On January 21, 1974, in the case of Lau v. Nichols, the United States Supreme Court unanimously decided that the lack of supplemental language instruction in public schools for students with limited English proficiency violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Today, English learners (ELs) represent 10 percent of the total K-12 population in the United States, a 4.8 million number that continues to increase in both size and diversity. To meet the growing demographics of ELs, many of the challenges confronting school districts today aim at ensuring equity and excellence for this special population.
