2026 ESSU Fall Directors Meeting

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a comprehensive special education evaluation is used to determine eligibility for special education and the child’s educational needs. To produce reliable and accurate information on what a Multilingual Learner (ML) knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally, assessments and other evaluation materials must be provided and administered in the child’s native language or other mode of communication, unless clearly not feasible (34 C.F.R. § 300.304(c)(1)(ii)). Administrative Units must also ensure that assessments and other evaluation materials are selected and administered so that they are not discriminatory on a racial or cultural basis. (34 C.F.R. § 300.304(c)(1)(i)). Evaluations that fail to account for a child’s linguistic and cultural background risk producing evaluation data that are inaccurate and unreliable for determining eligibility and educational need. (34 C.F.R. §§ 300.304-300.305). For Non-English Proficient (NEP) and Limited English Proficient (LEP) MLs, the multidisciplinary team should always engage in a data-based discussion regarding which areas of assessment should be conducted in the child’s native language or bilingually.