The most recent National Center for Education Statistics estimate shows that in fall 2021, 10.6% of public school students (about 5.3 million) were classified as English Learners. While this is a huge part of school communities, families who are limited English proficiency are frequently underrepresented in surveys.
Survey experts often identify this group as being at higher risk for under-response or non-response. As a result, many districts may be missing the voices of a significant segment of families when collecting feedback and data.
This concern is becoming increasingly urgent as the number of English learner students and limited English proficient households continues to grow in many regions. This makes it essential for districts to adopt intentional, targeted strategies to better engage these families.
Why participation is essential
When limited English proficiency families are unable to participate in surveys, districts risk gathering feedback that does not fully reflect the broader community. If the data captures only a portion of family perspectives, school improvement decisions may be guided by an incomplete and potentially misleading understanding of community needs.
Increasing participation among these families is critical for ensuring representative feedback, promoting equity in decision-making, identifying unmet needs and gaps in communication and services, improving trust and relationships, strengthening student outcomes, and meeting compliance and accountability expectations.
Why families dont take surveys
Families and students with limited English proficiency often face several barriers that make it harder for this subgroup of school communities to participate in school surveys.
1. Language access and translation issues: Many school surveys are often only offered in English. Even when schools translate surveys, the word-for-word style translations can miss cultural context or sound unclear, which may confuse families and ultimately discourage them from completing the survey.
Moreover, schools may also lack bilingual staff or the funding needed to translate surveys and support families who dont speak English.
2. Lack of trust and fear of consequences: Some families, especially immigrant households or mixed-status families, may worry about how their survey responses will be used. They may fear their answers could negatively affect them or their child.
3. Busy schedules and limited access to technology: Many families face time constraints due to demanding work schedules, childcare responsibilities or multiple jobs. Even when families want to respond, finding time can be difficult.
This is often made worse by the digital divide. Some families may not have reliable internet access or prefer to communicate differently.
4. Cultural differences and unclear relevance: In some communities, families may not be used to giving feedback to schools or may not see themselves as partners in decision-making.
These barriers often build on each other. Language access, cultural differences, time constraints, technology gaps, and limited institutional supports can work together to reduce multilingual family participation.
How to improve participation
Increasing participation among multilingual and limited English proficiency families requires a coordinated, district-wide strategy that addresses multiple barriers at once and sustains over time.
District-level recommendations
District leaders can make the biggest impact by building multilingual engagement into strategic planning. This includes:
- Allocating sustainable funding for professional translations
- Hiring multilingual community liaisons
- Creating clear success measures, such as survey participation goals broken down by home language, to ensure accountability
School-level recommendations
School leaders can increase participation by making communication more culturally and linguistically accessible. This includes:
- Training staff on engaging limited English proficient communities
- Ensuring survey distribution is clear, consistent and welcoming
- Using formats that respect families time, literacy levels, and communication preferences
Classroom-level recommendations
Teachers and support staff play a powerful role in helping families feel invited and valued. Research and practice show that personal invitations are one of the most effective ways to increase participation, especially when communication is in the familys home language.
Teachers can also use existing touchpoints to support survey engagement, such as:
- Class newsletters
- Conferences
- Family nights
- Providing in-person help so families can complete surveys with support
Meaningful participation from multilingual and limited English proficiency families should be a priority for both equity practices and data quality. When families see feedback lead to real change, trust increases, participation grows and schools move closer to true, community-centered engagement.
Every family should be seen, heard and valued
Increasing multilingual and English learner family participation in school surveys is a critical step toward building a district culture where every family is seen, heard and valued. When districts invest in language access, trusted outreach and sustained relationship-building, they dont just improve response rates, they improve the quality and representativeness of the data that guides decisions.
Most importantly, when families can clearly see how their feedback leads to action, trust deepens and engagement becomes ongoing, creating stronger partnerships that support student success and a more inclusive school community.
