Districts must properly serve students who are limited in English (Diaz-Rico, 2012).

Williams et al. v. State of California et al.

Dec 31, 2004

California schools must provide equitable access to textbooks, facilities, and teaching staffs, including teahers of English learners (Diaz-Rico, 2012).