The Denver Consent Decree: How an Educational Remedy became a Language Intervention

• In Event: La Lucha Sigue: Linguistic Justice and Educational Transformation for Bi/Multilingual Learners

Abstract

Purpose. Keyes v. School District No.1 [the Denver Public Schools] (1973) was the first tri-ethnic desegregation case in the nation, considering Hispanic students as part of the minority population to be in a desegregation case. After two decades of litigation, the Denver Public Schools (DPS) finally agreed to a settlement to address segregation within its district that included bilingual education for the Latinx students. The question of bilingual education was introduced as a supplemental complaint by The Congress of Hispanic Education (CHE). While not considered integral to the desegregation case (in fact, Fishman and Strauss (1989) refer to it as a “sideshow”), the case revealed an important paradox between Brown (dispersing students) and Lau (clustering students) that is still visible today. In the end, the arguments in favor of separate programming through bilingual education succeeded and the Denver Public Schools came under a Consent Decree that included bilingual education as a remedy for students with limited English proficiency. The DPS consent decree has seen four versions: from the original request (1973) to the first consent decree in 1986 and two subsequent revisions in 1999 and 2012. The purpose of this paper is to trace how the remedy as reflected in the consent decree versions changed over time and how this has affected the schooling of multilingual learners in DPS.

Perspectives. This study is grounded in an understanding that language policies are socially constructed and reflect societal and localized discourses that subsequently shape what is included and excluded (Bacchi, 2000; Hult, 2014). The DPS consent decree was shaped in the Civil Rights era and re-authorized in the accountability era of No Child Left Behind and the Castaneda decision.

Methods. The primary data source for this study are the four texts of the proposed and eventually implemented consent decree: the original proposal (the so-called Cardenas Plan; Cardenas, 1974) to the original consent (Roos, 1986) and two subsequent versions of the DPS consent decree in 1999 and 2012. To understand the circumstances of the original consent, we also interviewed three leading bilingual education experts who were part of the negotiations at the time (two researchers and one lawyer). Hult (2010)’s nexus analysis is used to look across space and time and thematic analysis was used for the interviews (Saldaña, 2021).

Preliminary Findings. Preliminary analysis of the interviews provided important context and pointed to several themes, including 1. Dismissive attitudes toward bilingual education and its advocates 2. The lack of willingness to pay attention to the plight of Mexican American students and 3. The key role of district leadership. The textual analysis shows that, over time, the consent decree iterations reflect a shift away from a comprehensive educational focus that was inclusive of culture toward a narrower focus on language.

Significance. Despite the central role of Keyes and the DPS consent decree, little is known what happened at the time and how the consent decree has developed. The study helps to situate current language policy within its historical context.

Author

• Ester J. de Jong, University of Colorado - Denver