1. 1 History of Bilingual/ESL Education in Texas

2. 2 Resentment between Anglo-Texans and Mexican-Texans had existed in the state since the earliest settlements; Turn of the century: Tension is exacerbated by the nationwide xenophobia and nativism; 1920-1960: Segregation of Mexican schools Mexican parents are welcome but language and customs unacceptable “melting pot” strategies Poor educational facilities, untrained teachers, shorter school terms and large classes

3. 3 1964 Teaching of vocabulary and English language skills is promoted; Texas has the largest number of Mexican-American students in ESL programs in the south; The Title VI of the Civil Rights Act is created under the Johnson Administration: provides equal educational opportunities, causes a major changed in the perception of minorities, institutionally segregated schooling ends, open racism becomes unpopular

4. 4 1964 cont… First bilingual district is created (Laredo United Consolidated School District) 1967 TEA creates accreditation measures allowing schools to offer instructional programs in two languages 1968: Bilingual Education Act, Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965)

5. 5 1970: Texas Office for Civil Rights: districts with more than 5% national-origin LEP’s are obliged to provide equal educational opportunities (under the 1964 Civil Rights Act): LEP children can not be assigned to classes for the mentally retarded or excluded from college-level courses; parents have to be informed of non-English activities; temporary grouping of special language students is allowed. 1973: 243,185 LEP students reported in Texas; 19 school districts seeking funding for bilingual/ESL education

6. 6 1973: Texas enacts the Bilingual Education Act: public schools enrolling 20 or more LEP children in a given grade level must provide bilingual education; use of the native language for initial instruction to facilitate transfer to the mainstream classroom; ESL teaching is required for development of English literacy skills 1974: Lau v. Nichols assuring the survival of bilingual programs 1975: Lau Remedies, guidelines for planning appropriate bilingual/ESL education

7. 7 1981: US v. Texas reinforcing bilingual support for bilingual education: lack of equal education opportunities produces “a deep sense of inferiority, cultural isolation, and acceptance of failure” 1981: Castañeda v. Pickard Bilingual programs must be based on sound educational theory, reflect sound practices and language and academic results adequate resources and personnel, 2001: No Child Left Behind with its goal of rapid acquisition of English, act opened the path for English-only instruction

8. 8 2004: U.S. public schools serve about 5.1 million English language learners (ELL’s); 145 different languages are spoken among our ELL population; Spanish is spoken by 80% of the ELL population U.S. Demographics

9. 9 1,894,108 Hispanic (44%) 1,676,987 White (39%) 616,050 African American (14%) 127,092 Asian (2.9%) 13,791 Native American (0.3%) Texas Student Profile Grades PK-12

10. 10 Spanish 603,299 Vietnamese 10,649 Urdu 3,425 Korean 2,841 Arabic 2,689 Texas PK-12 English language learners (ELLs) 2004-2005 684,583 Total Identified ELLs)

11. 11 Data presented by the U.S. Dept. of Education – Title III Biennial Evaluation Report, FY 2002-2004 in González, Georgina, Director of BE, TEA, 2005

12. 12 Data presented by the U.S. Dept. of Education – Title III Biennial Evaluation Report, FY 2002-2004 in González, Georgina, Director of BE, TEA, 2005

13. 2004-2005 Academic Excellence Indicator System for Region 8 Link contains information about number of bilingual and ESL students in the Region, compared to the rest of the state; TAKS reports per academic subject, ethnic group, minority, etc: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/aeis/2 005/region.srch.html