The Deliverance of Bilingual Education: Translanguaging

Educating Children in a Sheltered Environment

__________________________________________________________________

THE BASIC

PREMISE OF

TITLE I

By: Jenni Vinson (2012)

As an assault on the War On Poverty, President Lyndon B. Johnson implemented the concept of Title 1-- insisting that every American child, regardless of what tax bracket their neighborhood , their home or or their parents belonged within-- every American child was to receive an "equitable" education.

Johnson was trying to give every American child a level playing field at access to a public school education.

Before this, schools were funded by the local taxes gathered from neighborhoods and then by State taxes and then by federal taxes. Children born into middle to upper class families received the lion's share of taxes for their school and for their educational opportunities.

Impoverished neighborhoods had impoverished systems of education.

The key word written into Title 1 going forward into the discussion of diversity in languages and the need for accommodation in educating students who primarily speak a different language is: "equitable".

How do we, as participants of the American public school system, (as educators or parents), ensure the Johnsonion concept of determining that our children receive an "equitable" education IF our students/children begin the process of education by needing to be taught English.

header photo

___________________________________________________________________________

Title 1: Where it All Began


ELEMENTARY & SECONDARY EDUCATION.

    Title I — Improving The Academic Achievement Of The Disadvantaged


SEC. 101. IMPROVING THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF THE DISADVANTAGED.

    Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amended to read as follows:
  •  
      TITLE I--IMPROVING THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF THE DISADVANTAGED

SEC. 1001. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this title is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments. This purpose can be accomplished by —
  •  
      (1) ensuring that high-quality academic assessments, accountability systems, teacher preparation and training, curriculum, and instructional materials are aligned with challenging State academic standards so that students, teachers, parents, and administrators can measure progress against common expectations for student academic achievement;
  •  
      (2) meeting the educational needs of low-achieving children in our Nation's highest-poverty schools, limited English proficient children, migratory children, children with disabilities, Indian children, neglected or delinquent children, and young children in need of reading assistance;
  •  
      (3) closing the achievement gap between high- and low-performing children, especially the achievement gaps between minority and nonminority students, and between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers;
  •  
      (4) holding schools, local educational agencies, and States accountable for improving the academic achievement of all students, and identifying and turning around low-performing schools that have failed to provide a high-quality education to their students, while providing alternatives to students in such schools to enable the students to receive a high-quality education;
  •  
      (5) distributing and targeting resources sufficiently to make a difference to local educational agencies and schools where needs are greatest;
  •  
      (6) improving and strengthening accountability, teaching, and learning by using State assessment systems designed to ensure that students are meeting challenging State academic achievement and content standards and increasing achievement overall, but especially for the disadvantaged;
  •  
      (7) providing greater decisionmaking authority and flexibility to schools and teachers in exchange for greater responsibility for student performance;
  •  
      (8) providing children an enriched and accelerated educational program, including the use of schoolwide programs or additional services that increase the amount and quality of instructional time;
  •  
      (9) promoting schoolwide reform and ensuring the access of children to effective, scientifically based instructional strategies and challenging academic content;
  •  
      (10) significantly elevating the quality of instruction by providing staff in participating schools with substantial opportunities for professional development;
  •  
      (11) coordinating services under all parts of this title with each other, with other educational services, and, to the extent feasible, with other agencies providing services to youth, children, and families; and
  •  
      (12) affording parents substantial and meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children.