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Title VII Bilingual Education Act was accepted 4 years after Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was enacted in 1964, . Title VII was the first attempt - and remedy to ESEA - at bilingual education. This act has provided grants to school districts through grant process. Its focus was to help EBs achieve fluency in English. The BEA was has been since reauthorized seven times as part of ESEA, with making goals of bilingual education and programs offered to EBs more explicit.

I think the Title VII was important because it authorized the use of federal funds for the education of ELLs. Funds were used for bilingual educational programs and for programs whose aim was to help children whose dominant (home) language was other than English, which at that time were called Limited English Proficiency students.

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This 1974 Supreme Court case ended with a decision that was very important for ELLs. The case concerned equal education opportunities for a Chinese American student (Lau) against San Francisco School District.  Consequently, Lau Remedies were created by the U.S.  Department of Education to check on districts that were ignoring ELLs needs. Schools with ELLs needed to establish classes with English as a second language and bilingual programs programs.

The importance of this court case, in my opinion, is that it  required districts to comply with the needs of EBs and it eventually resulted in the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974 (in the same year as the court case).

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No Child Left Behind (2002-2016) was one of the reauthorization of the original ESEA (1964) under the former president George W. Bush. The Title Vii Bilingual Education Act was replaced by Title III: Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient and Immigrant Students. It used a deficit view of EBs, bilingual programs were neither encouraged nor restricted, and emphasis was on accountability of schools in securing good education for each child, measured by high-stakes tests in ELA and Math. EBs had to take these tests in English and this subgroup was reported separately. If they failed, the whole school failed.

Despite widespread criticism, I think that NCLB was a massive contribution to EBs development in schools (whether positive or negative) because it showed what they needed, and many amendments were needed to improve the accommodations for them. It also pushed the creation of educational standards and ELP tests in each state, which meant more consistency, even if Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives were not aligned with Second Language Acquisition right away. This is still work in progress.

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President Obama signs the Every Student Succeeds Act [YouTube video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZINwnEPhiFM

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Every Student Succeeds Act is the reauthorization of the ESEA, signed by President Barack Obama on December 10, 2015. It replaced No Child Left Behind (NCLB). With this act, states had greater flexibility in setting the goals and using multiple ways of assessment. It contains 9 titles, addressing language instructions for ELLs, immigrant students, students with disabilities, adults, homeless, Indian, Alaskan, and native Hawaiian population.

This was the last recent effort of the federal government that is substantial in its scope. ESEA was funded through the school year of 2020-2021. Afterwards, only initiatives on smaller scale or in individual states have brought some awareness of the issues concerning ELLs (in California, Proposition 58 in 2016; in Massachusetts, LOOK in 2017). Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act received federal funding to revitalize Native American languages through 2024.

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President Obama signs the Every Student Succeeds Act

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President Obama signs the Every Student Succeeds Act, a bipartisan bill that will fix the No Child Left Behind Act to reduce over-testing and one-size

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America's Languages Causus was established in 2019 and follows the Congressionally-Commissioned Report on Language Learning that was outlined in 2017. Its primary goal is to raise awareness about the importance of world language learning and international education, particularly as it relates to our nation’s economic and national security. This causus (note: the word causus, from Algonquian, means "to meet together") consists of congressional members and encourages outside organizations and constituents to request their representatives to join. It is an umbrella for programs like SPELL, BEST, and SYLLABLE Act, as well as other acts or programs focusing on language readiness for the 21st century, such as Esther Martinez Act, Defense Language Improvement Act, and more.

This is an important causus as it promotes a legislative agenda for multilingual future of the United States in the global economy. It is a decentralized effort that invites many stakeholders to support initiatives concerning world languages development and ELLs. I believe it is well aligned with 21st century globalism, supporting ELLs, teachers, and anybody who is invested in the mission of causus.