Federal and state laws provide that school districts may not use assessments and other evaluation materials that are discriminatory against students of color or against students whose primary language is a language other than English.[1]
Larry P. v. Riley and Diana v. State Board of Education are two lawsuits that specifically impacted the special education assessments used on Black students (Larry P.) and Spanish-speaking students (Diana). The outcomes of these lawsuits, which are consistent with federal and state laws that prohibit the use of discriminatory assessments, are described in more detail in Chapter 2.46 (Larry P.) and 2.48 (Diana).
The effect of federal and state law, which were reinforced by Larry P., and Diana, is that, regardless of a student’s race or primary language, no student seeking special education assessments should be discriminated against on the basis of race or ethnicity, subjected to tests that are racially or culturally biased, or assigned to a special education placement based on their limited ability to speak English.Currently, there are very few specially designed special education assessments for other ethnic and language minority students. Special education assessment is usually conducted with the common tests that are administered to most students. Therefore, for the English Learner (EL) student, it is essential that the assessor be proficient in the student’s native or primary language.
- See 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1414(b)(3)(A); 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.304(c)(1)(i); Cal. Ed. Code Sec. 56320(a), (b).[↩]