Schools have a responsibility to communicate with families who are not proficient in English in a manner those families can understand. 

Public schools are multilingual — they serve a significant number of students and families whose dominant language is not English, and this diversity continues to increase. According to the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics (2019), almost 10% of U.S. students are identified as English learners, but many English-proficient students also live in households where English is not the dominant language. According to U.S. Census data (Ryan, 2013), 60.6 million people speak a language other than English at home, and 22.4% of them do not speak English or do not speak it well. 

Schools typically focus on students’ language access and acquisition, and this is an important part of their responsibility. But even when students are proficient in English, their families may not be. Schools must provide language access accommodations for these non-English-speaking families.  

What is language access?  

Language access is the process of providing people with limited English proficiency meaningful access to federally supported information and services. In public education, this means providing translation and interpretation services to families whose dominant language is not English so they can participate in their children’s education to the same extent that English-dominant families can.  

In Lau v. Nichols (1974), the U.S. Supreme Court held that public schools must take affirmative steps to ensure that students with limited English proficiency can meaningfully participate in educational programs and services as a requirement of Title VI. Title VI protects individuals against national origin discrimination, including language discrimination, in programs that receive federal funding. In this case, Spanish- and Chinese-speaking families filed suit against the San Francisco Unified School District, arguing that it was not providing their children with an equal opportunity to access an education because they did not receive any accommodation as non-English speakers. The district argued that it was not their responsibility to accommodate students who were not proficient in English, but the Supreme Court held that the school district must do so. As the Court stated, “There is no equality of treatment merely by providing students with the same facilities, textbooks, teachers, and curriculum, for students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education.” This established the obligation for schools that receive federal funding to provide language services for their students. 

Language access policy has been clarified and broadened through executive orders and federal agency regulations. Executive Order 13166, issued in 2000, requires all federal departments (including the Department of Education) to develop a system to mitigate language barriers so that people whose dominant language is not English can have meaningful access to programs and services. The U.S. Department of Education requires all state education agencies (and through them all local school districts) to comply with these responsibilities.  

Simply put, schools that receive federal funds must provide information to families with limited English proficiency in their own language so they can participate fully in their children’s education. And these services must be provided without cost to the families involved. Schools’ responsibilities are set out in joint documents from the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education (2015). 

Specific school responsibilities 

School districts must develop and implement a process for determining the language needs for the families they serve. The process should identify all families with limited English proficiency, including parents or guardians of children who are proficient in English and parents and guardians whose primary language is not common in the district. Most often, schools send a home-language survey to all students’ families before the start of the school year.  

If schools share information with English-dominant parents in English, they should share that same information with limited-English-proficient parents in a manner that they can understand. Such information includes but is not limited to registration and enrollment in school and school programs, language assistance programs, report cards, student discipline policies and procedures, special education notices and meetings, parent teacher conferences, grievance procedures and notices of nondiscrimination, relevant handbooks, and permission requests for student participation in school activities. 

Simply put, schools that receive federal funds must provide information to families with limited English proficiency in their own language so they can participate fully in their children’s education.

Effective language assistance might include translated materials or a language interpreter. Interpreters and translators should be trained and have knowledge of specialized terms whenever appropriate. Students and untrained school staff may not be used as translators during significant meetings because they may not be reliable interpreters.  

Responding to insufficient access 

These rights are enforced by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division through a discrimination complaint process. Linguistically diverse families and their advocates have a right to file a formal complaint with the Office for Civil Rights whenever they believe their school’s language-based accommodations are insufficient.  

Litigation is also an option. Language access cases typically involve providing meaningful access to special education processes. One such case, H.P. v. Board of Education of Chicago (N.D. Ill, 2019), is currently in litigation. In this case, eight students and their parents sued the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) for failing to provide translation services and translated materials in relation to special education programs. As part of a class action suit, parents claimed a violation of both the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Title VI. Chicago Public Schools is a diverse district, and 42% of students receiving special education services have parents with limited English proficiency. The most common non-English languages are Spanish, Polish, Arabic, and Chinese. CPS collects information on students’ household language through a home language survey, and any individualized education program (IEP) documents note the family’s dominant language and whether language access services are needed.  

At this stage in the litigation, the court has focused on the facts as set forth by the families regarding the services CPS provides (and fails to provide). According to the families: 

• CPS does not provide interpreters at IEP and other meetings. 
• CPS staff often act as interpreters, despite not being trained interpreters. They often have difficulties interpreting specific terms used in meetings and/or have multiple roles in these meetings.  
• CPS does not provide written translation of special education documents (e.g., IEP, procedural safeguards, consent forms, and progress reports). 

CPS filed a motion to dismiss the action, but the trial court denied the motion, finding that there was sufficient evidence that parents were denied meaningful language access, which may result in a denial of IDEA rights for their children. Regarding the Title VI claim, the court found that there was sufficient evidence to show that CPS had may have intentionally discriminated against the limited-English-proficient families by not providing language access. This case will move forward to a trial. 

Equal access means families, too 

Parental participation is a key ingredient for student success. If parents are foreclosed from participation because of their limited English skills, their children are equally foreclosed from opportunities. To ensure that all children have equal access to a quality education, we must ensure that all families have equal access to participate in their children’s education.    

“No State shall deny equal educational opportunity to an individual on account of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, by . . . the failure by an educational agency to take appropriate action to overcome language barriers that impede equal participation by its students in its instructional programs.” 20 U.S.C. 1703(f) 

References 

National Center for Education Statistics. (2019, May). English language learners in public schools. In The Condition of Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. 

Ryan, C. (2013, August).Language use in the United States: 2011 (American Community Survey report). Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau. 

U.S. Department of Justice & U.S. Department of Education. (2015, January 7). Dear Colleague letter: English learner students and limited English proficient parents. Washington, DC: Authors.