Best Practices for Distinguishing Language Acquisition & Learning Disabilities

This session will focus on nesting multilingual students (MLs) ecologies within the testing, assessment, and evaluation continuum to support teams in developing more equitable decision-making processes. Current assessment practices continue to privilege white and middle-class students while focusing on MLs perceived deficits. First, laying the foundation for reliable and valid practices for all learners will guide the discussion as we clarify the differences between evaluation, assessment, and testing. Then, we will examine the types of assessments used within an MTSS framework to make instructional decisions for MLs. Instructional questions will be posed to model aligning them to the types of assessments to answer the questions across the MTSS tiers. Finally, collaboration across various stakeholders in data-based decisions making will be highlighted.