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14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
This addition to the United States Constitution stated that schools could not deny any citizen living within the district access to equal education. This protected English Learning students by granting them access to quality education regardless of language and ethnicity. -
Meyer v. Nebraska
This Supreme Court case occurred after Meyer, a teacher, taught German to a student. The outcome of this case highlights that states dictate the language used in instruction- not the teacher. However, for English Learners, it is important to note that their parents may choose after-school programs to educate the student on heritage language. -
Farrington v. Tokushige
This Supreme Court case added to Meyer v. Nebraska by stating that schools could not teach any foreign languages unless they had a permit to do so. The court found that Hawaii's law of teaching foreign language went against the fifth Amendment and restricted this activity unless further documentation was granted. This impacts English Learners by regulating what language is being taught in schools and ensuring that the teaching of these languages is done effectively. -
Plessy, Brown v. Board of Education
This Supreme Court case overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and found segregation within school districts on the basis of race to be unconstitutional. Furthermore, it demanded that states provide equal educational opportunities for English Learners. -
ESEA
The Elementary & Secondary Education Act improved education for poorer families through federal funding. This impacted educating English Learners because it provided protection for the students against diminished educational opportunities due to economic class. -
Title I
"Improving the Achievement of the Economically Disadvantaged," similar to ESEA, this act required that all students have the same opportunity to high quality education and resources. It brought the need for Adequate Yearly Progress for students, specifically English Learners. -
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Title VII
The Bilingual Education Act was the first program to provide funding for bilingual education through grants. This act was reauthorized six times and created the first federal educational language policy for English learners. -
Lau v. Nichols
This case deemed that English Learners must have additional language instruction aside from their content instruction and the "sink or swim" ideology went against the Civil Rights Act. This was meaningful to English Learners because it maintained their right to quality education in English acquisition and content knowledge. This court case also lead to the Equal Educational Opportunities Act. -
EEOA
The Equal Educational Opportunities Act demanded that all students receive access to quality education no matter their race, sex, or national origin. For English Learners, this protects their rights to education aside from physical factors. -
Castañeda v. Pickard
In this case, a father argued that his two children were being discriminated against in the classroom due to their Mexican heritage. The outcome of this case established the "Castañeda Standard," a three-level assessment to ensure that schools are fulfilling the needs of English Learners. This is imperative to English Learners because it makes sure that their needs are addressed appropriately. -
Plyer vs. Doe
This case was decided in the Supreme Court and used the fourteenth Amendment to prove that all children have the right to free public education- regardless of their immigration status and the school district they reside in. This case impacted English Learners by upholding their constitutional rights and granting them access to education. -
Gomez v. Illinois State Board of Education
This court case aligns with Castañeda v. Pickard by using the Castañeda standard to fix inadequate English Learning programs in school districts. This case is important to the education of English Learners because it did not allow any student to sit in a classroom unable to understand what was being said- school districts had to service English Learners. -
CA Proposition 227
This English for the Children initiative changed the way that English Learners were taught in school. The CA Proposition 227 removed the "bilingual classroom" concept and shortened the time that these students would spend in English as a Second Language classes. The goal was to have English be spoken almost entirely with resources in place when needed. This allowed English Learners to be taught more closely with their English proficient peers to receive content knowledge in various subjects. -
Flores v. Arizona
In Flores v. Arizona, the case was centered around states, specifically Arizona, believing that too much funding goes to English as a Second Language programs. Arizona wished to decide how much funding went to English acquisition and what programs were acceptable in the state. This case is important to English Learners because it protected crucial programs that aid in English acquisition and funding needed to do so. -
AZ Proposition 203
Famously, this case states, "all children in Arizona public schools shall be taught English as rapidly and effectively as possible." The outcome of this case was that English Learners would be placed into an immersion-type program after receiving instruction to acclimate them into the school district in a transitional setting. This was key for English Learners because it allowed for more concise data analysis and the separation of bilingual programs and immersion programs. -
Title III
The Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient & Immigrant Students replaced Title VII in order to support accountability in education of content knowledge and English proficiency. This aided English Learners by having resources in their content knowledge and their language acquisition. -
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NCLB
No Child Left Behind was one of the reauthorization of ESEA. This change put accountability on school districts for higher achievement of English proficiency in order to receive funding through testing measures. -
MA Question 2
This case stated, "all public school children must be taught English by being taught all subjects in English and being placed in English language classrooms." Through this case, it required that English acquisition and content knowledge acquisition go together in one cohesive instruction. This method of English teaching allows for English Learners to stay on track content wise with their peers and to not be segregated into "special classrooms," -
Race to the Top
The Obama Administration put this program in place to reform education- data collection for students, quality educators, and resources for low-performing school districts. This adapted educating English Learners by providing them with tools to track their progress and educators who are qualified to effectively teach them. -
ESEA Act Flexibility
This allowed for states to adopt their own programs in line with Title I so long as the state provided a stronger program than that of ESEA. For English Learners, this impacted them because the state they lived in could adapt their program to better fit the needs of the students. -
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ESSA
The Every Student Succeeds Act is the most recent version of ESEA. This act allows states to choose their goals and what happens when schools do not meet their goals through national testing. This act is imperative for English Learners because teachers are accountable for teaching them English as well as content knowledge in order to avoid the consequences set forth by the state.
