Considerations for ELL and American Indian Students

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Considerations for ELL and American Indian
Students

• Elizabeth Watkins Special
  Education Policy Division, Minnesota Dept. of
  Education

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Agenda

• Ways of examining English Language Learner data
  (ELL)
• District example of promising practices
• Role of interpreters and cultural liaisons
• American Indian students in special education

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About Minnesota

• Largest Somali and Hmong communities in U.S.
• One of largest West African communities
  (Liberians)
• 20.9 of Black students home language ? English
• Spanish-speakers most rapidly growing
• Home of 7 American Indian reservations

2007-08 MARSS data
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Original Data Thresholds

• Indicator 9 Race/Ethnicity in Special Education
• WRR 2.8, minimum cell size of 20
• Indicator 10 Race/Ethnicity in Disability
  Categories (DCD, SLD, E/BD, OHD, Sp/L, ASD)
• Weighted risk ratio 2.0 in two categories
• Weighted risk ratio 3.0 in one category
• Minimum cell size of 20

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First Year Results (05-06 Data)

• Identified 27 Districts in Spring of 2007
• 7 districts for Indicator 9
• 20 districts for Indicator 10
• 12 districts for 2 or more disability categories
  8 for one category
• E/BD most common category

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New Data Thresholds

• Phasing in use of relative risk ratio and
  weighted risk ratio
• Indicator 9
• Risk ratio and weighted risk ratio 2.8
• Both ratios lt 0.36 (underrepresentation)
• Indicator 10
• Both ratios 3.0 (overrepresentation)
• Both ratios lt 0.20 (underrepresentation)

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1. ELL Data

• 3 student data fields in Minnesota
• Home language
• ELL eligible
• ELL served
• Prefer to analyze by home languages
• First race, then home language
• Home language English
• Home language all other languages

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Example
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Conclusions and limitations

• Conclusions
• Deepens understanding of disproportionate
  representation
• Useful in program evaluation
• Limitations
• Not compatible with Westat template or OSEP
  requirements

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2. Example of Promising Practice

• St. Paul Public Schools
• Serves 39,550 students in K-12
• Diverse enrollment 29.3 Asian American, 30.2
  African American, 25.3 Caucasian, 13.3 Latino,
  and 1.8 American Indian
• 44 of students speak a home language other than
  English
• 70 are eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch

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SPPS English Language Learners

• More than 100 languages and dialects
• Top 10 Hmong, Spanish, Somali, Vietnamese,
  Cambodian, Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromiffa, Karen,
  Chinese
• Language groups enter in waves or clusters
• Spanish speakers since 1930s
• Hmong speakers from 1975 to 2005
• Karen speakers from Burma over past 3 years
• Length of time in U.S. ranges from U.S. born to
  newly arrived

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Referral and Evaluation Process

• District ELL/Special Education Team
• Began in late 70s
• Includes licensed staff and interpreters
• Referral and evaluation process
• Ongoing Challenges
• Results

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Core Knowledge

• District ELL/Special Education team must have
  in-depth knowledge of
• Cultural background and acculturation
• Second language acquisition
• Working with interpreters
• Due process/state regulations
• Principles of measurement

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Procedures for Referral and Evaluation

• Building level interventions child study team
  action
• District level
• Parent interview by trained interpreters
• In-depth educational history
• Team reviews information and makes decision to
  assess

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Communication Evaluation

• All evaluations of ELLs include
• Language history
• Home language communication evaluation
• Current proficiency in English
• Comparison data collected for Hmong language
  tasks
• Standard procedures using formal and informal
  measures

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Academic Evaluation

• Curriculum-Based/General Outcome Measures
• Used to make comparisons w/ similar peers for
  major groups
• Updated regularly within district
• Collect small group comparison data for low
  incidence languages
• Brigance Comprehensive Inventory of Basic Skills

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Other Assessment Domains

• Intellectual conducted by English-speaking and
  bilingual psychologists on district team
• Adaptive behavior use procedures developed
  within district

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St. Paul Challenges

• Timely collection of comparison data
• Ongoing staff training
• Staying current with knowledge of new language
  and cultural groups
• Locating and training interpreters

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Results in St. Paul

• No significant monitoring findings
• Quantitative data
• Approaching 1.0 for Asian and Hispanic students
  in SLD
• Challenges continue in other disability
  categories
• cultural barriers
• limitations in assessment tools

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Replicating in Other Districts

• MDE works closely w/ St. Paul and other large
  districts
• Staff development statewide to transmit
  professional knowledge
• Creation of written resource materials

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Challenges

• Staff development cannot transmit depth of
  experience
• Some procedures difficult to replicate with small
  populations
• Constantly adapting to new groups older groups
  constantly changing

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3. Interpreters and cultural liaisons

• One strategy to bring cultural competence and
  multilingualism into special education
• Skills needed
• Fluency in at least two languages
• Strong interpersonal skills to bridge cultural
  gaps
• Knowledge of professional terminology

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Staff Development

• Creation of native language glossaries
• Workshop series on basics of special education
• Advanced workshops on specific disabilities or
  issues
• Collaborative workshops for teams of licensed
  staff and interpreters

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Definition of cultural liaison

• Adopted into State Rule 3525.0200 Subp. 1h
• https//www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/rules/?id3525
  
• Based upon program dating to 70s Indian
  Home/School Liaisons

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4. Indian Home/School Liaisons

• Serve as home-school connection for students who
  are referred or identified
• Receive regular, ongoing staff development
• Districts with IHSL have less disproportionate
  representation

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Other Initiatives for American Indians

• Research into academic language needs and
  interventions
• Staff development modules being implemented
• Tribal licensure cohort
• SPDG project to create indigenous SLD E/BD
  teacher preparation curricula
• First students enrolled in cohort in fall, 2008

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Other Considerations

• Small population nationally but very significant
  in many states
• Less research available
• Needs of urban communities not well addressed
• Would welcome support from RRCs and OSEP

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For further information

• Contact Elizabeth.Watkins_at_state.mn.us,
  651-582-8678
• Supervisor of SPP Data and Reporting,
  Nancy.Larson_at_state.mn.us, 651-582-8596