During the 1960s the teaching force had an increase of teachers for English Learners due to the increase of immigrants and refugee children in the United States (Mantero & McVicker, 2006). This influx led to educational policies and controversies about the use of non-English languages in educational settings (Shin, Leal, & Ellison, 2015). Since then, there have been various federal, state, and local policies that have played a role in accommodating or regulating language programs in educational settings. For example, bilingual education policies started with Congress passing the Bilingual Education Act (1968) as a result of civil rights and Chicano movements (Mantero & McVicker, 2006; Shin et al., 2015). The Bilingual Education Act was a program for students between the ages of 3 and 8 to address the needs of students with limited English speaking abilities. This act was also an action to decrease drop-out rates given that there were higher drop-out rates among non-English speakers than among English-speaking peers. There were also federal court cases that influenced bilingual education policies as well as Latinx policies. For example, Lau v. Nichols, 414 U.S. 563 (1974), found that public schools in San Francisco, California were denying equal educational opportunities to Chinese Americans due to their limited English proficiency. The Supreme Court ruled that non-English speakers were being denied a meaningful education and that public-school policies violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964; thus, the school district was required to provide equal opportunities and access to all students. Other court decisions that influenced bilingual education policies and programs that advocated for meaningful and appropriate education for English Learners were
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