Non-English Language Learners

First off, it’s important to understand the difference between learning and education. Learning is the ability of an individual’s brain to acquire and retain information for a lifetime, whereas education is an aide to further strengthen a student’s learning capacity with the use of resources: teachers, libraries, classroom environment, etc. All students are essentially equal when they enter the educational environment, however students who don’t speak English have an unfair disadvantage in the american educational system.

Bilingual education has been a debatable subject since its conception during the case of Lau vs. Nichols, in the early 1970’s. However, in that case, the court only ruling was that the children’s

• The final decision in this case ruled that it is the State Department of Education’s responsibility to monitor programs for students who have limited proficiency in the English language.

Movements for bilingual education rose in 1974 with the Equal Education Opportunity Act and Bingual Education Act, which ordered federally funded schools to meet special educational needs for students not proficient in English. Unfortunately, dropout rates and lack of English-language proficiency alarmed the states that these bilingual programs were not efficent. Because of this, arguments between English-only advocates and supporters of bilingual educations emerged. Articles such as the New York Times have proclaimed the failures of bilingual education. One cause could be the resistance of immigrants from English language acquisition, who hold tight onto their first language and culture. Despite this, studies show that generations

The primary goal of any school district’s English Language Learner policy should be to ensure that all students receive equitable access to the curriculum. The Office of Civil Rights memorandum (May 25, 1970) requires school districts to take affirmative steps to provide equal access to instructional program for students with limited English proficiency. The Illinois Constitution guarantees every child from kindergarten through grade 12, access to a free public education; which means, regardless of a child’s home language, he/she deserves a free and appropriate education (Illinois State Board of Education, 1998).

School principals will find in the following lawsuits the legal framework to provide educational services to ELLs in public schools. Baker (1997) points out that a landmark case in favor of bilingual education in the United States was a lawsuit in 1970. The case was a class-action suit brought by the parents of nearly 3000 Chinese students against the San Francisco School District (Lyons, 1990). This case originated that in 1974 the Unites States Supreme Court handed down its only substantive decision regarding the responsibilities of school districts serving ELLs (Lyons, 1990). The court indicated that under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the Chinese students were entitled to receive specific support to allow them full participation in the school program (Crawford, 1989). This case was known as Lau v. Nichols and its verdict outlawed English submersion programs for language minority students, and resulted in nationwide ‘Lau Remedies’ (Baker, 1997). Lyons (1990) writes that the ‘Lau Remedies’ specified how to identify and evaluate language minority students, determine appropriate instruction, decide when ELLs were ready for mainstream, and determine the professional standards expected of teachers serving language minority students. Under the Lau Remedies school districts were encouraged to provide

Mo Hock Ke Lok Po v. Stainback (1944) was another court case that gave parents the right to have their children taught in a foreign language. This was a significant victory because it implied that parents had a voice in regards to the education their children were to receive.

In determining my position on this complex ballot offering, I first reviewed the opinions of people who learned in multilingual classrooms, prior to Proposition 227. In general, it seemed like many of them considered their placement in Non-English speaker classes a source of shame and segregation. Many noted that there was a sentiment among teachers and other students that they were different, and even un-American because they did not speak English fluently.

In 1981 the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals established three criteria for determining program adequacy and appropriate action for limited English proficiency students as it ruled in favor of Castaneda, the plaintiff. The program must be:

Susan, a young teenager, wanted to attend a better equipped school closer to her family home. This wish, combined with her father’s civil rights involvement, contributed to her family’s decision to file a court case to gain access to an all white school to which she had originally been denied access. The Iowa Supreme Court’s decision regarding Clark versus Board of Directors was the first successful school desegregation case in the United States.

WAC 162-28-040 - Washington State English language limitations and national origin discrimination (Washington State Legislature, 2003). This law states that schools must provide equal opportunity to children of all national origins including those who are deficient in English language skills and meet the following standards:

One of the important landmark educational court cases, is the 1974 ruling of Lau v. Nichols. As more immigrants establish homes in the United States, they face many difficulties adapting to everyday life having English as their second language or having no knowledge of the English language at all. During 1971, San Francisco schools were integrated and created more diverse and bilingual groups of students which exemplified this issue within the school system (Developing ELL Programs). Though previous actions had been made to accommodate students with lack of English proficiency, there were still a large number of students that did not receive any help.

555). Buenrostro (2017) concludes that “the intent of the law is for schools to be responsive to the preferences of parents or guardians in their decision-making process”(p. 2). This amendment provides a wonderful opportunity for school districts to provide dual language programs to their students. Dual language programs provide students with long-term academic success, and could potentially better prepare them for the globally connected world we live in(Buenrostro, 2017, p.

Diverse cultures within the United States are rapidly developing and growing and the educational sector is the number one target to ensure that English –learners are receiving adequate education. Within the educational sector there are administrators and teachers who are involved in students lives on a daily basis to ensure that education is equal. In order to achieve the vital objective of equality, socio-cultural influences on ELL students, bilingualism and home language use, parental and community resources, and partnerships between families and schools all have to be considered to provide an opportunity for equal education.

These cases helped to shape multicultural education during the 70’s. In 1974, the Lau vs. Nichols case was brought about by Chinese students in California who claimed that they were not achieving in school because of their limited proficiency in the English Language. The students argued that not enough was being done in school to help overcome this challenge and felt it was because of their culture. The judge ruled in favor of the students and the case established the right of language minority students to educational accommodations. This verdict helped to make way for the 1979 case of Martin Luther King Elementary School vs. Ann Arbor School District. The suit was brought about by Black students who believed that the district did not seriously take their speaking of non-standard English seriously and this inadvertently caused them to obtain low reading scores. The judge ruled that the school district was responsible for identifying Black English speakers in the schools and must use that knowledge in teaching such students how to read Standard English. One key case that helped to prove the change that multicultural education had in the classroom was the 1970 case of Diana V. California State Board of Education. Mexican students felt that the school system did not take into account their Mexican culture and language into testing. The judge ruled in their favor and when the students were tested in their native language the