Systems constraints on pre-referral include lack of appropriate observation tools, over-identification fears, and COVID-19 effects¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2023 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Interviewees reported no standardized assessment for a 3-year-old's English, fears of over-identification, and pandemic-related increases in referrals as constraints. → Burr 2023

Evidence¶

Burr 2023¶

Burr, E., Burho, J., & Perez, A. (2023). Pre-Referral Processes in California State Preschool Programs: How Practitioners Decide to Refer Multilingual Children for Special Education Evaluation. WestEd. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED655866

q2 · i? · qualitative · r2

Interview study of CSPP coordinators. A special education coordinator worried children needing services may be overlooked "because it's assumed that it's an EL issue"; others cited fear of over-identification and pandemic-era referral increases.

"There's no standardized assessment for figuring out how good a 3-year-old's English is. It's not existing, nobody's doing it."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• CSPP pre-referral decisions draw on baseline data from the ASQ, ASQ:SE-2, and the DRDP administered twice per year — related
• CSPP pre-referral processes mirror the K-12 MTSS approach and apply fundamentally the same steps to ML and non-ML children — related
• Multidisciplinary teams often provide home language support and delay referral to rule out lack of opportunity to learn before evaluating ML children — related
• Bilingual staff help differentiate typical language development from disability, but interviewees described no systematic process for doing so — related
• Assessment of young multilingual learners is hampered by a dearth of valid, linguistically appropriate measures and by English-only administration — related
• Experts report likely overrepresentation of foster children in special education and no direct clear evidence that special education works for them — related
• Subgroup analyses indicate school staff identification and referral services and informal networks both contribute to learning-mode differences in children’s SSI applications — related