Currently, Texas is home to the second largest population of English language learning (ELL) students in the nation. In 2012, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that there were more than 722,000 Texas students who participated in an English language learning program at their school. The programs aim to help students whose first language is not English transition and succeed in public schools. For example, here in Texas, some students may learn Spanish before they enter kindergarten, and it is their first learning experience in the English language.
When students enter a classroom unfamiliar with English, his or her language skills may not be as strong as other students. This can have possible long and short-term effects on the student’s academic performance. In order to help address this learning difference federal laws, such as the Equal Educational Opportunities Act, are in place that require all students in public schools have equal access to education. They specifically identify the state as the responsible party for ensuring that students are not at a disadvantage because of language barriers.
However, earlier this month, the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund filed a civil lawsuit against Texas for implementing programs that fail to comply with the Equal Opportunities Act. The suit filed against the state was on behalf of The League of United Latin American Citizens. They allege that schools in the San Antonio area are not adequately monitoring their English language learning programs in order for students to achieve proficient command of the language. The Texas Education Agency measures a student’s comprehension of English through a series of tests to address their listening, speaking, reading, and writing abilities. In order for a student to move out of a bilingual or English language learning program and enter a fully immersed English classroom, the student is required to pass these tests. However, the lawsuit claims the state standards are too lenient on English language teacher certification and provide little training in how to instruct students with language barriers for mainstream teachers is negatively affecting student performance.
The result is that many of these students never transition out of ELL programs and perform poorly in as they progress through school. According to the suit, the data released by the Texas Education Agency demonstrates that the dropout rate for ELL students is four times higher than the statewide average. Furthermore, this is not the first time the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDF) has challenged Texas’ ELL programs. In 1975, just one year after the Equal Education Opportunities Act, MALDF’s suit dealt with the absence of ELL programs in schools for kids, which violated the Equal Education Opportunities Act. At the time, the state court sided with MALDF, and the case probably inspired the 1981 Senate Bill 477, which provided the guidelines to ensure the success of English language learners in the Texas school system. S.B. 477 requires that schools “must offer a bilingual education program in elementary school; English as a second language or other transitional language instruction in post-elementary school through grade 8; and instruction in English as a second language in grades 9-12.” So essentially this provided a foundation for the guidelines that govern how Texas schools ensure English language students aren’t falling through the cracks.
After Senate Bill 477 was passed in 1981, MALDF did not file these kinds of charges against the state again until 2006 when they charged that the state’s secondary English language learning programs were failing to provide students with the English language instruction they needed to have equal access to education in the school system.
The success of ELL students in American schools is important, and is not an issue confined to Texas. In California, over a million students participate in English Language learning programs in public schools. However, that number has been on a steady decline since 2002. In contrast, here in Texas, that number has been on the rise since 2002. In 2012, 15% of students in Texas public schools were English language learners. So whether or not the civil lawsuit is successful in court, it is an issue that we should really look into and try to understand. Understand who these students are, who the teachers are, and how programs can be developed and put into place so that students are able to learn the English language skills they need to be successful in school.