Bilingual Education Act

Bilingual Education Act of 1968
Acronyms (colloquial)	BEA
Enacted by	the 90th United States Congress
Effective	January 2, 1968
Citations
Public law	Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 90–247
Statutes at Large	81 Stat. 816
Legislative history
	Introduced in the Senate by Ralph Yarborough (D-TX) on 1967; Committee consideration by Education and the Workforce and Judiciary; Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on January 2, 1968;

The Bilingual Education Act (BEA), also known as the Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Amendments of 1967, was the first United States federal legislation that recognized the needs of limited English speaking ability (LESA) students. The BEA was introduced in 1967 by Texas senator Ralph Yarborough and was both approved by the 90th United States Congress and signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on January 2, 1968. While some states, such as California and Texas, and numerous local school districts around the country already had policies and programs designed to meet the special educational needs of elementary and secondary school students not fluent in the English language, this act signaled that the federal government now also recognized the need for and value of bilingual education programs in U.S. public education. In 1969 there was a 50% drop out rate among Mexican American students who struggled to keep up with their English-speaking peers in school; Representative Tony Abril argued that the Bilingual Education Act would reduce this number.^[1] Passed on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, its purpose was to provide school districts with federal funds, in the form of competitive grants, to establish innovative educational programs for students with limited English speaking ability.^[2]

^ De La Trinidad, Maritza (May 4, 2015). "Mexican Americans and the push for culturally relevant education: the bilingual education movement in Tucson, 1958–1969". History of Education. 44 (3): 316–338. doi:10.1080/0046760X.2014.1002015. ISSN 0046-760X. S2CID 216591843.
^ Stewner-Manzanares, Gloria (Fall 1988). "Bilingual Education Act: Twenty Years Later" (PDF). National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. 6: 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2011.

[1] De La Trinidad, Maritza (May 4, 2015). "Mexican Americans and the push for culturally relevant education: the bilingual education movement in Tucson, 1958–1969". History of Education. 44 (3): 316–338. doi:10.1080/0046760X.2014.1002015. ISSN 0046-760X. S2CID 216591843.

[2] Stewner-Manzanares, Gloria (Fall 1988). "Bilingual Education Act: Twenty Years Later" (PDF). National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. 6: 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2011.

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