https://my.visme.co/projects/x4ypj010-why-are-so-many-minority-students-in-special-education
Author: jenmo0711
Study on Minorities in Special Education Prove Provocative
‘Study on Minorities in Special Education Prove Provocative’ is an Education Week blog that reveals major flaws in a recent finding about under-representation of minorities in special education. “Federal special education officials and civil rights advocates are pushing back against a recent study that takes on the conventional wisdom that minority students are steered into special education by biased educators.” Dr. Michael K. Yudin is cited by the author as having called this study, “fatally flawed.” The American Educational Research Association published their study in Educational Researcher, an online journal. “Paul L. Morgan, an associate professor of education at Pennsylvania State University, was the lead author of the under-representation study. He and his colleagues have done other work on minority enrollment in special education.” I learned that the study uses ambiguous words such as “similar white peers” to be in the categories of disability such as emotional disturbance, intellectual disability, and speech and language impairment. I did not know that there were associations that were trying to make people believe that white students are more at-risk in certain categories that have been proven to be disproportionate to African Americans.
Dr. Yudin, from the Education Department, brings up that the study is based on a sample of 200,00 students, and that it is incorrect because he sees national data each year about all students with disabilities and their race. I learned that the sample from the American Educational Research Association began with a sample that initially under-represented minority students with disabilities. This blog is helpful to my research because I am becoming more and more aware of the backlash by politicians and corporations when disproportionate numbers of minority students in special education are researched and facts are proven. Major racial structures in the United States are constantly reinforced, and it is surprising to see influential people negate that.
Samuels, C. (2015, June 25). Study on Minorities in Special Education Proves Provocative. Retrieved July 12, 2016, from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/2015/06/minorities_in_special_educatio.html
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 and IDEA regulations of 2006
The Focus on Exceptional Children is a monthly journal for education professionals who works with students with special needs. In 2006 The Love Publishing Co. released an article that explains the re-authorization process of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004. NCLB is highly spoken of in this article and alignment of IDEA and NCLB are the main focus. A main focus on IDEA 2004 is Individualized Education Programs (IEP). Accommodations for students with special needs are a priority, as is standardized testing for students with special needs. I learned that there is information about parental involvement, but they only need a parent’s approval once before moving on with their own classification of students. While I think this article is very informational, the agenda it is putting forward sounds like corporate reform. The emphasis on teacher effectiveness based on yearly improvement of student test scores is challenging in special education because each student is in the program based on their individual differences.
“Although more precise guidelines for participation now are in place, flexibility in determining the appropriate instructional, assessment, and performance judgment options remains.” (Pg. 22) This article is confusing in that it offers strict guidelines for schools to adhere to, but it also mentions wavers that can submitted in order to opt out of testing for a school’s students with special needs. And the guidelines for assessing students that may have a disability are supposed to be based on peer-reviewed research but they say they are allowed to be flexible on “performance judgement options.” I learned that a lot of the legislature of IDEA is opening doors for schools and districts to escape certain legal aspects of special education, while taking control over how they label students. The Focus on Exceptional Children helps in my research because I see many contradictions that I did not realize before. This article sparked my curiosity about the timing of when it was passed and how it has affected minorities with special needs.
Yell, M. L., Shriner, J. G., & Katsiyannis, A. (2006). Individuals with disabilities education improvement act of 2004 and IDEA regulations of 2006: Implications for educators, administrators, and teacher trainers. Focus on exceptional children, 39(1), 1-24. Chicago.
Reign of Error
Diane Ravitch’s national bestseller, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools, offers great insight into how corporate reform in schools is negatively effecting students with special needs, particularly low-income minorities. Ravitch incorporates the current issues throughout her entire book, and addresses how poverty can cause intellectual disabilities and struggles in school. Ravitch has a chapter in her book, ‘How Poverty Affects Academic Performance,’ which opened my eyes to the bigger issue which is healthcare. Ravitch states, “preterm babies are associated with a greater likelihood of learning disabilities.” (Pg. 95) While this makes sense, I was shocked to see that preterm births have increased 20% from 1990 to 2006, and that one in every eight babies born is preterm. African American poverty is the highest at 37%, and many of the issues with special education seem to correlate with lack of prenatal care. Students who are not afforded healthcare and proper nutrition from the very earliest of their lives are more likely to have behavioral and intellectual disabilities.
Students with special needs have been afforded many legal victories when it comes to a fair and appropriate education. Public schools are obligated to offer important services and accommodations for all students with special needs. When speaking of charter schools, I learned from Ravitch that, “Many studies show that charters enroll a disproportionately small share of students who are English-language learners or who have disabilities…” (Pg. 247) This makes sense because even though they are partially funded by the government, they are not held up to the same regulations as public schools. With Race to the Top, charter schools have become selective on their enrollment procedures and it seems as if students with special needs do not have a chance. This helps in my research because it shows me that students who need the protection of special education laws are reliant on public schools, therefore we need to continue our efforts in the public sector.
Ravitch, D. (2014). Reign of error: The hoax of the privatization movement and the danger to America’s public schools. New York, NY: Vintage Books.
Oakland Program for Exceptional Children
The Oakland Program for Exceptional Children is an amazing program for students with special needs. Oakland Unified School District has taken corporate reform into account, and then realized it does not fit the needs of the students. Oakland had a very diverse community, and the majority is African American. Inclusion is a major goal for OUSD because that is what IDEA calls for. OUSD works towards inclusion because of the emotional and mental welfare of each and every student. The majority of Oakland special needs students are mild to moderate, which begs the question is it that severe? At one point Mary Busy says, “inclusion is just good teaching.” Which I find agreeable. Each and every child learns at a different pace, which makes it even more appropriate to have inclusion with modifications as a factor.
Oakland Unified School district is one of the first school districts I have heard use the term “college, career, and community ready.” This is important in Oakland because there is a lot of poverty, and students need to learn how to be productive members of Oakland to help the city grow. With the majority of Oakland students in special education in the mild to moderate categories such as severe emotional disturbance (SER) and educable mentally retarded (EMR), there is a lot of opportunity to help these students enter mainstream classes. Being labeled ‘special needs’ can affect the confidence of students and inclusion is key to creating a healthy school climate for all individuals.
Programs for Exceptional Children (Special Education). (n.d.). Retrieved July 9, 2016, from http://www.ousd.org/pec
Minorities in Special Education: A Briefing Before the United States Commission on Civil Rights
Minorities in Special Education: A Briefing Before the United States Commission on Civil Rights is a briefing report concerning issues of disproportionate placement of minority students into special needs classes. The briefing took place in 2007 and offers many different opinions from eight education experts. While some opinions differ the consensus is that minority students are being inappropriately labeled based on subjective, not objective, criteria. “Dr. Gould, noted that according to many government reports, when subjective rather than objective criteria are used, over representation in special education is concentrated among three minority groups. The three groups are blacks, Hispanics, and American Indian and Native Alaskans.” (Pg. 1) It is also noted that the three main categories these minorities are being placed in are emotional disturbance, mental retardation, and learning disability, and these are the ones he focuses on. Seeing as how these are considered subjective categories, many of the experts agree that students are being judged based on issues that are prevalent in low socioeconomic areas.
Hilary Shelton states, “… a high frequency of behavioral difficulties coupled with poor classroom management that is common in lower income, minority schools,”(pg. 13) is a main reason for disproportion. This helps in my research because teachers are referring students into special education based on behavior, and not cognitive disabilities. He believes that students and parents should have more say and involvement in the referral process, and I agree. The importance of Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) is discussed and William Hurd taught me that the school is almost fully in control of the process, while I thought the parent and students had more say. Many of the education experts want more family involvement from the parents or caretakers, but there is a lot of work that would have to be done to organize this for low-income, working families.
Minorities in special education. [electronic resource] : a briefing before the United States Commission on Civil Rights held in Washington, DC, December 3, 2007. (2009). Washington, DC : U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, [2009].
Why are so Many Minority Students in Special Education
Beth Harry and Janette Klingner put together a study titled, ‘Why Are So Many Minority Students in Special Education? Understanding Race and Disability in Schools.’ The research process was based on, “12 schools that represented a range of ethnic populations, a range of socioeconomic levels, and differential rates of special education referral and placement.” (Pg. 19 First Edition) The research includes history of special education legislation in the United States and observations of particular students, family members, and staff members of the 12 schools. Harry and Klingner published a second edition in 2014 which includes analysis of the Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2004 (IDEA), and the changes in classifications for students with special needs. In the second edition, Harry and Klingner state that not much has changed in the disproportionate numbers of minorities in special education. I learned that IDEAs main outcome was Response to Intervention (RTI), which is a recommended alternative to placement based on IQ scores. Response to Intervention is a multi-tier process that has three steps in labeling and placing students in one of 13 categories of disability.
In the second edition, Harry and Klingner focus on three high-incidence, “judgement” categories in which African Americans and Native Americans are over-represented. What I learned is that these three high-incident categories are based on clinical judgement and are subjective, while most low-incidence categories are based on an objective diagnosis. Intellectual Disability (ID, previously mental retardation), Specific Learning Disability (SLD, LD), and Emotional Behavioral Disability (EBD, previously Severe Emotional Disturbance). African Americans are over-represented in ID and EBD, but not LD. Harry and Klingner argue that behavioral issues and low-academic achievement are often results of disadvantaged youth, and are not necessarily a disability. I learned that there are many debates between scholars that disagree over a hierarchy in special education that has been developing since desegregation. “It is not just that members of minority groups, especially African Americans, construe their overrepresentation in disability categories as evidence of continuing racism, but the labeling process with the official sanction of psychology, moves rapidly toward reification.” (Pg. 17) Harry and Klingner believe that the subjective nature of the categories is ignoring social and cultural differences in students, while others argue that the categories are based on a measurement system that is appropriate for students of all races and ethnicities.
‘Why Are So Many Minority Students in Special Education?’ helps me answer many aspects of my guiding question because it is my guiding question. Having read both the first and second edition I learned so much about the details of the first publishing and also changes that have occurred due to IDEA in the past ten years. Reading observations and quotes of students, faculty, and families teaches insight into personal experiences that are reflective of a modern issue that plagues our schools.
Harry, B., & Klingner, J. K. (2006). Why are so many minority students in special education?: Understanding race & disability in schools (1st ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.
Harry, B., & Klingner, J.K. (2014). Why are so many minority students in special education?:Understanding race & disability in schools (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.
The Disproportionate Placement of African American Males in Special Education Programs: A Critique of the Process
The Journal of Negro Education wrote a critique about the education system and the unfair and invalid practices of placing a disproportionate amount of African American males in special education. This journal provides an in-depth overview of the history of special education laws and the ever-evolving ways in which it has bended to suit the needs of public schools. The journal states, “…the special education process is unfair if the operational conceptualization of disability is itself invalid.” (Pg. 606) The classifications for students with special needs has undergone a lot of change, and the responsibility of schools to dismantle “judgement categories of disabilities” is crucial to give African American males a fair chance at education.
A history of many lawsuits that have effected the laws for special education in public schools are laid out in this journal. I learned that in 1974 there was a case in San Francisco, Larry P. vs. Wilson Riles, which brought up the issue of five African American male students were being unfairly classified in special education. I want to focus on the Bay Area and Oakland in particular for my research and this was a big step for the awareness of the issue. The history of classification and the separation of classifications for African American students in special education is shown and there is a lot of data in this article that helps in my research. I learned that the categories that many African American male students are being put into are “judgement based disabilities.” When classified as a special needs student there needs to be unbiased opinion and also a multidisciplinary team that works together to diagnose the disability. Schools have mild disability categories that have more to do with the students culture and not a biological disability.
The amount of information in this journal is extremely helpful for my resource collection. There is so much history presented that will help me see specific patterns for the placement of African American males with special needs. The information provided about the classifications and the changes they have undergone in the past forty years is helpful to see the reasons behind the disproportionate placement problem.
Harry, B., & Anderson, M. G. (1994). The Disproportionate Placement of African American Males in Special Education Programs: A Critique of the Process. The Journal of Negro Education, 63(4), 602. doi:10.2307/2967298
http://www.jstor.org.stmarys-ca.idm.oclc.org/stable/2967298?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) examines trends in education differing by race and ethnicity. The NCES recognizes 6 different groups; White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaskan Native. The study clearly defines what they mean by each category and have also clearly defines what makes a group a minority, which is every group other than White. With new information and a growing population of minorities in the past thirty years, the NCES shows percentage categories of contributing factors to problems in education by race/ ethnicity.
African American’s are the most impoverished in the three sub-categories of married/coupled parents, single female household (no husband present), and single male household (no wife present). I also learned that African Americans only have 36% married, coupled parents, which is far less than any other category. With a huge focus on African American students with special needs, I see poverty and family structure as a big reason why students are having a hard time in school. “Research has suggested that growing up in poverty can negatively impact children’s mental and behavioral development and well as their overall health, making it more difficult for them to learn.” (Pg. 16) I also learned that the top five largest school districts in the United States had very low percentages of White students, and mainly had African American and Latino students.
Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities provides so much primary information about areas of education that are often a concern. This study is helpful because it also offered insight into more publications such as Status and Trends in the Education of Blacks and Status and Trends in the Education of Hispanics. These trends and statistics help answer my guiding question because the numbers are proportional to the main concerns that have arisen about cultural and financial issues that effect why students are put into special education.
Kewal-Ramani, A. (2007). Status and trends in the education of racial and ethnic minorities. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Dept. of Education.
Disproportionate Representation of Minorities in Special Education – How Bad?
This resource is a presentation created by Ruben Gentry Ed.D., professor of special education at Jackson State University. The study was presented at the The 3rd Annual Jane H. Leblanc Symposium in Communication Disorders at Arkansas State University. Gentry examines the history of minorities in special education with a focus on legislature that has emerged to protect students with special needs. African American students are the most represented group in special education, especially in the categories of intellectual disabilities and severely emotionally disturbed. They are being placed in special education because educators are misinterpreting behavior problems and misunderstanding cultural differences.” (Pg. 9)
The Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA), previously Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA), was reauthorized to make sure students with special needs had opportunities for a Free and Fair Public Education (FAPE.) While I have studied some legislation behind students with special needs rights to education, this source offers insight into the timeline and history of special education legislation.
I learned in the source that there has been a large focus on the over-representation of minority students within the IDEA legislature. In 2004 IDEA was reorganized to make sure schools monitored their disproportionate amount of minority students in special education. This helps to answer my guiding question because it gives me a basis to explore different school community’s data collection and changes made in school’s special education programs.
Disproportionate Representation of Minorities in Special Education–How Bad? : ERIC : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive. (2009, June). Retrieved July 01, 2016, from https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED505997
Jenna Moreno 