The seventh key topic of the Dear Colleague Letter focuses on students who opt out of services. According to the Dear Colleague Letter, schools and state education agencies must “meet the needs of MLs who opt out of language education programs” (U.S. Departments of Justice and Education, 2015, p. 8).
Guiding Questions
- What are schools and districts obligated to do when parents/guardians decline language education programming for their child/ren?
- What action steps should schools and districts take to analyze the number/trends of students whose families opt out of language education services?
- What action steps should schools and districts take to assess the needs of its MLs who opt-out of language assistance programming?
What Schools Need to Know
Families have a right to opt out of some or all language education programs and services. However, that decision must be voluntary and made with a family’s full understanding of their child’s rights, including the services that are being declined. In this case, the child will still be classified as an ML. When parents decline language education programming or specific language education services for their children, schools and districts are obligated to:
- Support the English language development and other academic learning needs of students under the civil rights laws
- Monitor student’s academic progress in learning English and core content subjects
- Continuously inform parents when a student does not make progress and offer and re-offer further opportunities to enroll the student in the language education program “at any time” (U.S. Department of Justice & U.S. Department of Education, 2015, p. 31)
It is also helpful for a district team to 1) routinely examine trends in opting out of a school district’s language education programming and 2) review and analyze the learning needs of the MLs whose parents opted their children out of language education services. The following tools are intended for these purposes. See more tools in English Learner Toolkit, Chapter 7.
Tools for Educators
These tools can support educators in their work related to analyzing data related to students opting out of services for MLs. A printable version of these questions is available in the PDF version of this guide.
Action Steps: How Many Students Are Opting Out?
To use the following tool, fill out the number of students in each grade who are opting out based on their primary language to see trends among language groups.
| Language | PreK | K | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Zacarian, D. (2023), Transforming Schools for Multilingual Learners: A Comprehensive Guide for Educators (p. 69).
Action Steps: Meeting the Needs of MLs Who Opt Out of Language Education Services | |
|---|---|
It is helpful for a school- and/or district-based team of teachers, administrators, and specialists to periodically review and analyze the learning needs of the MLs whose parents opted their children out of language education services. The following list of action steps is intended for this purpose.
Before families opt out of ML services, how do we ensure that families understand:
|
Zacarian, D. (2023), Transforming Schools for Multilingual Learners: A Comprehensive Guide for Educators (p. 196).
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