Politics of English

Language Learning
David Pennino
Introduction
Over the last half-century or so, the US
government has taken interest in
ensuring that English Language
Learners are provided with the same
quality of education as English-
speaking peers. This presentation will
examine some of the different laws
passed pertaining to the education of
ELL students as well as compare more
recent presidential administration’s
policies towards ELL students.
 By the end of this lesson, students will be able
to…

1. Identify the ways that the Bilingual Education

Act changed education policy for ELL students

Objectives 2. Compare and Contrast the policies of NCLB and

ESSA towards ELL students

3. Analyze how the role of the Federal

Government has grown and shrank under
different recent presidential administrations
 Lyndon B.
Johnson was
sworn into office
in November
1963, following
the assassination
of JFK.
1964 US
Presidential
Election
Results
LBJ signed into
law the
Elementary and
Secondary
Education Act
(ESEA) in 1965
 AKA Title VII of ESEA

Bilingual Provided funding to schools that had programs in

place to help students with limited knowledge of
English
Education Was the first time the Federal Government aided
Act schools to support ELL students

The Act did NOT require schools to provide

instruction in a language other than English in order
to receive funding from the Federal Government
 Support for
Bilingual
Education was
NOT a Partisan
Issue at this
time!
Lau v. Nichols
(1974)
“There is no equality of treatment
merely by providing students with
the same facilities, textbooks,
teachers, and curriculum; for
students who do not understand
English are effectively foreclosed
from any meaningful education.”
• Justice William O. Douglas
 The decision that SCOTUS came to was that
schools had to provide assistance to students
who were learning English in order for them
Lau v. to get the most out of the education provided
to them by the school

Nichols Simply teaching non-English speaking

(1974) students in the same environment with the
same classroom materials as English-speaking
students was still unequal treatment, as these
children could not be educated to the same
extent as their English-speaking peers.
2000 US Presidential Election Results
No Child Left Behind
No Child Left Behind Video
 ELL students were to be tested annually for
progress in learning English
NCLB’s
Effects on States were given the freedom to find the
best method of instructing ELL students, no

ELL
one method of instruction was mandated by
the Federal government

Students State and local educational agencies were

required to set proficiency standards for
students who were learning English based on
scientific research for English acquisition
2004 US Presidential Election Results
2008 US Presidential Election Results
In 2015, President
Obama signed into
law the “Every
Student Succeeds
Act” (ESSA)
 ESSA’s policy on ELL students was not that
different from NCLB, but there were some

ESSA’s
important changes.

Effect on Under ESSA, states had to have a

standardized criteria for identifying ELL

ELL
students and inclusion of English proficiency
as a measurement of school quality

Students ESSA pushed critical decisions such as how

quickly schools must improve and how states
can intervene with struggling districts back
to the states
 1. Who was the president that signed the
Bilingual Education Act into law?

2. What was significant about the Bilingual

Education Act?

Questions 3. Who was the president that signed NCLB

into law?
for Review 4. Which president signed ESSA into law?

5. What is one way that NCLB and ESSA’s

policies towards ELL students are different?