Barrier grief: English issues mistaken for learning disabilities in Boston schools

Many immigrant children are sent to special education classes when all they actually need is more help with English.    - - Donna Poisl

By: Erin Smith, Erica Moura

Even as the state braces for a wave of unaccompanied immigrant children, school systems, including Boston, are failing in assessing and educating non-English speaking students they already have.

More than one in five children of immigrants who are learning English in Boston schools have been placed in special education classes in what advocates say is a costly waste of taxpayer dollars that could also be robbing hundreds of bright students of any chance to go to college and create better lives.

“Part of the problem is the parents don’t speak English or know what’s going on,” said Yael Zakon-Bourke of the Massachusetts Association for Bilingual Education. “They’re just being told that their children need extra help. The problem is they may not be getting the extra help they need.”
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