English Learners with Disabilities Toolkit

State Assessments for English Learners with Disabilities: Using Data to Understand the Characteristics of English Learners with Disabilities in Your State (Toolkit for English Learners with Disabilities Tool #1)

English Learners with Disabilities Toolkit

The regulations for the 2015 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), include a requirement that states develop an alternate English language proficiency (ELP) assessment for English learners with the most significant cognitive disabilities. Additionally, ESSA requires, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) affirms, that students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, including English learners with significant cognitive disabilities, who cannot take the general content assessment must participate in alternate assessments based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS) in certain grades. This requirement means that Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams will need to annually make a decision for each English learner with a disability about whether the student should participate in an alternate assessment or a general assessment. This decision will need to be made for both the ELP assessment and in certain grades for the content assessments of reading/language arts, mathematics, and science as well as for any other content assessments the state has.

Purpose of the English Learners with Disabilities Toolkit

The English Learners with Disabilities Toolkit is designed to provide states and IEP teams with tools they can use to better understand their students who are English learners with disabilities and to determine in which state assessment (general or alternate) they should participate and whether accessibility features or accommodations are needed for their participation in any assessment. This toolkit does not address the development of complete IEPs for English learners with disabilities.

The sample formats and approaches in this toolkit can be adapted by states and IEP teams to fit their own contexts—for example, to reflect characteristics of their English learners with disabilities or to align with state participation guidelines for ELP and content assessments.

Overview of the English Learners with Disabilities Toolkit

Decisions about the participation of English learners with disabilities in state assessments (both ELP and content assessments) are among the more difficult decisions that the team makes. This toolkit presents examples and approaches to help states understand their population of English learners with disabilities. It also provides sample formats and ideas that states can share with their districts, including several tools for IEP teams to use when making decisions about participation in assessments and about needed accessibility features and accommodations.

Tool 1: Using Data to Understand the Characteristics of English Learners with Disabilities in Your State

This tool is designed to provide state education agencies (SEAs), particularly assessment staff, with example formats and approaches to display data on the characteristics of English learners with disabilities. The tool includes example formats for examining languages spoken at home, disability categories, and English language proficiency (ELP) levels on both the general and alternate ELP assessments. By understanding these student characteristics, staff can conduct a more thorough analysis of state assessment participation and performance data. For instance, knowing the numbers of English learners with intellectual disabilities, autism, and multiple disabilities helps in evaluating whether districts and schools are making suitable decisions regarding alternate ELP assessment participation. Understanding the primary home language groups and their relative sizes among English learners with disabilities helps staff assess if state accommodation policies adequately support these students and if the accommodations are being utilized.

A brief overview of each example format follows.

Example Format 1. English Learners with Disabilities by Home Language and Grade for [School Year]

Example Format 2. English Learners with Disabilities by Disability Category and Grade for [School Year]

Example Format 3. English Learners with Disabilities by English Language Proficiency Level on the General English Proficiency Assessment in [School Year]

Example Format 4. English Learners with Disabilities by English Proficiency Level on the Alternate English Proficiency Assessment in [School Year]

Each example format represents data for a single school year. There is a blank space in the table title to enter the year.

The example formats can be customized to incorporate other student characteristics, to add or delete rows, and to align with state-specific terminology or disability categories (e.g., state reports students with intellectual disability by level). In addition, a state may create similar tables for additional relevant student characteristics such as length of time in the country, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, etc. A state could examine data across years using the same example formats to determine whether there are any patterns over time.

Example Format 1

English Learners with Disabilities by Home Language and Grade for [School Year]

The table is designed for schools or educational agencies to collect and report data on English learners who also have disabilities, organized by the students’ home language and grade level. It represents data for a single school year. There is a blank space in the title to enter the year. The table is structured with the following columns: 'Language Name' (where each row represents a different home language), grade levels from Kindergarten (K) through 12th grade (each grade has its own column), 'Total Number' (for the sum of students in all grades for that language), and 'Percent of Statewide Total Number for All Languages' (to show what portion of the total statewide population each language group represents). There are example rows for Arabic, Chinese, and Spanish, and a row for 'All languages' to aggregate totals. There is also a note in a row before the ‘All Languages’ row header that indicates that rows can be added or removed as needed to accommodate additional languages.

Adapted from California Department of Education https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/SpringData/StudentsByLanguage.aspx?Level=State&TheYear=2023-24&SubGroup=All&ShortYear=2324&GenderGroup=B&CDSCode=00000000000000&RecordType=EL

Example Format 2

English Learners with Disabilities by Disability Category and Grade for [School Year]

This table is designed for educational institutions to use so they can report and analyze data on English learners who also have disabilities. It represents data for a single school year. There is a blank space in the title to enter the year. The table is broken down by specific disability categories and grade levels. It includes a column for 'Disability Category' on the left, listing various common categories as row headers: ‘Autism,’ ‘Deafblindness’, ‘Deafness’, ‘Developmental delay’, ‘Emotional disturbance’, ‘Hearing impairment’, ‘Intellectual disability’, ‘Multiple disabilities’, ‘Orthopedic impairment’, ‘Other health impairment’, ‘Specific learning disability’, ‘Speech or language impairment’, ‘Traumatic brain injury’, and ‘Visual impairment’. Below that is a note in a row header mentioning that rows can be added and/or renamed as needed. The final row, 'All disabilities,' is meant to sum the totals for all categories. Column headers list each grade level, from Kindergarten (K) through 12th grade, ‘Total Number’, and ‘Percentage of Statewide Total Number.’ The 'Total Number' column is for the sum of students across all grades for each disability, while the 'Percent of Statewide Total Number' column is for entering the percentage that each category represents out of all English learners with disabilities in the state.

Example Format 3

English Learners with Disabilities by English Language Proficiency Level on the General English Proficiency Assessment in [School Year]

This table is structured to help educational institutions organize and report on English learners with disabilities according to their English language proficiency as measured by a general English Language Proficiency (ELP) assessment, for a specific school year. There is a blank space in the title to enter the year. The leftmost column is labeled 'English Proficiency Level on General ELP Assessment,' where each row below that should represent a different proficiency level (such as Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, etc., depending on the assessment used). Additional rows can be added to accommodate all proficiency levels present in the student population. At the bottom, there is a summary row labeled 'All proficiency levels' to provide overall totals. Across the top, the table has columns for each grade level from Kindergarten (K) through 12th grade, allowing for the entry of student counts in each grade for each proficiency level. The 'Total Number' column is used to sum the students across all grades for each proficiency level. The 'Percent of Statewide Total Number' column is for recording the percentage that each proficiency level represents out of the total number of English learners with disabilities in the state.

Example Format 4

English Learners with Disabilities by English Proficiency Level on the Alternate English Proficiency Assessment in [School Year]

Educational agencies can use a table like this to document and analyze the distribution of English learners with disabilities based on their English language proficiency as measured by an Alternate English Language Proficiency (Alt ELP) assessment, for a specific school year. There is a blank space in the title to enter the year. Each grade from Kindergarten (K) through 12th grade has its own column header. The 'Total Number' column next to ‘12’ (grade) is for the sum of students across all grades at each proficiency level. The 'Percent of Statewide Total Number' column to the right of ‘Total Number’ is used to indicate what proportion of the total statewide count each proficiency level represents. The leftmost column is for listing different proficiency levels as defined by the alternate assessment. There is a note that prompts the user to add a row for each relevant proficiency level. At the bottom, a summary row labeled 'All proficiency levels' is provided for aggregating totals across all listed proficiency levels.

Authors

Kristin K. Liu

Martha L. Thurlow

Yi-Chen Wu

Sheryl S. Lazarus

Andrew R. Hinkle

This 2026 tool is part of the digital adaptation of the NCEO English Learners with Disabilities Toolkit (2024). Updates have been made to improve web accessibility and interactive features.

Liu, K. K., Thurlow, M. L., Wu, Y.-C., Lazarus, S. S., & Hinkle, A. R. (2026). Using data to understand the characteristics of English learners with disabilities in your state (English Learners with Disabilities Tool #1). National Center on Educational Outcomes.

The Center is supported through a Cooperative Agreement (#H326G210002) with the Research to Practice Division, Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. The Center is affiliated with the Institute on Community Integration at the College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota. Consistent with EDGAR §75.62, the contents of this report were developed under the Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Department of Education, but do not necessarily represent the policy or opinions of the U.S. Department of Education or Offices within it. Readers should not assume endorsement by the federal government. Project Officer: Kristen Rhoads

IDEAS that Work, U.S. Office of Special Education Programs

In collaboration with:

NCEO partner logos: aem, Center for Parent Information & Resources, CCSSO, NASDSE, WestEd

NCEO Core Staff

Andrew R. Hinkle, Co-Director

Kristi K. Liu, Co-Director

Jessica Bowman

Gail Ghere

Linda Goldstone

Michael L. Moore

Darrell Peterson

Mari Quanbeck

Virginia A. Ressa

Kathy Strunk

Yi-Chen Wu

National Center on Educational Outcomes

University of Minnesota

2025 East River Parkway, Room 1-330

Minneapolis, MN 55414

Phone 612/626-1530

http://www.nceo.info

The University of Minnesota shall provide equal access to and opportunity in its programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

This document is available in alternative formats upon request. Direct requests to nceo@umn.edu.

Institute on Community Integration and University of Minnesota logos

NCEO is an affiliated center of the Institute on Community Integration

English Learners with Disabilities Toolkit