ESL Legislation

1. ESL Legislation Samantha Jennings Middle Tennessee State University skj2a@mtsu.edu

2. 5 Laws and Legal Decisions that have impacted 2nd Language Learners: • Brown vs. The Board of Education (U.S. Supreme Court, 1954) • Title VI Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Equal Educational Opportunities Act, 1974 (EEOA) • Bilingual Education Acts of 1968 and 1974 (Title VII) • No Child Left Behind Act, 2001

3. 1.) Brown vs. The Board of Education (U.S. Supreme Court, 1954) • Overview: Schools in the late 1940’s were still segregated by race and did not always offer equal opportunities. The U.S. Supreme Court deemed segregation by race unconstitutional and that it violated the 14th Amendment. This marks the beginning of educational reform in the U.S. • Impact: Schools started being integrated. Caucasian and African-American students attended school together, which provided more equal opportunities and better facilities for African-American students. This ruling helped to start the Civil Rights Movement.

4. 2.) Title VI Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Overview: This law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs that receive federal funding or assistance. Since taxpayers of all races contribute to these funds, people/children of all races should benefit from them. • Impact: This law insured that all programs or activities that received any federal financial funding or assistance provide equal opportunity to people of all races and national origin. If a program did not adhere to this law they could lose the financial funding.

5. 3.) Equal Educational Opportunities Act, 1974 (EEOA) • Overview: This act required that school districts work on language barriers in the schools by establishing language programs. It mandated that schools take more action to provide materials such as handbooks, forms, and school policies in both English and the student’s home language. • Impact: This guaranteed students a greater chance of success and a better chance that the family can be involved in their student’s schooling. Now, not only will all students receive equal opportunity to go to school, they will receive equal opportunity to succeed.

6. 4.) Bilingual Education Acts of 1968 and 1974 (Title VII) • Overview: This act provided additional funding to school districts that were interested in adding programs to help fulfill the needs of limited English speaking students. This act did not require the schools to use any language besides English to receive financial aid. • Impact: This led to the beginnings of ESL programs who’s goals were to provide students in need of learning or improving English ability additional assistance.

7. 5.) No Child Left Behind, 2001 • Overview: NCLB emphasizes accountability, highly-qualified teachers, parent involvement, and research based teaching methods. NCLB set forth standards that all students should be accounted for and testing should be mandatory and the results used to drive the instruction. • Impact: It focused on making teachers more accountable for each and every student and to regulate the curriculum by each grade level expectations.

8. Laws that have impacted TN schools: 1.) 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution Impact: This law established the constitutional basis for the educational rights of all students, even language minority students. No person will be denied life, liberty or property without due process of the law. This has directly affected TN by causing the need to educate all children.

9. 2.) Equal Educational Opportunities Act, 1974 (EEOA) Impact: This guaranteed students a greater chance of success and a better chance that the family can be involved in their student’s schooling. Now, not only will students receive equal opportunity to go to school, they will receive equal opportunity to succeed. TN schools use bilingual assistants to help the students and working with student’s families.

10. 3.) Bilingual Education Acts of 1968 and 1974 (Title VII) Impact: This led to the beginnings of ESL programs who’s goals were to provide students in need of learning or improving English ability additional assistance. As children are learning in TN, teachers must adjust their teaching to the profiency of the student.

11. 4.) Castañeda vs. Pickard 1981 Impact: This required school districts to have a set plan for limited English proficiency students with a qualified staff to implement the plan and a system to evaluate the program. TN uses Bilingual Assistants available to all school and a Coordinator at the Superintendents office. Students may be moved to a better equipped school to receive the needed education.

12. 5.) No Child Left Behind, 2001 • Impact: It focused on making teachers more accountable for each and every student and to regulate the curriculum by each grade level expectations. TN teachers are now held accountable for ESL students being proficient on the TCAP test.

13. Additional Resources: http://literacynet.org/esl/research.html http://www.tennessee.gov/education/fedprog/doc/ESLSpEdQNAs.doc http://www.tntesol.org/forms/ESLProgramGuide.pdf http://www.planesllessons.com/legislation/ http://www.state.tn.us/education/fedprog/fpeslresources.shtml

14. References Brown v. Board of Education Orientation Handbook: Background Overview and Summary. Retrieved from: http://brownvboard.org/research/handbook/overview/overview.htm Coordination and Review Section. United States Department of Justice: Civil Rights Division. Retrieved from:http://www.justice.gov/crt/cor/coord/titlevi.php Mora, J.K. Legal History of Bilingual Education. Retrieved from: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/jmora/pages/historybe.htm NCLB: Law, Regulations, Guidance Publications &Policy Letters. Retrieved from: http://www.wrightslaw.com/nclb/law.htm