One in four California public school students is an English Language Learner—a student who does not understand or communicate well enough in English to enable him or her to meaningfully participate in the regular school program. These 1.5 California ELLs represent more than one in four of the nation’s ELL students.
ELLs face the daunting task of learning the academic curriculum and meeting grade-level academic standards while concurrently learning a new language. To overcome this academic hurdle, ELL students typically require special programs, courses or other resources to address their unique academic needs.
Unfortunately, far too many ELLs in California are not being provided with the linguistic and academic support necessary for them to meet California’s academic content standards and succeed in college and the workplace. Many ELLs lack access to a rigorous and well-rounded curriculum, appropriate language development courses, tailored curriculum and instructional materials, and fully-prepared teachers who are trained in how to teach ELLs. For example, ELL students who are put in special courses to learn English are often segregated from the general student population, and often struggle to meet the minimum academic requirements required for California State University (CSU) or University of California (UC) admission, also referred to as “A-G” courses. Further, ELL students who are not put in special courses often need additional resources to succeed, which are increasingly difficult to provide as funding directed at ELLs – such as the federal migrant education program and California’s English Language Acquisition Program (ELAP) – have faced serious budget cuts in recent years.
Public Advocates has been an active voice for the rights of ELL students and their families at the Capitol and in the courts. Through the Williams v. California settlement, we pushed the state of California and its school districts to meaningfully enforce ELL students’ right to be taught by a teacher who has the specialized training in how to teach ELLs. As a result of stronger accountability systems put in place under the settlement, more and more California teachers are now receiving this critical training. We have successfully advocated for school districts to provide language access to non-English speaking parents in school hearings, notifications, and other education-related communications, and have pushed for equality and accountability in the services and funding directed at ELL students. When an individual school district infringed on ELLs students’ right to equal access to the academic program by eliminating the English Language Development program at one high school, we filed a federal civil rights complaint to ensure that ELL students at that school continue to receive the services to which they are legally entitled. And when the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009 took up the rights of ELL students to equal educational opportunity in Horne v. Flores—an issue they had not addressed since the landmark 1974 decision of Lau v. Nichols—we joined forces with other civil rights organizations to file an amicus brief urging the Court to preserve ELLs students’ rights under the Equal Educational Opportunity Act.
Latest Updates
We Won! CCTC Agrees to Reform EL Training for Intern Teachers
May 21, 2013– As a result of new policies adopted by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) in late April, students who are currently learning English will soon have teachers-in-training with substantially improved preparation and support, and parents will be better informed about teachers’ level of training.
State Report Reveals Large Numbers of ELLs in State’s Worst Schools Still Being Taught by Unprepared Teachers
August 5, 2010– A new California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) report finds that large numbers of students in the State’s lowest-performing schools, especially English language learners (ELs), are still being taught by teachers who lack the appropriate training or credential.
Past Projects:
Valeria G v. Wilson
Passed on June 2, 1998, Proposition 227 eliminated bilingual education, in one harsh sweep, for virtually all children in California. It requires that English language learners (ELLs) be educated for at least one year through an approach called Structured English Immersion, in which all instruction is in English. Proposition 227 permits instruction of ELL students in their native language only under limited and restricted conditions through a parental petition and waiver process. By largely eliminating bilingual education in California, Proposition 227 dramatically narrowed districts’ instructional options for ELL students and prevented them from using a strategy that has been shown to be one of the most effective ways to teach ELL children English and their core academic subjects.
Following the passage of Proposition 227, Public Advocates, co-counseling with MALDEF, META, the ACLU of Northern and Southern California, the Employment Law Center, the Asian Law Caucus, and the Asian-Pacific American Legal Center, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco asking the court to stop the implementation of the initiative. The suit argued that Proposition 227 violates the Equal Educational Opportunity Act of 1974, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and denies the right of language minority children to equal access to educational opportunity. Both the District Court and Court of Appeals upheld the initiative.
The passage of time has vindicated the plaintiffs’ claims. A comprehensive study(.pdf) of Proposition 227 commissioned by the California Department of Education five years after its passage found that students participating in English-only education programs did no better in terms of academic achievement than those in bilingual education programs chosen by their parents through the law’s waiver process.
