Disproportionality

Special Education Final Rule Released on Identifying Racial Bias in Special Education
Many more school districts will be required to use special education money to address minority overrepresentation under a final rule released Monday by the U.S. Department of Education.
Christina A. Samuels, December 12, 2016
3 min read
School & District Management How Texas Keeps Special Education Enrollment Low
School officials say that oversight from the state prompted them to keep special education enrollment at no more than 8.5 percent, even if that meant delaying evaluations or shifting kids into services that offered less legal obligation.
Christina A. Samuels, September 12, 2016
3 min read
Special Education Racial Bias in Special Education: Learning About Disproportionality
The Education Department says that states need tighter guidelines on how to assess districts for racial and ethnic bias in special education. But just how are states figuring out if minorities are being shunted inappropriately to special education classes?
Christina A. Samuels, March 4, 2016
9 min read
Special Education Ed. Dept. Seeks Standard Approach to Flagging Racial Bias in Special Education
A proposed rule would require all districts to use a common yardstick in measuring whether they over-identify minority students for special education services.
Christina A. Samuels, February 23, 2016
3 min read
School & District Management Study on Minorities in Special Education Proves Provocative
A recent study challenges the belief that minorities are overrepresented in special education, but some researchers question the methodology.
Christina A. Samuels, June 25, 2015
3 min read
School & District Management Minorities Less Likely to Be Identified for Special Education, Study Finds
Black and Hispanic students may be facing bias that keeps them from getting the special education services they need, according to a new analysis.
Christina A. Samuels, June 24, 2015
3 min read
School Climate & Safety Pa. Group Alleges Discrimination in Alternative-School Placements
Black students and students with disabilities are being placed in "drastically inferior" education programs at a disproportionate rate, says the Education Law Center.
Christina A. Samuels, August 7, 2013
1 min read
Special Education Group Acts to Address Overidentification of Black Children as Disabled
The National Association for the Education of African American Children with Learning Disabilities will train parents how to better advocate for their children and address this persistent disproportionality.
Nirvi Shah, January 12, 2012
1 min read
Special Education Basic Measures
Each weekday at W.G. Pearson Elementary School kicks off with more than two hours of reading instruction and activities.
Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, January 8, 2004
8 min read
Special Education Disparately Disabled
With African-American students showing up in classrooms for children with mental retardation at 3.3 times the rate of white students, it was obvious in 1997 that Alabama had an equity problem with its special education programs. Ordered by a federal court that year to fix it, the state set to work.
Debra Viadero, January 8, 2004
9 min read