I. Mission and Background
The New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) educates over 900,000 pre-kindergarten– grade 12 students in nearly 1,600 public schools. Students and their parents communicate in over 180 different languages. To this end, it is the responsibility of the NYCPS to ensure that all parents are given a meaningful opportunity to participate in their child’s education program.
II. Language Access Goals
Chancellor’s Regulation A-663 establishes the procedures for ensuring that parents of students enrolled in NYCPS, including parents who communicate in a language other than English, are provided with a meaningful opportunity to participate in and have access to programs and services critical to their child’s education. Chancellor’s Regulation A-663, among other requirements, requires language assistance services in the twelve most common parent preferred languages, other than English, identified by NYCPS. These languages are Albanian, Arabic, Bangla, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian, Urdu and Uzbek. These languages, including English, account for nearly 99% of student households. Support in additional languages is available.
III. Office of Language Access
The Office of Language Access (OLA) supports NYCPS by providing written translation and in-person, virtual and over-the-phone interpretation services, and assisting in the development and implementation of a comprehensive approach to effectively engage and communicate with all families.
Families may visit schools.nyc.gov/hello for additional language access resources.
NYC Public Schools staff can visit OLA's Infohub (log-in required) for available language supports and services.