Mark Byrne
Language Access Consultant at PGLS
Language services like translation and interpretation are often used as tools to promote understanding between two parties. However, in a K-12 setting, language access plays a much larger role, impacting the quality of education and creating opportunities for meaningful participation in students’ academic journeys. When school districts eliminate bottlenecks related to language access, they are doing more than sharing information – They empower parents to engage actively in their child’s education. This ultimately drives student growth and allows school staff to take a more proactive approach to serving multilingual families.
Why is Language Access Important in K-12 Schools?
Facilitating multilingual communication is no easy task for a school district. So why do we work so hard to communicate with families in their native languages?
- To better understand one another… Ok
- Compliance with state and federal law… Sure
- To be respectful of one’s culture… of course
- Creating more inclusive schools… definitely
All of this is important, but most schools don’t fully grasp the transformative impact that language services can have in a K-12 setting. If schools focused on the impact of language services instead of just the output, I believe that language services would be viewed not just as a support function, but as essential tools for driving parent engagement and improving student outcomes.
I work with school leaders across the country, who are responsible for supporting multilingual learners. When I ask them why they want to bring in more resources to support multilingual communication I get the type of responses I listed above. These are all great reasons to promote language access in K-12 schools but the best reason for implementing an effective language access plan is because it drives student growth.
The ROI of Language Services in K-12 Schools
ROI, or return on investment, means something different in K-12 schools. In the private sector, dollars are invested with the expectation that there will be a monetary return on that investment. In schools, dollars are invested with the expectation that those dollars will drive student growth. In terms of ROI, there is a strong case to be made that putting an organization wide emphasis on increasing parent/student engagement is among the most cost-effective strategies for driving student growth. This investment is not so much about dollars as it is about establishing a culture wherein inclusivity is a core value.
There is much to gain by leveraging parent engagement as a tool for student success. Students who have engaged parents are more likely to attend school, participate in extracurricular activities, achieve grade level proficiency and ultimately graduate. Language services can be a catalyst for sparking this engagement among multilingual families by allowing them to have meaningful participation in their child’s education.
It’s crucial for schools to be strategic in how they communicate with multilingual families and not be hesitant to involve professional interpretation or translation services when appropriate. Often, school staff struggle with the challenge of facilitating communications with multilingual families, because they don’t fully understand the purpose of these communications. School staff need to understand the many benefits that multicultural communications can have on student outcomes. It’s so important that these staff members to be reminded that the role of translation or interpretation services is so much more than allowing for two parties to understand one another but also to help establish trust between families and educators. When families and staff collaborate to find strategies that will help improve student outcomes it can have a tremendous impact on the student and ultimately, allow the schools to better serve their multilingual communities.
Strategic Language Access Plans: From Registration to Graduation
From registration to graduation, multilingual families need linguistic support to equitably access the best that your district has to offer. Failing to put together a comprehensive language access plan can create inefficiencies that result in a lot of wasted time, time that could be better spent helping students succeed. At a time when there are so many resources available to support multicultural communications, more professional development and training for school staff is needed in order to help them choose the appropriate technology or select the most appropriate resource to facilitate communications with multilingual families.
When you look at all the different people who could potentially interact with a multilingual student you can begin to see how much potential there is for time to be lost when responding to the linguistic needs of a child. How does the school nurse respond when they need to call home on behalf of a student, but the family doesn’t speak English? What about staff members who are responsible for extracurricular events? How do they communicate with parents? What about Campus Police? What happens when a multilingual family attends a Parent/Teacher Conference without having scheduled an interpreter?
As you start to reflect on all the instances where a language barrier could lead to lost time, I hope you will consider the importance of having a strategic language access plan that can be rolled out across the district to help staff effectively manage communication with multilingual families, ensuring that students and families receive the support they need.
Avoiding the Burden of Unavailable Language Services
When these types of multilingual supports are unavailable it can have a negative impact on both the family and school staff who are then left scrambling to accommodate communications, often in inefficient ways. Both school staff and the families feel the burden when they are unable to remove language barriers that are preventing effective communication. By implementing multilingual communication supports, schools can operate more efficiently, focusing more of their attention on students and families’ success and less on solving the challenge of connecting with the appropriate modality of interpretation or accessing translated content to support the family in need.
Embracing Modern Tools for Multilingual Support
School leaders tasked with supporting a multilingual student population have faced the challenge of language barriers for centuries. In the modern era, we have more tools and technologies in place to support multilingual communications than ever before. Machine translation, AI, Remote interpretation, and handheld translation devices have made accessing linguistic support in real time a reality. With so many resources available, it’s crucial for districts to implement a strategic language access plan and equip school leaders with the tools they need to champion language access in their schools.
Making the Business Case for Language Access
I am fortunate to work with some of the most sophisticated multilingual departments in K-12 schools across the country. Even some of the most devoted multilingual departments can struggle with formulating a language access plan and advocating for more resources to support multilingual families. My advice to these departments is simple: focus on the impact, not just the output. Tell your story about how you support the multilingual community and how your efforts lead to improved student outcomes. Once you can connect the impact to the dollars invested you can start making a business case for additional resources and supports for multilingual families.
At the end of the day, schools are responsible for growing their students academically. Creating programs, processes and supports for multilingual learners represent a great opportunity to foster student growth across the district and create a culture of inclusivity while allowing these multilingual families to benefit from the best of what their district has to offer.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation.