CLAD Language Policy and Legal Frameworks 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states must set English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards that are aligned with:
- International frameworks for second language acquisition research
- The state's own academic content standards in English language arts and other subjects (Correct answer)
- Federal Common Core English Language Arts standards exclusively
- WIDA English Language Development Standards as the sole approved framework
Correct answer: The state's own academic content standards in English language arts and other subjects
ESSA requires ELP standards to be aligned with state academic content standards so that language development directly supports students' ability to access and achieve in core academic subjects.
Question 2: California's Proposition 227 (1998) significantly changed ELL instruction by primarily requiring:
- All schools to offer dual-language immersion programs as the default model
- Native language arts instruction while students learned English in separate ESL periods
- Placement of most ELL students in structured English immersion for approximately one year before mainstreaming (Correct answer)
- Self-contained bilingual classrooms through middle school for all ELL students
Correct answer: Placement of most ELL students in structured English immersion for approximately one year before mainstreaming
Proposition 227 replaced bilingual education as the default with structured English immersion (SEI), placing ELL students in English-only classes for about a year before transitioning them to mainstream classrooms.
Question 3: The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 was a landmark piece of legislation primarily because it:
- Mandated bilingual education for all districts enrolling more than 50 ELL students
- Required all states to develop bilingual curricula within five years of enactment
- Was the first federal legislation to acknowledge and fund programs addressing the needs of language minority students (Correct answer)
- Prohibited English-only instruction in states with large immigrant populations
Correct answer: Was the first federal legislation to acknowledge and fund programs addressing the needs of language minority students
As Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 was the first federal recognition of language minority students' needs, providing discretionary grants though not mandating any specific approach.
Question 4: According to OCR guidelines, the process for identifying ELL students who need language support services must begin with:
- A referral from a classroom teacher based on observed communication difficulties
- Federal standardized assessments administered to all students each October
- Annual state ELP tests administered simultaneously to the entire student population
- A home language survey administered at enrollment, followed by a formal English proficiency assessment (Correct answer)
Correct answer: A home language survey administered at enrollment, followed by a formal English proficiency assessment
OCR guidelines require schools to administer a home language survey upon enrollment to identify students who may need assessment, followed by a validated English proficiency assessment to determine eligibility for services.
Question 5: Title III of NCLB's Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAOs) required districts to show annual progress in:
- Native language literacy gains and content-area mastery for ELL students
- Bilingual teacher certification rates and professional development completion hours
- English language proficiency gains and the percentage of students attaining full English proficiency (Correct answer)
- Total hours of language instruction provided per grade level and program type
Correct answer: English language proficiency gains and the percentage of students attaining full English proficiency
AMAOs required districts to demonstrate that ELL students were making progress toward English proficiency each year and that an adequate percentage were achieving full proficiency within reasonable time frames.
Question 6: A key distinction between ESSA and NCLB in ELL policy is that ESSA:
- Eliminated all federal accountability requirements related to ELL student achievement
- Required all states to use only federally approved English proficiency assessment instruments
- Mandated that all ELL students be assessed exclusively in their native languages
- Gave states substantially greater flexibility to design their own ELL accountability systems (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Gave states substantially greater flexibility to design their own ELL accountability systems
ESSA deliberately devolved more control to states, allowing them to set their own ELP standards, choose their own assessment tools, and design accountability systems within broader federal parameters.
Question 7: Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects ELL students in public schools primarily through its prohibition of discrimination based on:
- National origin, which courts and OCR have interpreted to include language-based discrimination (Correct answer)
- Disability status when language acquisition delays are suspected to be neurologically based
- Socioeconomic status within federally funded Title I school programs
- Age, ensuring older ELL students receive the same services as younger peers
Correct answer: National origin, which courts and OCR have interpreted to include language-based discrimination
Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in federally funded programs; OCR and the Supreme Court in Lau v. Nichols interpreted this to cover language-based discrimination rooted in national origin.
CLAD Language Policy and Legal Frameworks 2
Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states must set English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards that are aligned with: