Compliance with Lau v. Nichols u Why is this an issue? u What has been done? u What needs to be done? u Where do we go from here?

THE ISSUE: US V. THEM “Language can thus emerge as an important rallying point in boundary maintenance, as a way of defining ‘us’ in comparison to ‘them’.” (Valdes)

Numbers u Increasing enrollment of limited English proficient students. ( : 17 states reported ELL enrollment jumps of 10%, 7 states reported increases of more than 25%.) u Retention and dropout rates for LEP students higher than for English speakers. (1992, 42% of students aged who reported difficulty with English had dropped out of high school.)

Add to the mix: accountability through testing u One size fits all testing and accountability u Accreditation of schools based on number of children passing high stakes tests. u Standards rising. New York English Regents Exam. Virginia SOL requirements for graduation.

Hey! But they don’t speak English! Can’t we just let them sit and forget about them?

Legal guarantees and guidelines u Civil Rights legislation – Bilingual Education Act (1968) – Equal Educational Opportunity Act (1974) u Supreme Court Decisions – Lau v. Nichols (1974) – Castaneda v. Pickard (1981)

Programs u Bilingual education – Transitional – Dual language, immersion – # ESL alone – ESL in combination with bilingual education

What needs to be done? The legislation is in place but the commitment is not there on the part of states, school districts and schools.

WHY??? u Economics u Logistics u POLITICS

Political Issue u Majority v. minority language power play u Misunderstanding of the goals of bilingual education u Allocation of resources within schools and school districts u Silent constituency

Research agenda u Education – Of the public – Of educators – Of parents of language minority students u Educational practices – For changing demographics – For non-literate students – For U.S. born non-language dominant students

Conclusion u Vision = Keyword – As instructional leaders we need to have a vision of how we see the student immigrant population in our society. – Research – Action