What Is The Case Of Lau V. Nichols: 414 US (1974

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Title of Case: Lau v. Nichols: 414 US (1974)
Plaintiff: Kinney Lau
Defendants: Alan Nichols, San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD)
Setting: This occurred in San Francisco, CA during the early to middle 1970’s.
Major Issues Raised and what is the case about The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) was integrated in 1971 by the federal courts. Nearly 3,000 students with Chinese lineage attended the district’s schools. Of the nearly 3,000 students, approximately 1,800 weren’t proficient in English, or they didn’t receive additional remediation regarding their deficient English language skills. The non-English speaking students filed a class action lawsuit against the SFUSD claiming they weren’t provided with equal educational opportunities. In addition, they claimed they were being denied their Fourteenth Amendment rights. The District Court denied the plaintiff’s claims, and the Court of Appeals affirmed the earlier decision. The Court of Appeals stated the non-English speaking students came …show more content…

Nichols were handed down by the United States Supreme Court. Everything from research, teachers, and pedagogies fall within this universal change. These mandates still haven’t reached every non-English speaking student within the United States. At best, only a small fraction reaps the rewards of Lau v. Nichols. However, many positive things were put into play. Here are a few:
• Many states created laws that authorize and require bilingual instruction
• A coalition of Asian, Latino, black, and white stakeholders, mostly parents, worked to ensure that San Francisco schools settled from more than minimal compliance. This resulted in a state of the art bilingual education plan that highlighted the maintenance of students’ Chinese or Spanish skills after they had mastered English.
• Congress passed the Equal Education Act of 1974, that wove in the Lau