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Nationality Act
Required immigrants to speak English in order to begin the process of becoming naturalized and legitimized the use of language as a mode of exclusion and discrimination. -
Period: to
PR Language Policy Timeline
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Ammendments to the Nationality Act
English literacy required for naturalization. -
National Defense Education Act
This federal policy largely targeted collegiate education, authorizing both National Defense Fellowships and loans for students. The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) also provided funds to state educational agencies for the purposes of improving the teaching of science, mathematics, and “modern foreign languages”. -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
Through a special source of funding (Title I), the law allocated large resources to meet the needs of educationally deprived children, especially through compensatory programs for the poor. -
Title VII Bilingual Education Act
The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 is noted as the first official federal recognition of the needs of students with limited English speaking ability (LESA). -
Reauthorization of Bilingual Education Act
Native-language instruction was required for the first time as a condition for receiving bilingual educational grants. -
Reauthorization of Bilingual Education Act
Amendments to Title VII emphasize the strictly transitional nature of native language instruction, expand eligibility to students who are limited English proficient (LEP), and permit enrollment of English-speaking students in bilingual programs. -
Reauthorization of Bilingual Education Act
Under the 1984 Amendments, grants were awarded for several types of special programs for LEP students including:
transitional bilingual education programs, developmental bilingual education programs, special alternative instructional programs in which the native language need not be used. -
Reauthorization of Bilingual Education Act
25% of funding given for English-only Special Alternative Instructional Programs (SAIP). -
Reauthorization of BEA
Full bilingual proficiency recognized as a lawful educational goal. -
Proposition 227
Requires all public school instruction be conducted in English. Most bilingual programs were eliminated. -
Proposition 203
Would repeal the existing bilingual education laws and change the law to require that all classes be taught in English except that pupils who are classified as "English Learners" will be educated through sheltered English immersion programs during a temporary transition period. -
No Child Left Behind
Title VII Bilingual Education Act is eliminated. Reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. -
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Includes measures to modernize infrastructure, enhance energy independence, expand educational opportunities, etc.
