Slide 1: English Language Learners In Special Education Peggy McLeod, Ed.D DMP Associates AIR, October 2 0 0 4
Slide 2: English Language Learners In Special Education  What Can School Districts Do NOW?
Slide 3: Who Are English Language Learners? Limited English proficient or English language learners? English language learners is the term currently preferred by researcher and practitioners Limited English proficient is the term found in federal law
Slide 4: Each state has definition of LEP – but not consistent across states.
Slide 5: Demographics
Slide 6: LEP Students There are over 5.5 million limited English proficient students in the United States
Slide 7: Who Are English Language Learners? Most common language: Spanish (80% of LEP students) Other languages: Vietnamese, Chinese, Hmong, Khmer, Navajo, Haitian Creole, Korean, Arabic, Urdu, Russian, Tagalog, Lao, Japanese 77% come from low-income families
Slide 8: Who Are ELL Students? ELLs are concentrated in schools that are linguistically homogeneous and have high numbers of low-income students Many are in schools with unqualified teachers, inadequate resources and crumbling facilities Latinos have the highest dropout rate in the country
Slide 9: Is There a Disproportionate Representation of ELLs in Special Education?
Slide 10: Disproportionality Are LEP students overrepresented or underrepresented? What are the reasons for disproportionality? How do we determine disproportionality? State District School Classroom
Slide 11: English Language Learners with Disabilities In 1997 (the only year for which this data is available), the Office of Civil Rights determined that only 5.5% of LEP students in the U.S. were also receiving special education services. The latest Descriptive Study of Services to LEP Students and LEP Students with Disabilities (OELA, 2003) reported approximately 9.0% of LEP students received special education services in 2001-2002.
Slide 12: Is The Issue Disproportionality or Inappropriate Placements?
Slide 13: First, what can we do before referring?
Slide 14: Improve General Education: Teacher Training General education teachers who can teach an increasingly diverse student population English language learners Children from diverse cultural backgrounds Children living in poverty
Slide 15: Improve General Education: Strategies  Teacher teams to improve instruction in general education  Data driven  Collaborative  School-wide interventions  Appropriate language supports  Parent and community involvement  How can schools understand their students if they don’t understand where they come from?
Slide 16: Prereferral Strategies* Child study teams Informal problem solving Observations Parent interviews *Some students should be referred for an evaluation immediately, depending on suspected disability
Slide 17: Classify English Language Learners For Evaluation Purposes Limited English proficient – recent arrival (less than one year). Limited English proficient – one to three years. Long-term limited English proficient – over three years (regardless of services).
Slide 18: Why is LEP Status Important? Will determine language or languages of evaluation.
Slide 19: How Do You Determine LEP Status? For most students, information is included in referral. Consult bilingual/ESL service providers.
Slide 20: Evaluation of Language When is it necessary to evaluate language or languages? When the suspected disability has language component.
Slide 21: Next Steps Determine suspected category of disability. Determine existing data. Determine additional data needed.
Slide 22: Next Steps (cont.) If additional data gathering is necessary, determine in which language or languages child will be evaluated. Determination of language of evaluation can be done based on the previously outlined categories of LEP: Recent arrivals should be tested in native language All other LEP students should be tested in both languages if appropriate and depending on suspected disability
Slide 23: What Should the IEP Team Do First? Section 300.533 (Determination of needed evaluation data) allows teams* to review existing data to determine if child has “…a particular category of disability” and “whether the child needs special education and related services…” *Always include bilingual/ESL service provider as part of team.
Slide 24: For What Categories Should An Evaluation of Language Be Conducted? Speech Language Impaired Specific Learning Disabilities Mental Retardation Autism Multiple Disabilities Traumatic Brain Injury Deaf and Hearing Impaired Deaf/Blind
Slide 25: For Which Categories Is It Not Necessary to Evaluate Language? * Visually Impaired Orthopedically Impaired Other Health Impaired Emotionally Disturbed *Unless the IEP team suspects that the child’s language skills are delayed as well.
Slide 26: Why Determine Suspected Disability For LEP Students? IEP teams routinely conduct language evaluations for students they suspect have a non-language related disability. To better calibrate evaluations and produce better results.
Slide 27: Suggested Strategies for Evaluation Gather as much background information as possible including academic records, parent interviews*, and observations. For additional instruments, use bilingual personnel or trained personnel working with trained interpreters. *Particularly important for ELL students.
Slide 28: Suggested Strategies for Evaluation (cont.) Use only instruments normed on a sample that includes children similar to those being evaluated OR Report findings descriptively, never report scores (approximate measures).
Slide 29: Evaluation Issues Beware of language load when using translations Beware of item difficulty (importance of bilingual evaluators) Train evaluation personnel to work with and prepare interpreters whenever necessary
Slide 30: Training Special Education Personnel to Work with Interpreters Evaluation personnel is often reluctant and unsure of how to work with interpreters. Trained interpreters are much more effective in translating the message accurately. Trained evaluation personnel working with trained interpreters will produce better results.
Slide 31: Planning for Special Education and Related Services Link evaluation results to IEP Link language(s) of evaluation to language(s) of services CONTINUE TO PROVIDE LANGUAGE SUPPORT SERVICES, e.g., bilingual instruction or ESL services
Slide 32: Delivery of Special Education and Related Services Use team approach whenever possible, especially for students who need special education and language support services Allow time for team planning - saves time and money in the long run
Slide 33: What Else Can You Do? Frequent review of referrals and placements of ELL students Close collaboration with bilingual/ESL personnel Training for special education personnel …?
Slide 34: Peggy McLeod, Ed.D ©2004 DMP Associates AIR, October 2 0 0 4