DIANA V. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION By; Seth Field

THE SETTINGS -IQ tests are used to determine placement of students entering the district. -California 1970 – Class action lawsuit filed by 9 Mexican American students. -The district had a significant disproportion between students who were more versed in Spanish originally but maybe had not received ESOL training as others. Others also relocated at a later age. -The children were bilingual (Spanish/English) and it was claimed that the language barrier of the tests made the scores invalid.

THE PLAYERS State board of Education vs 9 Hispanic Americans This would be settled out of court (surprise surprise)

EVIDENCE - Diana was found to be able to pass a similar test but in her “known” language. - out of score ranges from with a mean of point average gain between 9 students tested in first language – meaning 7 of the 9 DID NOT meet the states requirement for classification of EMR

STIPULATIONS ADDED (RAMAGE, 1980) 1.If a child’s primary language is not English, they must be tested in both primary language and English 2.These children must not be tested with measures that depend on unfair verbal items or knowledge of English 3.All bilingual children in EMR classes were to be re-evaluated 4.Districts with significant variance between the percentage of Chicano students in EMR vs. general school population must submit a plan to eliminate the variance 5.If variance continues after a 3-year period, the State Department must audit the district’s program

THE CONCLUSION Factors that determine what “mild retardation” defines Minority doesn’t mean you are automatically placed into an EMR program (educable mentally retarded) Public Law (many of the points made by the plaintiffs in these cases were ultimately incorporated into Public Law (P.L.) (1975) in the form of provisions ensuring due process, parental involvement, nondiscriminatory assessment, and placement into the least restrictive environment)

FURTHER CASES: LARRY P. V RILES (1972) - Specific to targeting Black Children for eligibility of Educable mentally retarded. - Paired with Diana’s attack case would keep EMR from being segregate or biased. - This case wouldn’t die (1972, 74, 79, & 84) but in the end we got em! - Movements in special education reform.