Why is the ESL Program Required?
LAU
Lau v. Nichols was the landmark court decision regarding LEP students. Lau v. Nichols [414 US> 563 (1974)] was a class-action suit filed on behalf of Chinese-speaking public school students against the San Francisco Unified School District in 1970. In question was whether non-English speaking students receive an equal educational opportunity when instructed in a language they cannot understand.
In 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the failure of the San Francisco school system to provide English language instruction to approximately 1,800 students of Chinese ancestry who do not speak English denied them a meaningful opportunity to participate in the public educational program. This denial violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination based "on the grounds of race, color, or national origin" in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
The actual decision stated that:
"...there is no equality of treatment merely by providing students with the same facilities, textbooks, teachers, and curriculum; for students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education [414 U.S. 563 (1974)]."
The Court went on to uphold the 1970 memorandum issued by the DHEW which stated that:
"Where inability to speak and understand the English language excludes national origin minority group children from effective participation in the educational program offered by a school district, the district must take affirmative steps to open its instructional program to these students (35 FED. Reg., 11595).