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Statutory Law

Prohibits discrimination, including in education

Students cannot be discriminated against based on race, sex, color, religion, language, or national origin.

Students who have limited English proficiency cannot be denied education or programs in a public school that receives federal funds (Civil Rights Act, 1964).

Link to law:  https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2008-title42/pdf/USCODE-2008-title42-chap21-subchapV.pdf

References
The Civil Rights Act 42, USC
§2000d (1964)

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Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)

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Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)

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Statutory Law

Formerly known as Bilingual Education Act

Reauthorized by No Child Left Behind Act of 2002

Reauthorized again as Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015

Federal grant program for public and charter schools

Benefits Limited English Proficient (LEP) students

Districts must create and implement language instruction to assist LEP students in attaining English language proficiency while meeting grade level academic standards (Elementary and Secondary Education Act, reauthorized 2015).

Link to law: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/essa/legislation/title-iii.html#TITLE-III-PART-A

References
Elementary and Secondary
Education Act, 20 USC § 6821          (reauthorized 2015)

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Judicial Law

Case was brought because not all Chinese students were given supplemental language assistance.  They were placed in special education or repeated grade levels.

Supreme Court ruled that schools must provide supplemental language education as stated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Since the school received federal funding, it is required to provide equal opportunities to all students.

Students must be given assistance to understand what is being taught to qualify as equal opportunity (Lau v. Nichols, 1974).

Link to court case: https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep414/usrep414563/usrep414563.pdf

References
Lau v. Nichols, 414 US 563, (1974)

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Providing Curricular Support for ELLs During Pandemic a Two-Pronged Challenge

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Providing Curricular Support for ELLs During Pandemic a Two-Pronged Challenge

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This article discusses ELLs online leaning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Teachers are often assigning online assignments to students for the general education and not focusing on English language learning.

English language learners are not experiencing opportunities to practice skills to improve their English.

ELL students are not with English speakers, as their families often do not speak English.

The parents of the ELL students also need support on how to assist their students with their online assignments.

Immigration Connections has listed videos and articles for these families as a guide to assist their students.  Link to Immigration Connections:   https://www.immigrantsrefugeesandschools.org/post/english-learner-family-engagement-during-coronavirus  (De La Rosa, 2020).

Link to news article:
https://www.educationdive.com/news/providing-curricular-support-for-ells-during-pandemic-a-two-pronged-challen/576500/

References
Connections, I. (2020). English
Learner Family Engagement
During Coronavirus.
De La Rosa, S. (2020).  Providing
curricular support for ELLs
during pandemic a two-pronged
challenge.

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Improving Academic Outcomes for Emergent Bilingual Students

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Improving Academic Outcomes for Emergent Bilingual Students

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Despite the increase in number of English language learning students, they remain the lowest performing.

Districts have made significant changes to assist these students, but they still have low achievement outcomes, high dropout rates, and low college attendance.

Some of the problems may be that teachers are not properly trained or the students are attending underfunded schools.

Six steps to improve the academic outcome of English language learners are (1)embrace diversity, (2)focus on achievement, (3)identify English learners, (4)use technology, (5)address the lack of ELL teachers or under training, and (6)recognize the benefit of being bilingual (Academic Dive, 2020).

Link to article:
https://www.educationdive.com/spons/improving-academic-outcomes-for-emergent-bilingual-students/575137/

References
Education Dive. (2020). Improving
academic outcomes for
emergent bilingual students.
(2020).

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Local Policy

Abilene ISD will follow the guidelines of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The district will not discriminate any student based on race, sex, color, religion, language, or national origin (Abilene Independent School District Employee Handbook, 2019).

Link to policy:·         https://www.abileneisd.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/AISD-Employee-Handbook_2019_final-1.pdf

References
Abilene Independent School
District. (2019). Equal
Educational Opportunities.

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(D)Standard 3.4 The educator shall not exclude a student from participation in a program, deny benefits to a student, or grant an advantage to a student on the basis of race, color, gender, disability, national origin, religion, family status, or sexual orientation.

This is connected to the topic as it is restating the Civil Rights Act.  Teachers in a classroom cannot prevent a student from participating in an activity because they are not proficient in English or they do not fully understand the instructions.  It is the teachers responsibility to assist the student in understanding.

Link to Code of Ethics:
https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=19&pt=7&ch=247&rl=2
References
Code of Ethics and Standard
Practices for Texas Educators,
19. Tex. Admin. Code § 247.2.

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Teaching English Language Learners Across the Content Area (book)

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Teaching English Language Learners Across the Content Area (book)

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This book would be informative for teachers who have English Language Learners in their classroom. The book includes information on how to determine the level of the students English proficiency, modify assignments and assessments for students at varying levels of proficiency, ensure that ELL students are involved, and how to communicate with parents of ELL students (Haynes & Zacarian, 2010).
Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1416609121/ref=rdr_ext_tmb
References
Haynes, J. & Zacarian, D. (2010).
Teaching English Language
Learners Across the Content
Area. ASCD.

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Professional Development for General Education Teachers of English Language Learners

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Professional Development for General Education Teachers of English Language Learners

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With the increasing number of ELL students, NEA advocates for professional development for all educators of ELL students.  This article identifies the challenges and what a quality professional development consists of.  It identifies that general education teachers are now the main educators of ELL students and why they need quality professional development.  Also in the article there are recommendations for policymakers on how to improve the quality of professional development for teachers of ELL students (NEA, 2011).
Link to pdf: http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/PB32_ELL11.pdf

References
NEA. (2011). An NEA policy brief:
Professional development for
general education teachers of
English language learners.
Retrieved from
http://www.nea.org/assets
/docs/PB32_ELL11.pdf
Professional Development for
General Education Teachers of
English Language Learners.
(n.d.). Retrieved May 01, 2020,            from http://www.nea.org
/home/42549.htm

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Importance of Quality Education for English Language Learners

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Importance of Quality Education for English Language Learners

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English Language Learners are the fastest growing population in education.  These students must be given an equal opportunity to be successful in their learning and minimize their placement into special education classes and lower their dropout rate.  It is important that educators provide a quality instruction and accommodations to assist ELL students (Alrubail, 2016).
A current issue for English language learners is remote learning.  With the current COVID-19 pandemic, students all across the world have had their lives turned upside down in the education world.  There is acknowledgement that ELL students will struggle more with online learning due to not having access not technology, limited understanding of English, and the inability to complete assignments without support (Mitchell, 2020).

References
Mitchell, C. (2020).  English-
learners may be left behind as
remote learning becomes 'new
normal'.  Retrieved from
https://blogs.edweek.org
/edweek/learning-the-
language/2020/03/coronavirus
_english_learners_digital
_divide.html
Alrubail, R. (2016). Equity for
English language learners.
Edutopia.  Retrieved from
https://www.edutopia.org/
blog/equity-for-english-
language-learners-rusul-alrubail

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K-12 Educators of English Language Learners
As an educator, it is important to understand English language learners and how to assist them in being successful in their learning.  This topic was chosen because we have a growing number of ELL students in the United States.  Having worked with ELL students, including those who speak Swahili, Kinyarwanda, and French to name a few, each summer for the past seven years, the lack of knowledge of some educators and how to educate these students has come to light.  We as teachers have to be aware of how to give an equal education to all students, regardless of the language they speak.

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Administrative Law

Any student who speaks a language other than English will be provided a bilingual or ESL program.

The goal is to have ELL students become proficient in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English.

These programs will be integrated into the regular school program (19 TAC §89.1201).

Link to law:

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter089/ch089bb.html

References
Adaptations for Special
Populations, 19. Tex. Admin.
Code §89.1201.

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Recommendations for Compliance and Best Practices for ELL students

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Recommendations for Compliance and Best Practices for ELL students

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Teachers should participate in professional development regularly to learn laws and best practices to work with English language learners. Teachers should keep updated as strategies can change and new ideas emerge.

Ensure that all students are treated equally and not left out due to their language barriers.  It is the teacher's responsibility to include all students in learning.

Assist in identifying students who are possible ELL and their proficiency level and make sure these students are attending a bilingual or ESL program.

Model for the students what is expected of them.  Language barriers will decrease their comprehension.  These students will learn from modeling by everyone, including teachers and other students.

Teach language skills across the curriculum and throughout the day.  ELL students need to have multiple opportunities to practice a new language.

Incorporate technology into the daily learning of ELL students.  These students will need to be taught how to use technology, as many will not have had previous experiences with it.

Allow students to use their native language.

Form a relationship with the child and their family.  It is a good practice to include the family in the education of their child.  Many cultures do not get involved in their child's learning and non-English speaking parents may not know how to help their child.

References
Adaptations for Special
Populations, 19. Tex. Admin.
Code §89.1201.
Code of Ethics and Standard
Practices for Texas Educators,
19. Tex. Admin. Code § 247.2.
Ferlazzo, L. (2016, November 03).
Do's & Don'ts for Teaching
English-Language Learners.
Retrieved May 02, 2020, from
https://www.edutopia.org /blog
/esl-ell-tips-ferlazzo-sypnieski
Kaplan, E. (2019, April 12). 6
Essential Strategies for Teaching
English Language Learners.
Retrieved May 02, 2020, from
https://www.edutopia.org
/article/6-essential-strategies-
teaching-english-language-
learners
NEA. (2011). An NEA policy brief:
Professional development for
general education teachers of
English language learners.
Retrieved from
http://www.nea.org/assets
/docs/PB32_ELL11.pdf