Language Instruction Educational Program Plan

Colorado districts, schools, and public charter schools must appropriately identify Multilingual Learners (MLs), analyze multilingual learner performance, and implement and evaluate evidence-based Language Instruction Educational Programs (LIEPs). Most districts, schools, and public charter schools use a combination of approaches, adapting their instructional model to the size and needs of their ML population. An effective LIEP plan needs to be comprehensive and to ensure its ongoing value, it needs to be viewed by district, school, and public charter school staff as containing useful information.

Key Points of Providing LIEPs from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) and the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ):

• ML instruction and programs must be educationally sound in theory and effective in practice (Castañeda standard)
• ML programs must be designed to enable MLs to attain both English proficiency and parity of participation in the standard instructional program within a reasonable length of time
• Districts must offer ML instruction and programs, until MLs are proficient in English and can participate meaningfully in educational programs without ML support
• Additionally, districts must provide appropriate special education services to MLs with disabilities who are found to be eligible for special education and related services

The LIEP plan should contain enough detail and specificity so that each staff person can understand how the plan is to be implemented and should contain the procedural guidance and forms they need to use to carry out their responsibilities under the plan. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) reports that LIEP Plans are most useful when they contain sufficient detail to fully inform staff of each action step in the plan. Many districts, schools, and public charter schools have found that it is useful, when developing or revising plans, to establish a committee or work group that includes administrators, teachers (both ML program teachers and regular classroom teachers), educational assistants, school counselors, and other staff who work with the district’s ML student population. Moreover, the service minute requirement is a local decision determined by the linguistic needs of the student, the program model used for language instruction, and/or implementation of the curriculum being used. However, if the district, school, and charter schools is under an OCR or DOJ Consent Decree, they must adhere to requirements mandated in the Consent Decree. 

The district, school, and public charter school may also want to include parents, students, or community representatives who work with the same students in other settings. By working with a group that includes these stakeholders, the district, school, and public charter school can receive more comprehensive input from those whose support and efforts may be important to the success of ML programs. Inclusive approaches in program design and development tend to promote overall community awareness and support and can draw upon valuable resources during program evaluation and program improvement activities. To create an effective District LIEP Plan the following components should be considered:

• ML student demographic information (include growth patterns and trends if possible)
• Assessment matrix for MLs
• Instructional program and educational approaches for MLs
• Scheduling guide for service (service delivery plan)
• Special populations: Migrant, Native American, Gifted Education, or Special Education
• Research based instructional strategies/programs
• Redesignation, monitoring and exiting criteria and procedures
• Interventions
• Professional development
• Parent involvement
• Language performance data and goals
• Program evaluation 

Districts may not recommend parents opt their child out of an LIEP or instruction for any reason. If a parent voluntarily decides to opt their child out of ML programs or particular ML services, that child retains their ML designation. Appropriate signed opt-out documentation is important to support legal compliance and should be reviewed with parents annually.  Additionally, “the LEA remains obligated to take affirmative steps and appropriate action required by civil rights laws to provide ML students meaningful access to its educational program. Thus, the LEA must continue to monitor periodically the opted-out student’s academic progress. These steps may include, but are not limited to, further assessing the student’s ELP; notifying the student’s parent about their child’s lack of progress and encouraging them to opt the child into ML programs and services, and providing supports for the student’s language acquisition, such as offering professional development in second language acquisition to the student’s core curriculum teachers” (OELA Toolkit, Chapter 7). Students designated as NEP or LEP are required to take the annual ELP assessment, WIDA ACCESS even when families have declined language instruction in an LIEP. Similar to students enrolled in language instruction, opt-out students continue to take summative ELP assessments until they meet criteria to redesignate through an evaluation of assessment scores and a collection of local academic evidence.