Historically, schools have struggled to ensure there are enough staff trained to work with the growing population of English learners.
An EdWeek Research Center survey conducted in March of 1,122 educators who work directly with English learners or oversee instruction for students, including English learners, found that the staffing challenge persists. About 55% of educators said the number of staff in their district or school who are appropriately trained to serve English learners is insufficient.
This issue becomes even starker for English learners with disabilities, also known as dually identified students. In the survey, 75% of educators said the number of appropriately trained staff was insufficient for English learners with disabilities.
Dually identified students need language support to develop English proficiency, but they also need specialized instruction services that are required by whatever their disability might be.
Because of the siloed nature of the teaching profession where there is little planned collaboration between general education teachers, English-learner teachers, and special education teachers, students identified as English learners with disabilities only get their special education needs met, at best, said Lizdelia Piñón, an education associate with IDRA, the Intercultural Development Research Association based in Texas.
“Having a disability shouldn’t prevent a student from developing bilingualism,” Piñón said.
English learners with disabilities require collaboration among teachers
English learners with disabilities need teachers who understand both the phases of learning a second language and the intricacies of accommodations and modifications that may be needed for their disability, experts say.
To meet these needs, schools must invest in planned, strategic collaboration among teachers across specializations.
But that can often be a challenge, especially in suburban school districts where English-learner teachers may be spread across five to six schools within a district, said Silvia DeRuvo, the director of multilingual learners with disabilities services at WestEd, a nonpartisan research organization.
In the March EdWeek Research Center survey, educators in mid-sized districts and suburban districts were the most likely to say the number of appropriately trained staff was insufficient for English learners with disabilities. Overall, however, the majority of educators from all types of districts see an issue with sufficient staffing for these students.
While dually identified students have a right to both language services and specially designed instruction, scheduling conflicts often lead schools to prioritize special education services over English-learner services, DeRuvo said.
At WestEd, DeRuvo and her team work with districts and schools to provide training on how to fully meet the needs of dually identified students. This training includes participation of school and district administrators because if administrators don’t understand the complex process of educating an English learner with disabilities, they’re not going to be supportive of that collaboration time that is necessary to make it happen.
Interdisciplinary knowledge for working with English learners with disabilities includes knowing what the actual assessment of an English learner looks like for special education, and what an Individualized Education Program should look like for an English learner, DeRuvo said.
For instance, DeRuvo has reviewed several IEPs where it was not clear that the student was an English learner until she reached details on the accommodations needed.
“You need to write linguistically appropriate goals and objectives that focus on their language learning needs at the same time as what their academic needs are,” DeRuvo said.
State guidance on working with English learners with disabilities can help clarify much of this work, she added. States can also support schools with dually identified students by investing in special certification programs.
Supporting English learners with disabilities calls for training
In Texas, Piñón helped the state education agency design a new bilingual special education certification for district-level personnel to better work with educators to meet the needs of dually identified students.
The first exam for the new certification will launch in September 2028.
“We brought in scholars from bilingual education. We brought in scholars from special education [to ask] what does that intersection look like?” Piñón said.
In her own experience with her children, Piñón encountered districts less willing to enroll her emergent bilingual students in dual language programs in favor of more dedicated special education services.
The hope is that the new state certification can help prevent such scenarios for other families, she said.
The Texas model is a great example of the role states can play in ensuring intersectional needs are met, DeRuvo said.
However, it all comes down to how willing schools and districts will be to put in the systemic work of creating planned collaboration time to make training pay off for students.
“We can’t all be experts in everything. But if we have that opportunity to collaborate, we can definitely meet the needs of the students sitting in your classroom,” DeRuvo said. “It doesn’t matter what their language learning need is, or their disability-related learning need might be.”
