This article addresses the right to an education (including the right of access), and the right to an education in one’s native language, within the broader context of educational human rights, and language minority educational policy in the United States. Included in this discussion is an overview of educational and linguistic human rights as recognized in the US, followed by a review of the legal and historical background prior to the passage of the Lau v Nichols decision in 1974. The implications of demographic changes coupled with federal policy for language minority students forty years after Lau are discussed.
Arias, M.B., & Faltis, C. (Eds). (2012). Implementing educational language policy in Arizona: An examination of legal, historical and current practices in SEI. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Bell, R. (1974 [1935]). Japanese language schools in California: Public school education of second generation Japanese in California. Reprinted in S. Cohen (Ed.), Education in the United States: A documentary history, vol. 21, (pp. 2974–2976). New York: McGraw-Hill. Original publication Educational Psychology, 1, 20-23.
Bonfiglio, T.P. (2010). Mother tongue and nations: The invention of the native speaker. New York: Walter de Gruyter.
Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas.1954. 347 U.S. 483.
Castro, D., Ayankoya, B., & Kasprzak, C. 2011. New voice, nuevas voces: Guide to cultural &linguistic diversity in early childhood. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.
Civil Rights Act of1964, Pub. L. No. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241 (codified as amended in scattered sections of 2 U.S.C., 28 U.S.C., and 42 U.S.C.).
Crawford, J. (2004). Educating English learners: Language diversity in the classroom. Los Angeles, CA: Bilingual Educational Services.
del Valle, S. (2003). Language rights and the law in the United States: Finding our voices. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
de Varennes, F. (1999). The existing rights of minorities in international law. In M. Kontra, R. Phillipson, T. Skutnabb-Kangas & T. Várady (Eds.), Language: A right and a resource (pp. 117–146). Budapest: Central European University Press.
Edwards, I.N. (1923). The legal status of foreign languages in the schools. Elementary School Journal, 21, 270–278.
Farrington v. Tokushige. (1927). 273 U.S. 284.
Fiske, E.B. (2012). World atlas of gender equality in education. Paris: UNESCO.
Garcia, O., & Kleifgen, J.A. (2010). Educating emergent bilinguals: Policies, programs, and practices for English language learners. New York: Teachers College Press
Gándara, P. (2010a). The Latino education crisis. Educational Leadership, 671, 24–30.
Gándara, P. (2010b). Overcoming triple segregation. Educational Leadership, 681, 60–64.
Gil, L. (2013). Supporting America’s English learners: A promise we must keep. [Web log post]. Retrieved from [URL].
Hertel, S. & Libal, K. (Eds). (2011). Human rights in the United States: Beyond exceptionalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hulse, C. (2014). Immigrant surge rooted in law to curb child trafficking. The New York Times. Retrieved July24, 2014 from: [URL].
Kanno, Y. & Cromley, J. (2011). English language learners’ college access and attainment: A national level analysis. Paper presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics, Chicago, IL.
Kim, J. (2011). Relationships among and between ELL status, demographic characteristics, enrollment history, and school persistence (CRESST Report 810). Los Angeles, CA: University of California, National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).
Kloss, H. (1971). Language rights and immigrant groups. International Migration Review, 51, 250–258.
Krogstad, J.M., et al. (2014). Children 12 and under are fastest growing group of unaccompanied minors at U.S. border. PEW Research Center. At [URL]
Lau, et al.v. Nichols, et al. (U.S., 563–572, No. 72-6520). Revisiting the Lau Decision: 20 years after. Symposium Proceedings, November 3-4, 1994, 6–12. San Francisco, CA: ARC (Art, Research and Curriculum Associates).
Leibowitz, A.H. (1971). Educational policy and political acceptance: The imposition of English as the language of instruction in American schools. (ERIC Document Reproduction Services No. ED 047 321).
Macías, R.F. (1979). Choice of language as a human right: Public policy implications in the United States.In R.V. Padilla, (Ed). Bilingual education and public policy in the United States (39–75). Ypsilanti, MI: Eastern Michigan University.
Menken, K. (2008). English learners left behind: Standardized testing as language policy. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Meyer v. Nebraska. (1923). 262 U.S. 390.
Migration Policy Institute. (2011). ELL Factsheet. Retrieved from [URL]
Moore, S.K. (Ed). (2014). Language policy process and consequence: Arizona case studies. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Murphy, P.L. (1992). Meyer v. Nebraska. In K.L. Hall (Ed.), The Oxford companion to the Supreme Court of the United States (pp. 543–544). New York: Oxford University Press.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2010). The Condition of education. Retrieved from [URL]
National Clearinghouse for English Acquisition. (2011). The growing numbers of English learner students. Retrieved from [URL]
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110, § 115, Stat. 1425. 2002. - See more at: [URL]
Norgren, J., & Nanda, S. (1988). American cultural pluralism and the law. New York:Praeger.
Ovando, C., Collier, V., & Combs, M.C. (2002). Bilingual and ESL classrooms: Teaching in multicultural contexts. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Piatt, B. (1992). The confusing state of minority language rights. In J. Crawford (Ed.), Language loyalties (pp. 229–234). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Plyler v. Doe. (1982). 457 U.S. 202.
San Miguel, G., Jr. (2004). Contested policy: The rise and fall of federal bilingual education in the United States. Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press.
Spicer, E.H. (1962). Cycles of conquest: The impact of Spain, Mexico, and the United States on the Indians of the Southwest, 1533–1960. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.
Spicer, E.H. (1980). American Indians, federal policy toward. In S. Thernstrom, A. Orlov and O. Handlin (Eds.), Harvard encyclopedia of American ethnic groups (pp. 114–122). Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
Spring, J.H. (2000). The universal right to education: Justification, definition, and guidelines. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Spring, J.H. (2013). Deculturalization and the struggle for equality: A brief history of the education of dominated cultures in the United States (7th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.
Thomas, W.P., & Collier, V.P. (2002). A national study of school effectiveness for language minority students’ long-term academic achievement, ERIC, ED475048.
UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) 137, 28July1951. Retrieved from: [URL]
UN General Assembly, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10December1948, 217 A (III), retrieved from: [URL] [accessed 7 August 2014]
UN General Assembly, Declaration on Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic Minorities, 18December1992. Retrieved from: [URL] [accessed 23 February 2015]
Weinberg, M. (1995). A chance to learn: A history of race and education in the United States (2nd ed.). Long Beach, CA: California State University Press.
Wiley, T.G. (1986). The significance of language and cultural barriers for the Euro-American elderly. In C. Hayes, R.A. Kalish, and D. Guttman (Eds.), European-American elderly: A guide for practice (pp. 35–50). New York: Springer Publishing Co.
Wiley, T.G. (1998a). The imposition of World War I era English-only policies and the fate of German in North America. In T. Ricento and B. Burnaby (Eds), Language and politics in the United States and Canada (pp. 211–241). Philadelphia: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Wiley, T.G. (2004). Language policy and English-only. In E. Finegan & J.R. Rickford (Eds), Language in the USA: Perspectives for the 21st century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wiley, T.G. (2013a). A brief history and assessment of language rights in the United States. In J.W. Tollefson (Ed.), Language policies in education: Critical issues (2nd ed.) (pp. 61–90).London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis.
Wiley, T.G. (2013b). Constructing and deconstructing ‘illegal’ children. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 13(3), 167–172.
Wiley, T.G., & Wright, W. (2004). Against the undertow: Language-minority education and politics in the age of accountability. Educational Policy, 18(1), 142–168.
Wiley, T.G., Garcia, D.R., Danzig, A.B., & Stigler, M.L. (2014). Language policy, politics, and diversity in education. Review of Research in Education, 381, vii–xxiii.
Wright, W.E., & Choi, D. (2006). The impact of language and high-stakes testing policies on elementary school English language learners in Arizona. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 14(13), 1–75.
Yoshikawa, H. (2011). Immigrants raising citizens: Undocumented parents and their young children. New York: Russell Sage Foundation
Cited by (10)
Cited by ten other publications
Moore, Sarah C. K. & John Chi
2024. Bilingual education rejected: English-only despite Lau. Language Policy 23:4 ► pp. 427 ff.
Moore, Sarah C. K., John Chi & Laura Mahalingappa
2024. Bilingual-Bicultural Education: Opportunity obscured. Bilingual Research Journal► pp. 1 ff.
Rivera Pagán, Xiomara & Molly Dunn
2024. The restrictive consequences of promoting tolerance. NABE Journal of Research and Practice► pp. 1 ff.
Wiley, Terrence G.
2022. Commentary: Revisiting Castañeda as law, policy, ideology, and critical educational resource. Language Policy 21:3 ► pp. 481 ff.
Padilla-Frausto, D. Imelda & Steven P. Wallace
2021. The Role of Discrimination on Latinxs’ Use of Mental Health Services: A LatCrit and Life-Course Perspective. In Understanding the Context of Cognitive Aging, ► pp. 35 ff.
Wright, Wayne E.
2019. Language Rights and Policy in K‐12 TESOL. In The Handbook of TESOL in K‐12, ► pp. 55 ff.
Alcalde, Javier
2018. Linguistic Justice: An Interdisciplinary Overview of the Literature. In Language Policy and Linguistic Justice, ► pp. 65 ff.
Mwaniki, Munene, M. Beatriz Arias & Terrence G. Wiley
2016. Bilingual Education Policy. In Bilingual and Multilingual Education, ► pp. 1 ff.
Mwaniki, Munene, M. Beatriz Arias & Terrence G. Wiley
2016. Bilingual Education Policy. In Bilingual and Multilingual Education, ► pp. 1 ff.
Mwaniki, Munene, M. Beatriz Arias & Terrence G. Wiley
2017. Bilingual Education Policy. In Bilingual and Multilingual Education, ► pp. 35 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 21 december 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.