Timeline by

Meyer v. Nebraska 1923

cava9688 — 2025-06-17 12:15:02 UTC

Summary: A teacher in Nebraska was teaching Bible study in German to students outside of school. The defense argued that this was a foreign ideology and was dangerous to the wellbeing of the United States. However, the United States Supreme Court ruled that this law prohibiting teaching in a foreign language was unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. (Baker and Wright, 2021). Even though this case did not explicitly promote bilingual education in schools, it was the beginning, in a sense, of bilingual education outside of school.

Importance: This early case was a prime example of attempts at the suppression of bilingualism. This case was one of the first early actions taken to change the way bilingualism is viewed in this country, making it a milestone for bilingual education today.

National Defense Education Act 1958

cava9688 — 2025-06-17 12:25:28 UTC

Summary: After the Russians launched Sputnik in 1957, the United States had a realization that we were behind in our educational standards as a nation. There was a shift in the way education was valued, and what specifically the children in the country were learning. A promotion of learning foreign language in schools put a focus on how different languages are used but different ethnic groups (Baker and Wright, 2021).

Importance: This was the first major breakthrough for foreign languages in schools. Although this may not have had a specific focus on home languages for students backgrounds and cultures, it was a major stride towards the acceptance and promotion of bilingual education.

Lau v. Nichols 1968

cava9688 — 2025-06-17 12:38:34 UTC

Summary: The prosecution in this case argued that Chinese speaking students were not receiving equal educational opportunity as per the United States Department of Education and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They argued that just because students had the same books and were in the same classes it was not equal education because they needed additional supports within the school in order to learn core content (Baker and Wright, 2021). In turn, this brought about the Lau Remedies which recognized the additional needs of students whose home language was something other than English. This was the beginning of English Second Language (ESL) classes and also brought forward the use of students home languages in the classroom for the first time. (Baker and Wright, 2025).

Importance: This act was a huge milestone for students whose home language was not English. This act insured that these students would be able to receive equal opportunity to learn core content and English in school. This began to shift the focus from just learning English to learning and receiving a well rounded education as a whole.

Improving America's Schools Act 1994

cava9688 — 2025-06-17 12:52:09 UTC

Summary: This act came after a long stretch of politicians that did not support bilingual education and believed that it was unjust and un-American to have children maintain their home language because they believed it would leave them under-proficient in English and they would struggle in the workforce (Baker and Wright, 2021). This was followed by Bill Clinton's Improving Americas Schools Act that made an attempt to raise the standards of Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students. (Baker and Wright, 2021). This sparked the conversation about the quality of education ELLs were getting and ensured an improvement in the practices of teaching for these students.

Importance: This act demonstrated that LEP students deserve a challenging and engaging curriculum just as native English speaking students do. I feel that this is still true today, even though at the of this act there were still many issues and opinions about bilingual education. This was however, a big step in the right direction, where we can see that the quality of the education students are receiving is being questioned and improved.

No Child Left Behind 2001

cava9688 — 2025-06-17 13:04:40 UTC

Summary: This act held the states and educators accountable for language development for LEP students (Baker and Wright). This act also included testing accommodations for both ELLs and Special Education students.

Importance: This, although not technically a bilingualism win, demonstrated the importance of students becoming and demonstrating their proficiency in a language. From the experience of my family who have been teachers through many of these historical educational events discussed in Chapter 9, prior to this many students had proficiency issues in both languages. This act contributed to people leaving school able to communicate in English. This is important, though, to our timeline because even an act so modern and close in time to us today still had not broken the ground that bilingual students needed. I do not feel that this act was a win for bilingualism, but I felt it was relevant and important to mention because of how widespread this educational act was and how it affected students dramatically, as I was in school during this time and I remember the required testing.