The English learner population in the United States stands at about 5.2 million students. Sixteen percent of these students also have disabilities. So, in addition to English-language instruction, they’re legally entitled to special education services.
While most schools are doing right by these students and their families, there remains confusion over how schools can ensure they’re following all federal laws that apply to these dual-identified students, said Laurene Christensen, the director of accessibility research at WIDA, which administers English-language-proficiency assessments in most states.
Not all states have clear guidance on how to meet both the English-language development and disability-related needs of students. Sometimes educators face challenges determining whether a student’s needs for extra support are related to their disability or the fact that they’re still mastering English.
Many schools still provide that extra help to students by pulling them out of a general education classroom both for English-language and disability-related support, which can keep students from getting exposed to all the academic content their peers are learning. And schools might have translators on hand to help parents whose first language isn’t English—but when an English learner also has a disability, those translators also need to be well-versed in individualized education programs, or IEPs.
Now, the U.S. Department of Education’s office for civil rights has tried to clarify matters. It published a fact sheet on Nov. 12 detailing some of the legal requirements schools must follow when educating English learners with disabilities and fulfilling their duties under civil rights laws and those establishing rights of individuals with disabilities.
“I think that we have a moral obligation to treat all students equitably in this country,” Christensen said, “and so I think that this is a great list of things to consider when you’re thinking about supporting multilingual learners with disabilities.”
Federal guidance offers scenarios for schools to avoid
Schools risk violating federal civil rights laws—and thus prompting an investigation from the office for civil rights—in a number of scenarios OCR laid out.
Schools can’t, for example:
- Determine that students who are English learners also have disabilities only on the basis of their limited English proficiency.
- Determine that students who are English learners and who have disabilities do not need disability-related services because they receive English-learner services.
- Delay disability-related evaluations, placements, or services because of a student’s English-language needs, or vice versa.
- Force a student who is eligible for both English-learner services and disability-related services—or their parent or legal guardian—to choose between English-learner services or disability-related services.
- Only provide disability-related services in English for a student who is an English learner and requires some or all services in their native language.
- Schedule English-language and disability-related services at the same time, forcing students to miss one type of service they require.
Communicate with a parent with limited English proficiency about a student’s special education services exclusively in English.
The OCR’s full—though not exhaustive—list of scenarios for schools to avoid can be found on the fact sheet here.
Translators don’t always know the details of special education
Christensen has come across some of these listed examples in her research and work with schools on serving students who need English-language and special education services.
“We hear from time to time that people think that you need to wait to evaluate a student for a disability,” she said. “Of course, we want to make sure that they’re not being mistakenly identified because of language proficiency, but [the fact sheet] also gets into that, too, because it talks about how it’s important to make sure that the evaluation is conducted in the student’s home language, if needed.”
Sometimes, it’s a challenge for schools to find translators who are well-versed in IEPs, though Christensen said training programs exist to help translators grow their knowledge base.
Christensen hopes schools give equal weight to students’ English-language development and disability-related needs, even as questions remain about the future of federal funding to support English-learner and special-education services as a new presidential administration prepares to take office.
“It’s probably too early to tell what will happen in the future, but I’m personally very committed, and I know WIDA is really committed, to serving the educators who work with all of our multilingual learners, including those with disabilities,” Christensen said. “We should just keep on doing this important work because these kids and their educators really deserve it.”
