The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2022 - 19

School Demographics
The availability of qualified
bilingual SLPs in no way
matches the linguistic
diversity of the U.S. student
population. A brief look at
the demographics for St.
Paul Public Schools, one of
the largest and most diverse
districts in Minnesota,
illustrates this. The district
served over 34,000 students
in 2020. Almost half of all
students (46%) spoke one
of 115 languages at home
and potentially have parents
that need interpreting and
translation services.2
A
smaller percentage (28%)
of total enrollment were
classified as English learners
(ELs).3
(See Figure 1.)
An Expanded Role
for Interpreters
St. Paul Public Schools have
a long-established Latino
community, and the district
has welcomed successive
waves of refugees from
Southeast Asia, Somalia,
other areas of Africa, and,
most recently, Myanmar.
SLPs in this district have
always had to adapt quickly
to serve language groups for
whom there are few or no
published resources
and for whom the school
district has no licensed
bilingual providers.
St. Paul Public Schools first
formed a multidisciplinary
special education team
to evaluate and identify
disabilities among
multilingual students in the
1970s, when large numbers
of Hmong refugees began
arriving. Interpreters have
been an integral part of
this team since its earliest
days. Currently, the district
has 22 positions for special
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education interpreters for
children ages birth through
21, some of which were
vacant at the time I prepared
this article:
y Amharic (1 position)
y Hmong (6 positions)
y Oromo (1 position)
y Sgaw-Karen (5 positions)
y Somali (4 positions)
y Spanish (5 positions)
Although staff interpreters
carry the title " special
education interpreter, "
they have a broad role
within the schools. They
schedule meetings, conduct
parent interviews, and are
frequently the first person
on the EL/special education
team to have contact with
families. They interpret
for meetings with parents
and school personnel, but
also assist with native
language evaluations, review
assessment materials to
ensure cultural relevance,
and translate documents.
They are also active
participants in regular team
meetings to review cases.
Interpreters work closely
with SLPs in St. Paul Public
Schools. SLPs are responsible
for evaluating the native
language for all ELs referred
for a special education
evaluation. They determine
whether a communication
impairment exists, identify
strengths and weaknesses
in the home language, and
provide information that
aids in evaluating other
skills areas. To determine
if a student has a speechlanguage
impairment,
the SLP must show that
the problem exists in the
native language as well as
in English. Interpreters are
essential in this process
Figure 1
St. Paul Public Schools-
Home Languages Other than English of
Enrolled Students (2020-21)
* Hmong: 5,731
* Karen: 2,657
* Oromo, Afan Oromo, Oromiffa: 541
* Vietnamese: 210
because they gather
information about how
students communicate in
their home language.
The role of the special
education interpreter is
considered a higher-level
position within the school
district. Interpreters who join
the EL/special education team
have a variety of educational
and employment experiences.
Newly hired interpreters
receive coaching from a
licensed staff member and
an experienced interpreter
serves as their mentor. They
also receive training in special
education compliance and
on using the school district's
system for logging contacts
and services.
Creating Partnerships
to Enhance Training
The Minnesota Department
of Education has worked
closely with the EL/special
education teams in St. Paul
* Spanish: 3,163
* Somali: 1,505
* Amharic: 333
* All Other: 1,607
and Minneapolis to develop
special education guidelines
used throughout the state.
The state guidelines, The
EL Companion to Promoting
Fair Evaluations, integrate
interpreters and cultural
liaisons into evaluation
procedures (there's even a
chapter called " Working with
Interpreters and Cultural
Liaisons " 4
). In 2015, the
Minnesota Department of
Education also developed its
Code of Ethics and Standards
of Practice for Educational
Interpreters of Spoken
Languages in collaboration
with the University of
Minnesota.5
In 2016, the Minnesota
Department of Education
initiated a collaboration
between the Minnesota
Speech-Language-Hearing
Association (MNSHA) and
the Interpreting Stakeholders
Group (ISG). The Upper
Midwest Translators and
American Translators Association 19
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