LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF EDUCATION AGENCIES
SERVING LANGUAGE MINORITY STUDENTS:
SUMMARY OF CRITICAL ISSUES AND STATISTICS

Students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education.
-- Lau v. Nichols (1974)

No state shall deny equal educational opportunity to an individual on account of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, by the failure of an educational agency to take appropriate action to overcome languages barriers that impede equal participation by its students in its instructional programs.
-- Equal Educational Opportunities Act (1974)

INTRODUCTION

As part of a national effort to guarantee equal access to an education that leads to equitable outcomes for all students in the United States, the federal government has created a body of law and judicial rulings that protects the rights of national origin minority students whose home language is other than English or whose proficiency in English is limited.

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Education is charged with monitoring school district's compliance with laws and rulings. The OCR does not prescribe specific educational programs; however, OCR requires that all public schools who serve national origin students conduct the following functions:

properly identify students who need language services;
develop programs that are effective in promoting learning;
provide adequate teachers, educational materials and physical space; and
evaluate the whole program on an ongoing basis and implement changes when and where they are found to be needed.

In addition, the courts have consistently maintained that educational agencies are responsible for providing limited-English-proficient students (LEP) with meaningful opportunities to:

develop English language proficiency sufficient to read, write and comprehend English well enough to participate meaningfully in the district's regular classroom;
learn the regular curriculum content while learning English; and
remedy any academic deficiencies that may have occurred while the students' program focused on learning English.

CRITICAL ISSUES AND STATISTICS

In spite of a substantial body of federal and state legislation that defines the rights of language minority students to an equitable education, a significant group of these students continues to experience less than adequate opportunities to learn and to succeed. Below is a summary of critical issues:

Significant increase in the number of limited-English-proficient students.
The number of LEP students increased from 1.25 million in 1979 to 2.44 million in 1995. (National Center for Education Statistics, 1997).

Lack of compliance with the legal right of undocumented students to a public education.
According to the ruling in Plyer v. Doe, undocumented students have the right to attend public schools and participate in all school activities. Moreover, school officials are not allowed to require children or their parents to prove that they are in this country legally, through evidence such as green cards, citizenship papers or social security numbers. (Plyer V. Doe, 1982; Price et al., 1988). Nevertheless, many school systems in the country deny access to undocumented students as standard practice -- either due to lack of awareness of the law or for reasons based on prejudice (The Mid-Atlantic Equity Center, 2000).

Lack of appropriate identification and placement.
There is an overrepresentation of national origin/language minority students in special education and underrepresentation of these students in gifted and talented programs (U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, 1996)

Shortage and/or lack of access to highly qualified bilingual-bicultural staff.
Many LEP students lack access to qualified staff. In the 1993-94 school year, 27 percent of all schools with bilingual or ESL teaching vacancies found them difficult or impossible to fill (National Center for Education Statistics, 1997).

Lack of school accountability regarding the academic achievement of LEP students.
August and Lara (1996) found that only 5 states require LEP students to take state-wide assessments required of other students; 36 states exempt LEP students from such assessments, although 22 of those states require that the students take the assessment after a given period (usually 1-3 years).

REFERENCES

August, D. & Lara, J. (1996). Systemic Reform and Limited English Proficient Students. Washington, D.C., Council of Chief State School Officers.

Council of Chief of State Officers (1991). Summary of State Practices Concerning the Assessment of and the Data Collection about LEP Students. Washington D.C.

Equal Educational Opportunities Act (1974). United States Court 1703(f).

Lau v. Nichols (1974). 94 Supreme Court, 786.

Mid-Atlantic Equity Center (2000). Unpublished data files on LEP students.

National Center for Education Statistics (1997). The Condition of Education 1997: Indicator 45. Washington, D.C.

Plyer v. Doe (1982). 457 U.S. 202.

Price, J., Levine, L. & Cary E. (1988). The Rights of Students: American Civil Liberties Handbook. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.

U.S. Department of Education (1996). Elementary and Secondary Civil Rights Compliance Report. Washington D.C.

MID-ATLANTIC EQUITY CENTER PUBLICATIONS

Legal Responsibilities Of Education Agencies Serving Language Minority Students (1992), by James Lyons
Available On-Line in HTML or format (164k).

Legal Responsibilities Of Education Agencies Serving Language Minority Students - Synopsis (1995)
Available On-Line in HTML or format (110k).

Pricing and Ordering Information for print copies.

OTHER BIBLIOGRAPHY AND LINKS

Gonzales, Frank (1998). Federal Statutes and Directives Regarding National Origin Students. Technical Assistance Module: National Origin Desegregation. San Antonio: Desegregation Assistance Center -South Central Collaborative, Intercultural Development Research Association, 1998.

Leyba, Charles F., ed. (1994) Schooling and language minority students: A theoretical framework. Los Angeles:, Dissemination and Assessment Center, School of Education, California State University.

Midwest National Origin Desegregation Center (1982). Special Education for Exceptional Bilingual Students: A Handbook for Educators. Milwaukee: Midwest National Origin Desegregation Center, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

National Coalition of Advocates for Students (1988). New Voices: Immigrant Students in U.S. Public Schools. Boston: National Coalition of Advocates for Students.

National Coalition of Advocates for Students (1991). The Good Common School: Making the Vision Work for All Children. Boston: National Coalition of Advocates for Students.

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS AND RESOURCES

Aspira Association, Inc.
1112 16th Street, N.W., Suite 340
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 835-3600
e-mail: aspira1@aol.com

Bilingual/ESL Network
http://www.redglobal.com/ben/home.html
to subscribe to the discussion group, send request to: nieves@vt.edu

Center for Law and Education
1875 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 510
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 986-3000
e-mail: cledc@erols.org

National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE)
1201 16th Street, NW, Suite 406
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 898-1829
e-mail: nabe@nabe.org

National Clearinghouse on Bilingual Education
1118 22nd Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
(202) 467-0867
http://www.ncbe.gwu.edu/
Link to frequently asked questions: http://www.ncbe.gwu.edu/askncbe/faqs/

National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning
141 Kerr Hall
University of California
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
(408) 459-3500
e-mail: center@cats.ucc.edu
http://zzyx.ucsc.edu/Cntr/cntr.html

National Council of la Raza (NCLR)
1111 19th St., N.W., Suite 1000
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 785-1670
e-mail: publicinfo@nclr.org

U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, West Virigina )
Wannamaker Bldg. Suite 515
100 Penn Square East
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 656-8541
fax: (215) 656-8541

U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (Metro Office: North Carolina, Virginia, Washington D.C.)
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Room 316
Washington, D.C. 20044-4620
(202) 208-2545
fax: (202) 208-7797

Office for Civil Rights (National Office)
United States Department of Education
330 C Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20202-1100
(202) 205-5413
Fax (202) 205-5381
http://www.ed.gov.offices/OCR

The Education Law Center
801 Arch Street, Suite 610
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 238-6970

The National Coalition of Advocates for Students
100 Boylston Street, Suite 737
Boston, MA 02116

Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
1300 19th Street, NW, Suite #500
Washington, D.C. 200036
(202) 835-0031
Fax: (202) 371-0831