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ESL Legislation and its effects on society

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Why is ESL education so important?

Question-Why is there a need to

implement laws and policies to mandate public school procedures in educating ESL students?

Answer-According to data

obtained from the 2000 Census, the number of children that speak another language other than English has increased by over 54% from the previous 1990 Census.

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Five important laws and legal decisions that have had an impact on second language learners

1954-Brown vs. The Board of Education

1964 Title VI Civil Rights Act

1974 Lau vs. Nichol

1982 Plyler vs.Doe

2001 No Child Left Behind

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Brown vs. The Board of Education

• Declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students and denying black children equal educational opportunities unconstitutional.

• This ruling paved the way for future federal laws and policies that recognize the importance of ESL education.

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1964 Civil Rights Act Title VI

• Prohibits denial of equal access to education because of a students limit to education because of a students limited proficiency in English.

• Title VI, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq., was enacted as part of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.

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1974 Lau vs. Nichol

• "Basic English skills are at the very core of what public schools teach. Imposition of a requirement that, before a child can effectively participate in the educational program, he must already have acquired those basic skills is to make a mockery of public education."

• "There is no equality of treatment by providing students with the same facilities, textbooks, teachers and curriculum, for students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education."

• Filed by a group of Japanese American Students in San Franciso, CA.

• The San Francisco schools signed a consent decree agreeing to provide bilingual education for Chinese, Filipino, and Hispanic children.  

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1982 Plyler vs.Doe

• Ruled that the 14th Amendment prohibits states from denying a free public education to undocumented immigrant children regardless of their immigrant status.

• In other words, the child will not be held responsible for his/her citizen status and will not be denied education because the child is not a legal immigrant.

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…and finally….everybody's favorite

No Child Left Behind • Made federal funding

for states on student progress including ESL students.

• School districts were forced implemented programs for the ELLs in order to keep funding and or their jobs.

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Five laws and legal decisions that have the greatest impact in Tennessee

• 1954-Brown vs. The Board of Education

• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

• 1981 Federal Court Case Casteneda vs. Pickard: The Fifth Circuit Court

• Memorandum on 25 May 1979

• …and of course our favorite NCLB

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1954 Brown Vs. Board of Education and its effect on Tennessee

• In 1956, Clinton High School in Clinton, Anderson County, Tennessee, was set to be the first high school in the South to be integrated after the Brown decision.

• Integration was progressing smoothly until John Kasper, leader of the White Citizens Council and a staunch segregationist, came to town. Protests and riots ensued from that day until early in December, when several white citizens escorted the African American students to class

• One of the escorts were severely beaten and the school was closed, but reopened without incident 6 days later. Integrated classroom in Nashville, Tn

1957.