Castenada v. Pickard (1981)

Details:

Raymondsville, TX Independent School District (RISD) was brought to court under allegations of racial discrimination against Mexican-Americans by failing to provide adequate bilingual education. RISD provided bilingual education for grades K-3 using teachers trained in bilingual education and Spanish-fluent teacher aides. The aides were used until grade 5, and students in grades 4-12 had access to building learning centers, ELL classes, and tutoring. Plaintiffs claimed that the K-3 program, while including math and science, did not adequately provide instruction in these subject, that bilingual teachers were not adequately prepared, and that testing in English was not appropriate.

The Fifth Circuit Court found that no intent to discriminate could be shown in the bilingual education program. It was further found that the curriculum choices that overemphasized reading and writing in the early grades (but through time taken from naps, music, creative writing and physical education, not math and science as alleged) and providing remediation in math and science content later in the school career of the students constituted appropriate action. However, the court also found that the bilingual-trained teachers were inadequately prepared to teach in a bilingual setting because of limitations in their skill with the Spanish language and required the teachers to improve their ability through in-service trainings. The court also decided that testing in a bilingual program should be in Spanish, not English.