When a student enrolls initially in the school district, it is important to identify the primary language of the student. This is true for each and every student. Obviously, the appearance of the student should not determine whether or not he or she is screened for primary language. Likewise, how the student sounds in English should not determine whether or not he or she is screened for primary language. In order to ensure that each and every non-native speaker of English is correctly identified, the district must ascertain the primary language of every student (in SPPS, this occurs at the Student Placement Center).

 The questionnaire determines if a student:  

• First learned a language other than English;
• Comes from a home where the language usually spoken is other than English; or
• Usually speaks a language other than English.   

A student who can answer yes to one or more of the questions above is considered to have a primary language other than English.

The home language questionnaire should be placed in each student's cumulative folder. 

In general, the home language does not change. However, if an error occurred upon initial enrollment, every effort should be made to ascertain the correct home language background of the student.  Further coverage of this topic is provided in the Staff Handbook section.