Special Education

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the over-representation of minority or non-white students in special education and the quality of their educational experiences have been regarded as one of the most significant issues facing the U.S. public school system in the past thirty years because the existence of this disproportionality has been used as evidence of potential discrimination. The author points out that, from a legal point of view, evidence of a pattern of over-representation has been sufficient enough to begin a legal action to reduce disproportionality. The paper argues that the problem of disproportionate representation of minorities in special education must be examined in a larger societal context by addressing issues of inadequate educational resources, use of culturally inappropriate instruction and inadequate teacher qualifications.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
A History of Litigation
English Language Learners
Court Cases Involving Disproportionality of Minorities
Regulations Regarding Disproportionate Representation
Amendments to IDEA
Measuring the Problem
Composition Index (CI)
Relative Risk Ratios (RRRs)
Disproportionality and the "Least Restrictive Environment" (LRE)
Re-Defining the Problem
Is Disproportionality Significant?
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"An issue with the use of RRRs and other methods of calculation is that there is no one recognized approach for determining when disproportionality is large enough to be important. While there are methods for establishing statistical significance (i.e., is this RRR significantly larger, or smaller, than 1.0?), these methods are somewhat complex, raise other calculation problems, and may produce different results depending on the size of the district. A more common approach has been to randomly select a cutoff value at which disproportionality is viewed as socially significant."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Artiles, A. J. (2003). Special education's changing identity: Paradoxes and dilemmas in views of culture and space. Harvard Educational Review, 73, 164-202.
• Artiles, A. J., Rueda, R., Salazar, J. J., & Higareda, I. (2005). Within-group diversity in minority disproportionate representation: English language learners in urban school districts. Exceptional Children, 71, 283-300.
• Billingsley, B. (2004). Special education teachers' retention and attrition: A critical analysis of the research literature. Remedial and Special Education, 25, 22-39.
• Blair, C., & Scott, K. G. (2002). Proportion of LD placements associated with low socio-economic status: Evidence for gradient. Journal of Special Education, 36, 14-22.
• Blanchett, W. J., Mumford, V., & Beachum, F. (2005). Urban school failure and disproportionality in a post-Brown era. Remedial and Special Education, 26, 70-81.

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