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Sink-or-Swim Method introduced
Wolfgang Ratich "proposed that young students be instructed in their native languages first and attain literacy skills before they were translated into other languages."
(Wright, 2015, p. 68) -
Philadelphische Zeitung
Benjamin Franklin released the first German-language newspaper.
(Wright, 2015, p. 69) -
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Compulsory Ignorance Laws
Southern colonies enforced policies that prohibited Africans from "acquiring English literacy. These regulations remained in effect until after the Civil War in 1865.
(Wright, 2015, p. 71) -
Bilingual education begins in Texas
-
Territory of New Mexico requires Spanish-English bilingual programs
Meanwhile, in other schools across the country instruction was offered for a variety of languages including Chinese, Japanese, French, Cherokee, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Italian, Polish, Dutch, and Czech.
(Crawford, 2004 as cited in Wright, 2015, p. 68) -
American Journal of Education
An article that focused on German scholar Wolfgang Ratich was published.
(Wright, 2015, p. 68) -
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English is required language of instruction
Between the late 1880s and early 1900s, many states mandated that English is the language used for instruction in institutions
(Wright, 2015, p.72) -
Citizenship
"At the turn of the 20th century" proficiency in English was required for naturalization and citizenship.
(Wright, 2015, p. 71) -
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Americanization Movement
The belief that Americans need to speak English.
(Wright, 2015, p.71) -
German-language instruction prohibited
After WWI, "heavy restrictions were placed on German-language instruction in schools"
(Wright, 2015, p.71) -
Meyer v. Nebraska
Meyer, a private-school teacher was arrested for teaching his students in their home language, German. After WWI, it was mandatory that all lessons were instructed only in English. The court ruled in favor of Meyer.
The state has the authority to determine public school's main language of instruction, but that does not take away the right of private, heritage instruction.
(Wright, 2015, p. 84; WashingtonPost.com) -
Farrington v. Tokushige
Japanese population in Hawaii were prohibited from teaching and speaking in Japanse. The court case concluded it is the parents' right to instruct heritage lessons and classes for their children.
(casetext.com; Wright, 2015, p.84) -
Japanese-langauge schools close
After WWII, Hawaii and California close down Japanese-language schools
(Wiley & Wright as cited in 2004, Wright, 2015, p. 71) -
Brown v. Board of Education
The landmark case declared that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” The case contributed to the Civil Rights Movement and began the dismantling of states' segregation laws.
The case made clear that all students, including ELLs, were to be offered equal education opportunities.
(History.com; Wright, 2015, p. 84 ) -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
Congress passes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was a part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty." ESEA was designed to distribute funding to schools with low-income families to offer the chance for equal education.
(Wright, 2015, p. 72) -
The Invisible Minority ... perl no vencibles
National Education Association sponsored a conference on the education of Spanish-speaking children influenced by the report which described education programs that utilized children's home languages. The report also suggested the repeal of English-only instruction in American schools, and recommended that early-education instruction should be in both Spanish and English. The report was influential and inspired the BEA of 1968.
(Wright, 2015, p. 72-73) -
Bilingual Education Act
(AKA Title VII) Designed to provide assistance to ELLs and their families by offering grants and allowing ELLs an equal opportunity to receive the learning outcome even if alternative instruction was implemented. The Act was reauthorized several times in 1974;1978;1984;1988;1994; and finally in 1994.
(Wright, 2015, p.73) -
Lau v. Nichols
The case of Law v. Nichols set a precedent and changed the course for ELLs in America. "Chinese American students were placed in mainstream classroom and left to 'sink or swim.'" The school district claimed that the children were treated fairly because they were being treated as equals. However, the Chinese American students were not offered equal opportunity to learn, which was the argument and decision of the presiding judge.
(Wright, 2015, p. 84) -
EEOA
The Equal Education Opportunities Act required that "districts to implement bilingual programs for ELLs." The act was inspired by the Law v. Nichols case. The act declares that no school can deny an equal opportunity for students to learn based on their "race, color, sex, or national origin."
(Wright, 2015, p. 84) -
Department of Education
United States creates Department of Education -
Castaneda v. Pickard
A Texas school district fell short of meeting EEOA requirements; however, the plaintiff's demand for bilingual instruction was not met. But, from this case, stemmed "a three-pronged test to determine whether schools are taking 'appropriate action' to address the needs of ELLs."
(Wright, 2015, p. 85) -
Plyer v. Doe
A landmark case that declared undocumented children have the right to attend public school. The court decided it is better to educate these children and integrate them into the communities in which they live rather than to completely deny them.
(colorincolorado.org) -
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English for the Children initiatives
California (1998), Arizona (2000), and Massachusetts (2002) approved programs that placed heavy restrictions on ELL instruction programs. ELLs were isolated and sheltered from the mainstream classrooms. The programs were thought to help ELLs learn English faster and easier, although there is no evidence that the new programs helped the children.
(Wright, 2015, p. 82) -
Home language instruction is allowed...
...in 32 states by the early 2000s -
No Child Left Behind Act
The NCLBA is a reauthorization of the ESEA. The idea of the act was to grant equal education opportunity to all students. Each state was required to establish their own testing standards that met federal regulations and meet or exceed those expectations by 2014.
(Wright, 2015) -
WIDA
The World-class Instructional Design and Assessment was started in 2002 by Wisconsin. WIDA was created to establish common standards for ELLs that comply with NCLB.
(Wright, 2015, p. 81) -
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
The ARRA was issued by the Obama administration, and the act included over $44 billion for funding.
(Wright, 2015, p.77) -
Race to the Top
RTTT is a part of the ARRA. RTTT was created to give states incentive to promote academic success by "recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principles" and "supporting effective intervention strategies" to help low-performing schools succeed. RTTT granted over $4 billion to states to begin reform efforts.
(Wright, 2015, p. 77) -
Common Core State Standards Initiative
CCSS is an effort that determines common language arts and math standards that states voluntarily adopt. CCSS identifies the core knowledge that all students need to be college and work ready, though the curriculum is not determined by CCSS. CCSS does not address ELLs specifically, but does claim that the standards are designed help ALL students succeed. The CCSS also does not determine the language of instruction and "thus are are compatible with bilingual education approaches."
(Wright, 2015) -
ESEA Flexibility
Schools were not making AYP, and with only 3 years to meet NCLB deadline, the Obama administration created an alternative system in which states could apply for under ESEA flexibility. Following specific guidelines and still meeting select goals, over 43 states had been approved for ESEA Flexibility. There were researchers appointed to determine the effect that the act will have on ELLs.
(Wright, 2015, p. 77-78) -
ASSETS
WIDA and Wisconsin led a consortium of 35 states under the name Assessment Services Supporting ELLs through Technology Systems. The Department of Education awarded them a grant of over $10 million. The grant would be used to develop a new computer-based English proficiency assessment for ELLs.
(Wright, 2015, p. 82) -
ELPA21
Oregon led 11 states as the English Language Proficiency Assessment for the 21st Century Consortium. After being awarded over $6 million, the grant monies would be used to create a computer-based assessment in line with CCSS standards for ELLs' English language proficiency. The assessments are scheduled for implementation by the 2016-2017 school year.
(Wright, 2015) -
Seal of Biliteracy
California was the first state to establish the Seal, which is put on graduating seniors diplomas.
(Wright, 2015, p. 83-84) -
New York Times open letter
New Times published an open letter supporting CCSS (Wright, 2015) -
Title I flexibility granted
High-stakes testing expectations associated with Title I "Improving the Academic Achievement of the Economically Disadvantaged" are extended or adjusted. Meeting testing expectations put pressure on states, schools, and in turn, students, who were not receiving the English instruction that was expected or necessary.
(Wright, 2015, p. 76) -
WIDA state participation
"As of 2014, 35 states and territories were participating in the WIDA Consortium"
(Wright, 2015, p. 81) -
Period: to
Common Core State Standards Assessment Consortia
Consortia which helped assess forward progress in states' education collaborated with ELL experts to "develop policies, procedures, and accommodations for ELLs. These consortia received their funding from RTTT and focus on language arts and mathematics assessments, and computer-based tests that require schools to have up-to-date equipment and high-speed Internet access.
(Wright, 2015)
