History and Policy of English Language Programs

What does this mean for me? 

There are several important reasons why all of this policy and history of ESOL programs is important to me as an educational professional, and as person working with speakers of other languages. They are outlined below:

A. The history of immigrant achievement in 20^th century America shows that school success is a key factor, and that proficiency with cognitive academic language is necessary to school success.

B. The Civil Rights Movement, culminating in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with Title VI prohibiting discrimination on the basis of national origin, is what kicked it all of.

C. In 1968, Congress passed the Bilingual Education Act as Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) and funding became available for a wide array of educational programs intended to prevent educational discrimination against English Language Learners.  It was during the period immediately following this legislation that the question of how to include ELLs in educational programs became the subject of research and of experimentation in schools of education.

D.  Personnel Requirements of the 2003 Stipulations to the Consent Decree

1. Teachers of Basic ESOL or primary English and Language Arts who need ESOL endorsement must complete 300 in-service points (measured as 300 inservice hours) or 15 college semester hours in the areas of Methods of Teaching ESOL, ESOL Curriculum and Materials development, Cross-Cultural Communication and Understanding, Applied Linguistics, and Testing and Evaluation of ESOL.
2. Teachers of basic subject areas (mathematics, science, social studies, computer literacy) assigned in classrooms which have English Language Learners must learn ESOL strategies through the completion of 60 in-service points or the equivalent college credit of three semester hours.
3. Teachers assigned to instruct English Language Learners in other subject areas must complete inservice training equivalent to 18 in-service points or three semester hours.

References:

Hakuta, Kenji.( 2011) Educating Language Minority Students and Affirming Their Equal Rights: Research and Practical Perspectives. Educational Researcher, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 163–174

Technical Assistance for Teacher Preparation: Meeting the Needs of English Language Learners (ELL) in Florida. Florida Department of Education. Bureau of Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Development. 2011

James Crawford’s Language Policy Website and Emporium http://www.languagepolicy.net/index.html

MacDonald, Victoria-Maria. (2004).The Status of English Language Learners in Florida: Trends and Prospects - Policy Brief. EDUCATION POLICY STUDIES LABORATORY. Education Policy Research Unit EPSL-0401-113-EPRU http://edpolicylab.org

Krashen, S. and McField, G. (2005). Reviewing the Latest Evidence on Bilingual Education. Language Learner November/December (2005). http://www.elladvocates.org/documents/RCN/Krashen-McField.pdf

Retrieved 2/23/2015 from http://www.languagepolicy.net/archives/biling.htm

Umansky, Ilana M. and Reardon, Sean F. Reclassification Patterns among Latino English Learner Students in Bilingual, Dual Immersion, and English Immersion Classrooms Educational Research Journal October 2014, Vol. 51, No. 5, pp. 879–912