Office for Civil Rights Releases New Guidance Document: "Equal Access to Elementary and Secondary Education for Students Who Are English Learners with Disabilities"

November 12, 2024, U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released the new guidance document Equal Access to Elementary and Secondary Education for Students Who Are English Learners with Disabilities.

OCR states the document is intended to explain “the legal requirements that schools must follow to ensure equal access to elementary and secondary education for students who are English Learners with disabilities.” In addition, the document provides examples of practices that could violate civil rights laws.

Legal requirements outlined by OCR include discussions of the following:

  • Meaningful and Equal Participation for Students Who Are ELs (English Learners)
  • Meaningful Communication with Parents and Guardians Who Have Limited English Proficiency (LEP)
  • FAPE
  • Communication with Individuals with Disabilities

OCR’s examples of practices that could violate civil rights laws include the following:

  • Determining that students who are ELs also have disabilities only on the basis of their LEP or because they receive EL services.
  • Determining that students who are ELs and who have disabilities do not need disability-related services or that, although otherwise eligible, do not receive disability-related services because they get EL services.
  • Delaying disability-related evaluations, placements, or services because of a student’s English-language needs, or vice versa.
  • Making a student who is eligible for both EL services and disability-related services (or student’s parent or legal guardian) select either EL services or disability-related services.
  • Conducting a Section 504 evaluation only in English for students who are ELs and suspected of having a disability instead of individually determining the appropriate language based on each individual student’s needs and language skills.
  • Only providing disability-related services in English for a student who is an EL and requires some or all services in their native language.
  • Scheduling programming at the same time, such as scheduling EL services and disability-related services for the same 45-minute schedule block, forcing students to miss one or the other type of services.
  • Communicating about a student’s disability-related services with a parent or guardian who has LEP, but not doing so in their preferred language (e.g., not providing interpretation during Section 504/Individual Education Program meetings or translations of Section 504 notices or plans).
  • Not considering the English language-related needs of a student who is an EL when making determinations regarding a student’s disability-related services.
  • Identifying or determining whether students who are ELs are students with disabilities based on criteria that measure and evaluate the student’s English language skills.
  • Informing a student who is an EL and who is blind or has low vision that they can receive written information from the school either translated into a language other than English or in Braille, but not both—that is, the Braille version would be in English only.
  • Not considering a request for auxiliary aids and services by a parent or guardian who has LEP and who is deaf or hard of hearing and needs auxiliary aids and services, like a qualified interpreter, in addition to English language interpretation, during a meeting for their child.
  • Separating students who are ELs with disabilities from other students who are ELs or from students generally, when not necessary to provide EL- services or disability-related services for the students.

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