This research brief summarizes some of the challenges in designing a home language survey that does not over- or under-identify students as English learners. Some best practices are identified: (1) Ambiguity in question phrasing can lead to misinterpretations by respondents, potentially skewing the data used to identify more students as English Learners (ELs); (2) Home language surveys should gathered information about the variety of environments in which students use different languages.
