CityLimits | The office of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander found “profound failures” in English Language Learners’ ability to access services and programs designed for them at the city’s public schools.
An audit released Monday found that a “a significant percentage” of the school system’s English Language Learners (ELLs) hadn’t received the services they’re legally entitled to, such as required courses or a minimum number of instructional minutes.
They have also been denied other legally mandated services, the audit found, such as being identified as ELLs through the Home Language Identification Survey, being tested and placed through the New York State Identification Test for English Language Learners, and receiving a bilingual education or access to an English as a New Language program.
When asked, New York City Public Schools (NYCPS, formerly the Department of Education) refuted the findings, stating that the report included students who were enrolled for less than 10 days, meaning they couldn’t be identified as ELLs or take the exam to assess their skills.
The Comptroller’s Office emphasized, in response to NYCPS objections, that the audit results were shared with the department on several occasions and that education officials did not criticize the figures and methodology or ask for revisions during that process.
Education advocates declined to comment on whether the data is accurate or not, or whether the comptroller’s office did a good job reviewing it.
“All I can speak about is our experience on the ground,” said Rita Rodriguez-Engberg, director of the Immigrant Students’ Rights Project at the nonprofit Advocates for Children. “We see families that we serve who are not provided services on time, students who are not identified on time, parents who have never been invited to the mandated parent meeting that they’re supposed to have.”
Advocates were surprised to learn that 40 percent of students sampled by the comptroller’s audit were taught by teachers who do not have the full qualifications to teach ELL.
“I was most shocked that teachers were not qualified because that’s just something that we, as advocates, and on the side, parent advocacy, we don’t have access to that information,” said Rodriguez-Engberg.
