English Language Learners and the Law Gema Sieh Highland Rim

Introduction The Civil Rights Act of 1964 provided for equal education to all children in America. Since then there have been other laws and decisions ensuring and protecting the equitable education of English language learners.

Laws Impacting ELL’s Title VI, Civil Rights Act, 1964 – “No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program receiving federal financial assistance.” This Act insured that all children in America, regardless of race, color, or where they were born, would not be denied a public school education.

May 25 Memorandum, 1970 – “ Where inability to speak and understand the English language excludes national origin-minority group children from effective participation in the educational program offered by a school district, the district must take affirmative steps to rectify the language deficiency in order to open its instructional program to these students.” This memorandum directed school districts to take steps to help limited-English proficient students to overcome language barriers so that they could participate in the district’s educational programs.

Lau vs. Nichols, 1974 – “Equality of educational opportunity is not achieved by merely providing all students with the same facilities, textbooks, teachers, and curriculum; for students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education.” This case insured the rights of children with limited English skills to receive special help in order to learn English and receive an equitable education.

Plyler vs. Doe – “Undocumented alien children cannot be denied a free, public education because such a denial would violate their constitutional right of equal protection.” With this court decision, undocumented immigrant children could not be turned away from schools and denied an education. Schools are not responsible for enforcing the immigration laws.

No Child Left Behind Act, 2001 – “The setting of high standards and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education.” With this act federal funding for schools is dependent on the annual yearly progress of students based on high-stakes assessment. English language learners would be included in the yearly testing. Progress in learning language skills would have to be demonstrated to maintain federal funding.

Laws Impacting ELL’s in TN Along with those laws already mentioned, others also affect ELL’s in TN Equal Educational Opportunities Act, 1974 – This Act required school districts to establish language programs and eliminate language barriers in schools. Family Education Rights and Privacy Act – This Act keeps schools from having to provide any agency with information from a child’s file that would expose a student’s undocumented status. Castaneda VS. Pickard – Through this case a three-part test was designed to determine if school districts were in compliance with the EEOA. The test included programs based on sound educational theory, implementation, and positive results. Y.S. vs. School District of Philadelphia – This case determined that communication with parents should be in a language they understand and Ell’s should have individual educational programs. T.C.A – Requires all state agencies that receive federal funds to be in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Application in Tennessee Program types –ESL pull out –Sheltered Instructional Observation Protocol SIOP model Accomodations in Testing –Modifications can be used in the classroom as determined by the teacher –For TCAP time and a half is allowed, the use of bilingual dictionaries, and read aloud of internal instructions Interpreters –Counties must provide interpreters as needed

Additional Resources OCR English Language Learner Resources TN State DOE ESL Resources NCELA Title III Accountability