When determining if a school suspects that a child has a disability, the document provided guidance on page 10:

"Teams should consider the impact of cultural and linguistic differences and socio-economic factors on student performance when determining whether a disability is suspected."

The largest group of disabled children in VA are children in the SLD category.  Many of these children struggle with dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia, so it was surprising to read that the state of VA believes that a child's culture, linguistic difference, or socio-economic status should be considered.  Dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia are brain based learning differences and these conditions are not corelated with a child's race, culture, or language.  The guidance should read that race, culture, and/or economic status play no role in a child disability. 

I understand that you may be worried about evaluation tools that are biased, but to give the following guidance is deeply misleading:

"Research shows that cultural and linguistic differences may result in an impact of up to 35 standard score points depending on the particular test and individual student’s cultural background and language skills. Teams should discuss the impact of regional dialectal differences, common family or cultural customs, lack of practice, and other factors that while appropriate for the individual student, may result in a lower score due to inappropriate comparison with the test norming population."

How would this guidance play out for the single largest disabled group of students, dyslexic students?  Again, dyslexia is a brain based learning disability, and a child is not more or less likely to be dyslexic because they are Black, Brown , or poor.  This guidance would lead to a delay in disabled children being identified and receiving very important early interventions.

It's not difficult to determine if a child has a problem with phonological processing and rapid naming.  Schools NEED support in identifying children with disabilities.

I would encourage the VDOE to closely examine how well schools identify how well Black, Brown, and ELL dyslexic children in the early grades when early intervention is critical.  I think you will find the numbers of Black, Brown, and ELL SLD children in K, Grade 1, and 2 shockingly low . . . . that's a MAJOR problem.  Please look at the data and let the data guide your conversations.  

The proposed language will lead to more delay.  The goal should be early identification and early intervention.  This language will promote delay.