The past few months have been quite tumultuous in Washington, DC. After a busy June and July, and a quiet August recess, the U.S. Congress and the Department of Education returned to activity in September only to literally grind to a halt in October due to a political stalemate, leading to a partial shutdown of the U.S. government. The government returned to operations on 17 October; now that the spectacle has ended, here’s a summary of some of the other developments in English language education policy over the past few months.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform
After much debate, the U.S. Senate passed the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744) at the end of June. Approved on a vote of 68–32, the passage of this bill is a significant milestone in the history of immigration reform in the United States. If enacted into law, this bill would be the most comprehensive overhaul of U.S. immigration in more than 25 years.

The bill is divided into four sections, and deals with issues of border security, changes to the immigration system, interior enforcement, and other issues. Title II of the proposed law, Reforms to Immigrant Visa Programs and Immigrant Integration Provisions, deals with some of the main areas that would impact the TESOL field and English learners, specifically the creation of a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, the DREAM Act, and programs to support immigrant integration.

Although passage of the Senate bill is a significant step forward, action by the U.S. House of Representatives is needed in order to make comprehensive immigration reform a reality. At the time of this writing, the House has yet to act.

Read a detailed analysis of the Senate bill, available from the Immigration Policy Center.

Elementary and Secondary Education Act Reauthorization
June was also a busy month for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA), as both the House and Senate took action on competing ESEA reauthorization bills. In the Senate, the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed its ESEA reauthorization bill, the Strengthening America’s Schools Act (S. 1094), while the House Education and the Workforce Committee passed its main reauthorization bill, the Student Success Act (H.R. 5). Both bills passed their respective committees on strictly partisan votes.

S. 1094 has the support of much of the civil rights community and builds on a commitment to ensuring that all students, of every socioeconomic status and ability, are well served by public schools. In contrast, H.R. 5 is focused on reducing the federal role in education by eliminating the accountability provisions in current law and merging funds that are targeted at serving specific populations of students. Many education groups, including TESOL International Association, have serious concerns with H.R. 5, and have stated their opposition to the bill. Despite this, H.R. 5 passed the House on a party vote in July.

TESOL’s comments on H.R. 5 are available online.

Transitions at the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA)
As is typical with many federal agencies during the start of a second presidential term, the U.S. Department of Education has seen a number of transitions and new faces. Following the departure of OELA Director Dr. Rosalinda Barrera last October, the deputy director, Joanne Urrutia, announced her resignation in June. In September, the U.S. Department of Education announced the appointment of Dr. Libia (Libi) Gil as the next OELA Director.

In the meantime, the OELA issued several requests for information to gather comments and input on possible new initiatives and activities for the office in September. Hopefully, the recent activity and new leadership are indications that the OELA will ramp up its important work once again.

You can read more about Dr. Gil here.

TESOL’s comments in response to the Department of Education’s requests are available online.