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New Strategies to Help Diverse Students Succeed

The education system is one of many institutions that struggle to serve people with native languages other than English. The United States continues to become more diverse and English-language learners (ELLs) are the fastest-growing segment in American schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2006 42 percent of K–12 students nationwide were nonwhite and 20.3 percent spoke a language other than English at home. Approximately 79 percent of ELLs are native Spanish speakers; 10 percent receive special education services.

A child’s cultural background impacts the way he interacts socially and how he learns. In addition, second-language learning is a multi-step process requiring years of proper bilingual education or English as a Second Language (ESL) education. Signs of language learning can resemble symptoms of intellectual or learning disabilities. Therefore it is difficult to accurately assess culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students for disabilities and many are inappropriately referred for special education.

This quandary is one of the foremost challenges for special educators. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandates that a child cannot be found to have a disability due to language difficulties, but the field has struggled with disproportionality for more than 30 years, and it is on the rise again. Disproportionality occurs when the percentage of any particular ethnic or racial group receiving special education services differs from the percentage of the same group in the general school population. Often it is higher—indicating that CLD students are being over-referred to special education.

When students are wrongly placed in special education services, it is unfair to both them and their teachers. In the long term, it leads to discouragement and underperformance. Drop-out rates run high among English-language learners, particularly Latinos—approaching 50 percent in some states.

“It’s a sad commentary that things have not changed more, that we are still grappling with the same issues of identifying ESL students with learning disabilities,” says Grace Zamora Duran, former CEC Assistant Executive Director for Membership.

As special educators often serve as assessors, they are the first line of defense for properly evaluating ELLs for special education. The key to preventing misdiagnosis is to better understand second-language acquisition and develop teaching and assessment practices that are culturally sensitive and follow best practices. While is little new research concerning learning disabilities among CLD students, the issue has gained visibility in the political and educational spheres. States with high immigration rates such as Florida, New Mexico, and Texas are now uniting special education and bilingual education. And Response to Intervention (RTI) systematizes the assessment process in a way that, if implemented correctly, can help greatly.

“Like RTI, this isn’t about reducing referrals to special education,” explains Virginia Collier, professor emeritus of bilingual, multicultural, and ESL education at George Mason University. “It’s about giving students the education they deserve and placing them where they belong.”

“It’s never just about the child,” states Elizabeth Kozleski, professor at Arizona State University and co-principal investigator of the National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt). “They bring with them their cultural histories, their own assumptions about what it means to engage in learning, and native languages that must be understood and valued.”

The Nature of Second Language Acquisition
Second-language learners typically attain proficiency within five to seven years, if exposed to proper instruction at an early age. Fluency is achieved in five stages: reception, expression, reading, writing, and talking. Experts recommend not testing ELLs in English or considering them for special education until they have had at least two years of solid bilingual instruction (unless a disability is obvious).

ESL learners are considered proficient “when they function like native English speakers and meet the same standards as their peers,” says Alba Ortiz, director of the bilingual education program at University of Texas at Austin and co-editor of Multiple Voices for Ethnically Diverse Exceptional Learners, a publication of CEC’s Division for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Learners (DDEL). “They should be able to handle all the content and think and speak in abstract, complex ways.”

It is imperative that children continue to develop their native language skills both at home and in the classroom—though that might not seem intuitive.

“The first language serves as a resource for your second language,” advises Collier. Without proper education in the primary language, “they usually get referred to special education by the third or fourth grade.” The suspected culprit? Learning disabilities.

The Role of RTI
Test data not only reveals ELLs’ proficiency; it can tell us a lot about the quality of their teachers and instruction. This is where RTI, a structured process for regularly assessing students and providing strugglers with tiers of intervention, can play a part. RTI promotes early intervention, systematic methods, discreet data, and a focus on the curriculum—that is, the concept that problems don’t always stem from the students. These aspects may steer educators toward portfolio assessments, which many experts say is the best way to assess ELLs for disabilities.

“RTI is all about equity. It starts with the premise that each student deserves an appropriate education and access to an environment that promotes cognitive development, whatever that might be, to support learning in school,” explains Shernaz Garcia, an associate professor of multicultural and bilingual special education at University of Texas at Austin who also co-edits Multiple Voices.

“RTI may help us more quickly identify other factors contributing to low performance,” agrees Ortiz. “It’s important to respond early. You sometimes see third graders referred to special education, but once you examine their records you realize they have been struggling with language since kindergarten. The more time passes, the harder it is to tell ESL issues from learning disabilities.”

RTI holds promise, but it has not been validated empirically because it has not been fully implemented. Most importantly, it must be culturally and linguistically sensitive to be effective for students from diverse backgrounds.
 
The Problems with Standard Assessments and Accommodations
The problem is twofold: educators often mistake signs of language learning for learning disabilities and, once ELLs are referred to special education, they lack valid assessment tools. Ideally students should be tested in both languages, but tests are often not available in the native language. Even if the student appears fluent in English, he still may not grasp the vocabulary and style of the “academic” English featured in school settings.

If the test has been normed on American culture, then the student is likely to encounter concepts or frameworks he is unfamiliar with. For example, it is unfair to give a multiple-choice test to a student who never experienced that test format in his prior schooling. Classroom instruction in general may be culturally mismatched: ideal furniture arrangements, behavior expectations, preference for group versus individual work, level of eye contact—these are all shaped by culture.

In addition to extra time and read-aloud, translation is the most common test accommodation made for ESL students, but it offers its own hurdles. Languages don’t translate word-for-word, so specialized meaning may be lost or distorted; also, many languages have different dialects. Even if proper translation is provided, a student may still struggle if inadequate bilingual education background has left him unexposed to academic jargon in his native language. It is not enough for a bilingual person to administer the test; school professionals should be trained in bilingual education and have knowledge of child psychology, special education, or speech and language acquisition.

“There is a shortage of qualified special education/ESL teachers; some states don’t even require certification,” says Garcia. “Bilingualism only gives you access to a student’s language. You also need to understand the proper methodology.”

But while accommodations invalidate test results, “what else do you use?” Duran asks. “Translation is still better than nothing.”

Improving special education assessments for non-native speakers of English starts with understanding the relationship between language acquisition and learning disability—a student can’t be compartmentalized. Special education “tends to focus too much on psychology, without proper emphasis on language learning and how the two are related,” Kozleski says. “Bilingual, ESL, and special education all need to talk to each other.”

Urban areas and states such as New Mexico, Texas, Illinois, New York, and Florida are leading the movement to bridge the gap between special education and bilingual/multicultural education. Even if a district doesn’t have a dedicated department, it might have one or two staff members with expertise in the field. For example, Miami-Dade County, Fla., a district of 350,000 students where one in seven is enrolled in an ESOL program, has a bilingual/ESOL special education office that trains teachers on the identification and placement of exceptional students with limited English proficiency and also provides fully trained bilingual assessors. Florida also requires all ESOL teachers to undergo a whopping 300 hours of training; all Miami-Dade teachers are expected to incorporate ESOL strategies in their classrooms.

Properly Assessing CLD Students for Learning Disabilities
Unfortunately, distinguishing second language acquisition issues from learning disabilities is “not as easy as a checklist,” Duran admits.

“Special education referral is often a process of ruling out all other possible explanations,” explains Espy Ramos, a former bilingual special education assessor for Miami-Dade County. Keep the following in mind when considering a CLD child for special education assessment:

• Check the student’s progress in his English-learning and academic studies. Even slow improvement amounts to progress. Signs of no progress are a true red flag.
• Gather as much information as possible about the child’s medical and school history—though it is unlikely you will have access to records from the home country.
• Look for problems beyond language acquisition, such as poor motor abilities, visual perception, or auditory processing.
• Consider other explanations for poor performance: lack of consistent schooling, lack of qualified teachers, unstable home life, etc.

Take these steps when assessing a CLD child for special education placement:

• Determine how proficient the child is in English and his native language. “If he fares well in the native language, then the problem is not a learning disability,” confirms Matty Rodriguez-Walling, a teacher and trainer from Miami-Dade County and CEC’s 1994 Teacher of the Year.
• Focus only on the area of concern and administer the most unbiased test possible, noting any deviations from test instructions.
• Know that it’s all right—even desirable—to rely on more than one test and piece the results together to form a comprehensive portfolio of the student’s knowledge and skills. But know the limitations of each assessment.
• Engage in both informal and formal testing methods. Ramos would typically begin by interviewing the child to get to know him or her. Then she would engage the students in oral and written storytelling exercises. The assessment would conclude with formal standardized tests.
• Always question the validity of an assessment. “Ask yourself, ‘Can this test the student’s knowledge without cultural or linguistic factors creating a ceiling? Are we actually testing subject matter?’” Garcia advises.
• Look at the test results. What does the child know? Where did he lose points?
• Know that you cannot compare ELLs’ scores with those of native English speakers.

Parents—Your Best Resource
Finally, consider family and socioeconomic factors that, while not part of a student’s formal record or IEP, can still contribute to the bigger picture. Parents are a key source for this information. They know how their children behave at home, what other responsibilities they carry, how much sleep they get, their homework habits, and so on.

“Learning disabilities exist 24 hours a day,” Ortiz points out. “If parents are noticing the same problem in a child, there is a much higher chance that it will be treated.”

Families from other countries may be intimidated by the American school system. In the case of undocumented families, there may be other fears in play. Reach out to them and let them know they have a voice. Offer chances for parents to meet staff in a casual setting, such as a Parent Night, with bilingual teachers or translators on hand. Translate important materials into their native languages and distribute them.

“I like to show parents how to access the grade book online,” says Rodriguez-Walling. “I let them know I am always available and follow up later by phone, which adds a personal touch.”

The Importance of Professional Development
Teachers need to understand themselves as cultural beings before they can truly appreciate it in others. Among her Caucasian students, “culture is often considered ‘something other people have,’” says Garcia.

“You need to know your own attitudes about other cultures,” agrees Jacqueline Mault, professor of special education at Heritage University in Washington and CEC’s president-elect. “Even dialectical variations can affect a teacher’s impression of their students.” A good place to start is to attend local events to learn about the culture of the majority of your students.

While teachers can certainly benefit from on-the-job training, the best scenario is to develop these skills while obtaining your degree. The recently enacted Higher Education Opportunity Act, which mandates that teacher education programs better prepare educators to address marginalized groups such as CLD students and those with special needs, is a step in the right direction.

“Change cannot happen until we have the faculty to produce properly trained teachers,” says Ortiz.

RESOURCES

CEC’s Division for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Learners (DDEL): DDEL Web site

Dual Language Education of New Mexico is a resource for educators from all 50 states: http://www.duallanguagenm.org/

Education Week’s “Learning the Language” Blog, where Assistant Editor Mary Ann Zehr writes almost daily about the schooling of English-language learners: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/

The National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt) offers assessment and rubric tools for teachers: http://www.nccrest.org/

National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Educational Programs is authorized under the No Child Left Behind Act and funded by the Department of Education: http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/

National Institute for Urban School Improvement: http://www.urbanschools.org/

TEACHER magazine’s own list of selected online resources for addressing diverse student-learning needs and styles: http://www.teachersourcebook.org/tsb/articles/2008/09/10/01websites.h02.html

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