Dear Colleague Letter: English Learner Students and Limited English Proficient Parents (01/7/2015)

The U.S. Departments of Education and Justice released this guidance reminding states, school districts, and schools of their obligations under federal law to ensure that ELLs have equal access to a high-quality education and the opportunity to achieve their full academic potential. 

August 2025 Policy Update

In August 2025, the U.S. Department of Education rescinded the 2015 Dear Colleague Letter related to serving ELL students. 

The laws and court cases on which this document was based are still in place, including the Every Student Succeeds Act [ESSA], the Civil Rights Act, Lau v. Nichols, and Castañeda v. Pickard. ESSA requires every state education agency [SEA] to "monitor every local education agency [LEA] to ensure that they are providing ELs with meaningful access to grade-level core content instruction and remedying any academic deficit in a timely manner" (U.S. Department of Education, 2016, p. 1).

In addition, states may have passed their own laws regarding ELL education, such as New York State’s C.R. Part 154, the state regulations concerning English learners/multilingual learners.