Interpreters Provide Language Support for Students and Families
Minnesota’s 2024-25 academic year kicks off this month, and K-12 schools throughout the state are preparing for their annual Back-to-School events. The rapid growth of racial and ethnic populations continues nationwide, and Minnesota’s student population is increasingly diverse in part due to global migration and local refugee resettlement. Last year over 78,000 Minnesota public K-12 students statewide identified as English Language Learners (ELL). As two of the largest districts, St Paul Public Schools students speak more than 114 languages, and Minneapolis Public Schools is a close second with over 100 languages spoken by students and families.
Public and charter schools that receive federal funds must have a Language Access Plan (LAP) for communicating with their limited English proficient (LEP) students and families. School district LAPs should include the services of professional language interpreters and translators whenever possible. Our experienced team partners with school social workers, secretaries, and other school staff to provide language support to students and families and have seen firsthand how this positively impacts their school experience and academic outcomes. Our interpreters possess dual language expertise and cross-cultural competency, and both of these critical skill sets contribute to the successful and accurate exchange of information in education settings.
The Minnesota Department of Education and school districts remain focused on implementing policies and curriculum that view student multilingualism and cultural competency as assets. We are proud to be a State of Minnesota approved language services provider. Our talented interpreters work with school districts throughout the state, and adhere to all professional codes of conduct, ethics, and confidentiality guidelines. Our language services team looks forward to creating relationships with new school district clients and continuing the important work of language access support for our current valued partners.