META - Identification and Assessment

Consent Decree – Identification and Assessment

One important court ruling regarding bilingual education was the case of Lau vs. Nichols, in early 1970. Although the

court ruled children’s Fourteenth Amendment (Equal Protection) was violated, accountability wasn’t established. The

1990 Consent Decree addressed this issue by outlining ESOL teacher training requirements, as well as needs of ESOL

students needing to be addressed by school districts. Before the Florida Consent Decree, there was a lack of

identification, no trained personnel, and very few ESOL accommodations actually implemented. The Consent Decree

not only created increased identification and expectations, it created a debate concerning which system should be used.

There has been an infusion of ESOL training in Florida which has resulted in all teachers receiving ESOL training, thus

becoming more aware of the needs of ESOL students.

Consent Decree – Equal Access to Appropriate Programming

Equal access to appropriate programming was a major focus in the U.S. District Court Case Number 90-1913, in which

the Agreement’s Principle states “Each limited English proficient (LEP) child enrolled in any program offered by the

Florida Public Schools is entitled to equal access to programming which is appropriate to his or her level of English

proficiency, academic achievement and special needs.” It goes on to state “The primary goal of all such programming is

to…provide equal educational opportunities.” (http://www.fldoe.org/aala/lulac.asp) The Court Case Agreement also

established that the Florida Department of Education would evaluate the appropriateness of Basic ESOL instruction in

each district.