| The history of bilingual teacher licensure began in | | | | were required for effective bilingual teaching. These |
| 1968 with passage of the Bilingual Education Act. The | | | | were articulated as "guidelines" for bilingual teacher |
| federal government played an important role in the | | | | preparation programs by the Center for Applied |
| development of bilingual teacher education programs | | | | Linguistics in 1974. Over time, organization and state |
| during the 1970s and 1980s. Under Title VII of the | | | | licensure agencies developed and refined criteria for |
| Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a | | | | certification of bilingual teachers and outlined bilingual |
| concerted effort at capacity building was made for | | | | teacher education program standards and |
| preparing bilingual teachers through funding of | | | | requirements. Several federal and state court cases |
| scholarships and stipends for bilingual teacher | | | | over the years since the Lau v. Nichols decision |
| candidates and teacher educators. Title VII was | | | | established the requirements for programs for ELLs. |
| extended in 1994 but expired in 2002, to be replaced | | | | In 1981, Castañeda v. Pickard outlined a |
| by the No Child Left Behind legislation that redefined | | | | three-pronged test for programs that adequately |
| the federal government's role in educating English | | | | meet the needs of language minority students, as |
| language learners (ELLs). | | | | James Crawford explains. This Texas case set the |
| The states with large immigrant populations and | | | | standards for determining what constituted |
| those that passed laws mandating the implementation | | | | "appropriate action" on the part of school districts to |
| of bilingual programs (such as Illinois, Massachusetts, | | | | address the educational rights of students learning |
| Texas, and California) have had licensure | | | | English. The court determined that under the |
| requirements for bilingual education teachers in place | | | | provisions of the EEOA, programs had to meet three |
| since the mid-1970s. The year 1974 marked the | | | | criteria: Programs for ELLs had to be based on a |
| codification into law of the rights to equal educational | | | | pedagogically sound plan, have sufficient qualified |
| opportunities for ELLs, based on the Supreme Court | | | | teachers to implement the program, and have a |
| decision in the Lau v. Nichols case. The Equal | | | | system to evaluate the program's effectiveness in |
| Educational Opportunity Act of 1974 (EEOA) codified | | | | educating limited-English-proficient students. |
| Lau and made an even stronger statement by adding | | | | Scholars such as Diane August and Kenji Hakuta, and |
| the weight of the legislative branch of government | | | | María Robledo Montecel and Josie D. Cortéz |
| to the already powerful voice of the U.S. Supreme | | | | mention that these requirements were based on |
| Court. | | | | recognition of the interrelationship between effective |
| Since that time, there has been an emerging | | | | program implementation and the qualifications in |
| consensus in teacher education and academic | | | | academic knowledge, instructional skills, and language |
| communities as to the competencies or skills that | | | | proficiency of bilingual teachers. |