• With the 1965 immigration bill, the demographics of immigrants to America shifted immensely.ellis island in nyc image by Diane Stamatelatos from Fotolia.com
  
  One of the chief questions about immigrants involves their assimilation into society. At the center of this challenge are the educational opportunities provided for them. The United States has seen enormous immigration from the non-western world since the mid 1960s, and education has figured prominently in laws enacted to handle this influx.
  
  

Immigration Reform Act (1965)

• The Immigration Reform Act may not have been specifically aimed at education, but it had a profound impact on it nonetheless. The act loosened restrictions on who could enter the country, allowing for a swelling of immigration from Third World nations. This population included children, who dramatically transformed the face of many school systems, which had to respond to meet new linguistic and cultural needs.
  
  

Equal Education Opportunities Act (1974)

• The 1974 law did not involve immigration directly, but focused on eradicating discriminatory practices in the educational sphere. The law strikes at any application of bias to students, not only based on race or gender, but also on national origin. The act helped to secure a "level playing field" for immigrant students.
  
  

Plyler Vs. Doe (1982)

• In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that schools are not permitted to demand residency documents from students or their parents, including green cards, visas or Social Security numbers, or ask about their immigration status. Instead, they are to direct families to immigration lawyers, advocacy groups or the like if legal residency is in question. This decision essentially grants immigrant children immunity from the random surveillance of schools.
  
  

No Child Left Behind (2002)

• This law's most direct connection to immigration was its demand for improvement in school performance. Schools were directed especially to raise the level of achievement for children with limited English proficiency. This had a particular impact on public school districts with large immigrant populations. Schools that performed poorly were to be targeted for federal intervention, While there has been sustained criticism of NCLB, it did set a precedent for schools to pay attention to immigrant students' skill sets.