Landmark Cases for ESL Education

Several court cases have served as the foundation for the laws and regulations guiding the education of English language learners in our country. Below are three of the most important along with a brief description of how they affected schooling. It's important to be familiar with these cases because from them spring the regulations and requirements that school districts must comply with in order to receive federal funding. That is why it is so important to understand what is legally required of your school in regards to the education of all students, but in this particular format, English Language Learners.

Keyes v. Denver (1973)- U.S. Supreme Court declared that schools must desegregate; meant that English learners could not be segregated from the English speaking peers

Lau v. Nichols (1974)- U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school districts must take the steps needed to provide English learners with an instructional program in which they can be given equal access to an education

Castaneda v. Pickard (1978)- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that districts must establish a three-prong test for ensuring that their educational program for English learners is consistent with a student's right to an education. The three prongs require that the instructional program be:

1. based on sound educational research
2. implemented with adequate commitment and resources
3. evaluated and proven to be effective