|
The Problem
Since the 1960's, the disproportionate representation of African American children in special education has received national attention. A series of national studies released in 2001 by The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University concluded "school districts nationwide continue to improperly and disproportionately place minority students in special education classes despite an increase in civil rights protections and special education services over the past 25 years." Statistics from the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Special Education Programs for Fall 2008 show that although African Americans represented just 15% of all students, they represented 21% of students in the special education category of specific learning disabilities, 29% in the category of emotional disturbance, and 31% in the category of mental retardation.
The dropout rate among minority children with disabilities has been exceedingly higher than whites. Other failing students act out their feelings and become behavioral problems building defenses that only get them in more trouble. The challenge of educating these children is further exacerbated by the advent of zero tolerance policies. Statistics around these policies show that African American students are suspended or expelled up to five times more than white students even though research dispels a simplistic explanation of a disproportionate level of behavior and points to a biased system where a double standard appears to exist. (Cartledge, Gwendolyn, Teacher Education and Special Education, Council for Exceptional Children, 2001.)
While factors associated with poverty are often identified as the primary reason for the overrepresentation of minorities in special education, this common overgeneralization is refuted by findings that as factors associated with wealth and better schooling increase, African American boys are at greater risk of being disproportionately labeled "mentally retarded." (Oswald, Donald P., Coutinho, Martha J., and Best, Al M., Community and School Predictors of Minority Children in Special Education, in Racial Inequity in Special Education, 2002.)
The poverty theory also fails to explain why gross racial disparities are only found in the categories of mental retardation and emotional disturbance, and not in the categories of specific learning disability or any medically diagnosed disabilities. There is also no agreed upon explanation for the broader scale achievement gap which is actually wider between middle income African American and white students, or the success of so many schools in low income African American communities who have produced students well above the national average.
Special education is intended to provide support and services to help students with disabilities learn to their full potential. Historically, special education has too often been a place to segregate minorities and students with disabilities. Disproportionate representation (Oswald, Coutinho, Best, and Singh, 1999) is defined as the extent to which membership in a given ethnic group affects the probability of being placed in a specific special education disability category. To the extent that minority students are misclassified, segregated, or inadequately served, special education can contribute to a denial of equality of opportunity, with devastating results in communities throughout the nation (Harvard Civil Rights Project, Conference on Minority Issues in Special Education, 2000).
|