Marty Glick - The Soledad Children

The Fight to End Discriminatory IQ Tests

Marty Glick + Maurice Jourdane

Recovering the past, creating the future

Arte Pblico Press
University of Houston
4902 Gulf Fwy, Bldg 19, Rm 100
Houston, Texas 77204-2004

Cover design by Mora Des!gn

Names: Glick, Marty, author. | Jourdane, Maurice, author.

Title: The Soledad children : the fight to end discriminatory IQ tests / by Marty Glick and Maurice Jourdane.

Description: Houston, Texas : Arte Publico Press, 2019. | Summary: Ten-year-old Arturo Velazquez was born and raised in a farm labor camp in Soledad, California. He was bright and gregarious, but he didnt speak English when he started first grade. When he entered third grade in 1968, the psychologist at Soledad Elementary School gave him an English-language IQ test. Based on the results, he was placed in a class for the Educable Mentally Retarded (EMR). Arturo wasnt the only Spanish-speaking child in the room; all but one were from farmworker families. All were devastated by the stigma and lack of opportunity to learn. In 1969, attorneys at California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) discovered California public schools were misusing English-language, culturally biased IQ tests, by asking questions like Who wrote Romeo and Juliet? to place Spanish-speaking students into EMR classes. Additionally, Mexican-American children were not the only minorities impacted. While African-American and Mexican-American students made up 21.5% of the state population, they were 48% of special education programs! Written by two of the attorneys who led the charge against the unjust denial of an education to Mexican-American youth, The Soledad Children: The Fight to End Discriminatory IQ Tests recounts the history of both the CRLA and the class-action suit filed in 1970, Diana v. the State Board of Education, on behalf of 13,000 Hispanic kids already placed in EMR classes and another 100,000 at risk of being relegated to a virtual purgatory. From securing removal from EMR classes for the misplaced to ensuring revised, appropriate testing for students throughout the state, this engrossing book recounts the historic struggle-by lawyers, parents, psychologists and legislators-to guarantee all affected young people in California received equitable access to educationProvided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019028871 (print) | LCCN 2019028872 (ebook) | ISBN 9781558858886 (paperback) | ISBN 9781518505874 (epub) | ISBN 9781518505881 (kindle edition) | ISBN 9781518505898 (adobe pdf)

Subjects: LCSH: California. State Board of Education,Trials, litigation, etc. | SpecialeducationLaw and legislationCaliforniaSoledadHistory20th centuryCases. | Intelligence testsLaw and legislationCaliforniaSoledadHistory20th centuryCases. | Educational tests and measurementsLaw and legislationCaliforniaSoledadHistory20th century | Discrimination in educationLaw and legislationCaliforniaSoledadHistory20th centuryCases. | Mexican American childrenLegal status, laws, etc.CaliforniaSoledadHistory20th centuryCases. | California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation.

Classification: LCC KF228.D498 G55 2019 (print) | LCC KF228.D498 (ebook) | DDC344.73/0798dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019028871

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019028872

The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

2019 by Marty Glick and Maurice Jourdane
Printed in the United States of America

19 20 21 22 5 4 3 2 1

To the determined and fearless parents of Arturo, Diana,
Manuel Jr., Mara, Ramn, Margarita, Armando,
Rachel and ErnestoThe Soledad Children.

PART ONE
19641966 Beginning and Organizing

Chapter 1
The Birth of the Legal Services Program

Chapter 2
Jim Lorenz and CRLA

Chapter 3
Marty Glick

Chapter 4
CRLA Opens for Clients

PART TWO
19661969 The Salinas Office

Chapter 5
The Salinas CRLA Office

Chapter 6
Early Salinas Days

Chapter 7
The Salinas Strawberries Case

Chapter 8
Martin Produce

Chapter 9
The Bracero Case

Chapter 10
The Literacy Case

Chapter 11
Salinas Activity Before the Diana Case

Chapter 12
Call Me Pancho

PART THREE
19691970 The Diana Case: Round One

Chapter 13
IQ Test History

Chapter 14
The Foundation Is Laid for the Diana Case

Chapter 15
Mo Joined CRLA

Chapter 16
Soledad and a Parent Steps Forward

Chapter 17
Meeting in Soledad

Chapter 18
The Association of Chicano Psychologists

Chapter 19
The Retesting of the Soledad Children

Chapter 20
Retest Results in Detail

Chapter 21
Cruz Reynoso

Chapter 22
Meetings with Soledad Officials

Chapter 23
The Diana Complaint

Chapter 24
Judge Assignment

Chapter 25
The Plaintiffs and the Defendants Identified

Chapter 26
The Remedy Issue

Chapter 27
The Complaint Tells the Whole Story

Chapter 28
The Request for Immediate Relief

Chapter 29
The Superintendent of Public Instruction

Chapter 30
Professional Pyschologist Affidavits

Chapter 31
Negotiations with the Soledad District and the State

Chapter 32
The February 1970 Court Order

Chapter 33
Diana Press Coverage

Chapter 34
The Lompoc District Protest

Chapter 35
Changes in Soledad

Chapter 36
Getting Legislation Passed

PART FOUR
19711972 Governor Reagan Attacks CRLA

Chapter 37
Reagan Attempts to Kill CRLA

Chapter 38
CRLA Hearings

Chapter 39
Diana Spawns the Larry P. Case

Chapter 40
Larry P. Is Filed and an Injunction Issued

PART FIVE
19721979 Diana and Larry P. Fight to the Finish

Chapter 41
Back in Action

Chapter 42
The New IQ Test

Chapter 43
The New Stipulation and Court Order

Chapter 44
Negotiations to Fill in the Blank

Chapter 45
The State Tries to Evade the Court Order

Chapter 46
The Contempt Action Is Filed

Chapter 47
The Remedy Caused Real Change

Chapter 48
Group IQ Tests Banned

Chapter 49
Nature v. Nurture; The Role of Testing

Chapter 50
The Larry P. Trial

PART SIX
2018 and Beyond Today and Tomorrow

Chapter 51
Revisiting the Soledad Children Years Later

Chapter 52
Diana and Larry P. Decades Later

We wish to acknowledge California Rural Legal Assistance and their legal services program attorneys, community workers and staff who for over fifty years have devoted their time and energy, often for below market wages, to vital representation of low income individuals and persons of color who could not afford attorneys.

We especially thank Manny Dumalag and Terry Metasavage for their invaluable assistance in helping to process, edit, format and assemble the manuscript and Nicolas Kanellos at Arte Pblico Press who provided invaluable guidance and tough but critical editing. The Arte Pblico staff, Gabriela Baeza Ventura and Marina Tristn, patiently worked with us to make our book better and guide it to publication and promotion and we thank them. Kudos to our publicistMarissa DeCuir, Angelle Barbazon and the staff of JKS Communications for their hard work in spreading the word about