Bilingual Education Act Of 1968 Essay

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During the 1960’s several factors allowed very little opportunities to bring back bilingual education (Baker,2001). The Bilingual Education Act of 1968, has been one of the most important act throughout the history of Bilingual Education. (Mazanares, 1988), stated that the act is seen as one of the first official federal recognition of the needs and rights of students with limited English speaking abilities. The act has gone through four reauthorizations, 1974,1978,1984 and 1988, with amendments based on a change for students and society.
Senator Ralph Yarborough introduced a bill in 1967, the bill proposed to assist schools with the incorporation of Educational programs for LESA students. The act was mainly focused in Elementary and secondary education levels. (Baker,2001), states that the legislation was mainly designed to help Spanish speakers who were observed and were seen as falling in the school system. (Mazanares,1988) also states that the teaching of Spanish as a native language, English as a second language, and programs designed to give Spanish- speaking students and culture, were some of the recommendations to the bill. The guidelines that were applied to the Act of
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It was in 1978 when funding was done for 565 school districts, to build capacity for programs to continue after federal assistance was no longer available(Mazanares,1988). During 1978 the Transitional Bilingual Education was reauthorized, allowing native language to be used only to the extent necessary for a child to achieve competence in English Language (Baker, 2001). The Bilingual Education Act of 1984, gave a greater voice to local schools in deciding how LEP students should be taught throughout the programs that were provided (Mazanares,1988). Schools were allowed to apply for different kind of programs that used different teaching

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