On February 27, 2006, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and DOE Chancellor Joel I. Klein announced a new regulation (Chancellor’s Regulation A-663) with the purpose of providing translation and interpretation services to the hundreds of thousands of parents who require these services in order to meaningfully participate in their children’s education and interact with school staff. The regulation, which became effective at the beginning of the 2006-07 school year, was supposed to significantly improve the range and quality of translation services provided to parents.

This report reveals serious lapses in the provision of language assistance services to parents found during our month long monitoring of high school registration centers and a recent survey of select parent coordinators. In addition, community groups visited schools or obtained information from parents about the lack of services available in their local schools.