I would talk to the administration and express your concerns that the student may have other issues (such as a learning disability) that is effecting his performance in the classroom. Let them know that you believe this to be the case because, even though his native language is Spanish, he is unable to complete the reading when the passages are written in his native language.

Being within an ESOL class should not omit this student from also being offered necessary support. In order for this to happen, it's important to initiate conversation with appropriate parties (special education, counselor, etc.) and discuss an evaluation for student exceptionalities. It's important to not assume any learning challenges exists without a formal evaluation, with proper backup and documentation.

Since he is already in ESOL classes and there is time to work with the student one on one, I would start by using that time to tutor him in the areas that you think he needs. I would also bring up the issue with the ESE teachers and see if there can be other testing initiated for him. If he is placed into ESE classes, then he will be receiving the help that he needs anyway which may help him exit out of the ESOL classes.

If the student can not read his assignments in either of his languages then there is definitely something going on here. Just as the others have said you should record some examples and then bring this to the administrations attention. You should also contact the school psychologist.

There are some cases that require dual support. ESE support and ESOL support. I think you need to express your concerns to the ESE teacher and Administration. Maybe he/she could qualify for additional services. I noticed that some schools are still testing (IQ test) students in English when their first language is other than English. Please make sure that they can also provide testing in his/her native language, so the qualification process can be accurate. Here is part of a great article that I found online written by Jose Cardenas. Here is the link is you need to read the full article http://www.idra.org/resource-center/bilingual-intelligence-testing/ José A. Cárdenas, Ed.D. The following article was written by Dr. José A. Cárdenas around the year 1964, when he was serving as chairman of the Education Department at St. Mary’s University. It was first published in 1972 and is included in his new reference book, Multicultural Education: A Generation of Advocacy published by Ginn Press. Although written more than 30 years ago, the caveats raised about invalidity of intelligence testing for linguistically and culturally different children have never been addressed. There have been no further inquiries into the administration, performance and interpretation problems identified by the author in 1972. On the contrary, current literature about ethnic differences in mental abilities inferred from the results of IQ tests is being used for educational policy development, without regard to the problems identified in this article. Dr. Cárdenas’ early experiences with IQ testing of language minority, limited-English-proficient and bilingual students is a direct contradiction to Richard J. Hernstein and Charles Murray’s assertion in their recent book, The Bell Curve, that there are no cultural biases in intelligence tests. The past few years have seen increased concern over the testing of intelligence of minority children and particularly of the assessment of mental abilities of non-English speaking or bilingual children. Various national, regional and local studies have ascertained that bilingual children are over-represented in classes for the mentally retarded, and, in some cases, the traditional underachievement characterizing minority children in the public schools has been rationalized on the basis of below normal mental abilities. The unfair practice of administration of invalid intelligence tests to bilingual and bicultural populations has been noted and addressed by the courts and various civil rights agencies. In general, both the courts and regulatory agencies have understood at least some of the reasons for the lack of test validity and have consistently ruled against the use of language incompatible testing. However, the remedy formulated by the courts, often at the insistence of plaintiffs, has resulted in equally discriminatory or in some cases, even more discriminatory testing practices. Courts have consistently ruled the use of English intelligence tests to be unfair to children of limited English speaking ability but have then ruled that intelligence testing must be conducted in the language spoken in the child’s home. Such a response has not proved to be an ideal solution to the problem, and in most cases, has resulted in worse testing practices than those being replaced.

I think you should go through the process to see if he can be tested for ESE classes. I agree that it sounds like there might be more than a language barrier here since he is also not able to read in his first language.