The "Lau v. Nichols" ruling shows the importance of tailoring programs for local multilingual learners. We used longitudinal data from one school district in California to assess the relationship between attending a school with a language support program and English language arts (ELA) achievement. We found that students labeled an…

A narrative of racial progress abounds in U.S. history, making it difficult for teachers to present complex interpretations of racial/ethnic discrimination. Historical complexity challenges such simplistic notions of race/ethnicity and encourages critical thinking. Adding anti-essentialist historical content about Latinx communities is one way to…

The term "newcomers" is commonly used to describe students who have recently arrived in U.S. schools. Depending on usage, newcomers may mean students in their first 6 months in U.S. schools, in their first 4 years, or anywhere in between. A majority arrive speaking little to no English, most are from socioeconomically disadvantaged…

Since 2011, Grantmakers for Education has offered a series of investigative programs designed to examine the role grantmakers can play in creating more equitable systems of education. GFE's programming included place-based programs in El Paso, Texas, Newark, New Jersey, Oakland, California, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. During this time, Grantmakers…

Chronicles the history of federal laws governing use of court interpreters, focusing on the Court Interpreters Act of 1978. The Spanish/English Federal Court Interpreter Certification Examination is discussed, and problems in state court interpreter selection, policy formation, and improvement of interpreting quality are presented. (Author/MSE)

This chapter presents the author's response to Bernard Gifford and Guadalupe Valdes's article "The Linguistic Isolation of Hispanic Students in California's Public Schools: The Challenge of Reintegration." In their article, Gifford and Valdes consult the historical record concerning English-speaking Anglo contact with Spanish-speaking…

An historical and sociological explanation is presented for the occurrence of overrepresentation of racial minorities in special education classes for mentally retarded school children discovered in the California public schools. (Author/MH)

According to Frankenberg, Lee, and Orfield, segregation for black students declined substantially after the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision, "Brown v. Board of Education," reaching its lowest point 30 years later. By comparison, Latino students have experienced "steadily rising segregation since the 1960s." Unlike…

There is no inherent conflict between bilingual education and desegregation; only lack of creativity and lack of commitment deter implementation of bilingual programs in racially balanced schools. A review of literature related to the Brown v. Board of Education and Lau v. Nichols decisions revealed that bilingual education and school…

This is the first in a series of papers on research, development, and training for bilingual/multicultural education. The first two sections of the paper describe Task Force findings specifying remedies available for eliminating past educational practices ruled unlawful under Lau v Nichols, particularly the section dealing with identification of…