Education

Identifying Mental Retardation

March 14, 2001 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

African-American students were three times more likely than their white peers to be labeled mentally retarded and placed in special education courses, according to the results of four studies commissioned by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University.

Black Students
States

Odds of Identification
Compared to Whites

1. Connecticut 4.76
2. Mississippi 4.31
3. South Carolina 4.30
4. North Carolina 4.08
5. Nebraska 4.08
6. Florida 3.91
7. Alabama 3.89
8. Delaware 3.61
9. New Jersey 3.60
10. Colorado 3.48

NOTE: Only New Hampshire and Vermont do not show significant overrepresentation. They show very slight underrepresentation.

SOURCE: The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, 2001.

A version of this article appeared in the March 14, 2001 edition of Education Week as Identifying Mental Retardation

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: October 11, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: September 27, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: September 20, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education From Our Research Center What's on the Minds of Educators, in Charts
Politics, gender equity, and technology—how teachers and administrators say these issues are affecting the field.
1 min read
Stylized illustration of a pie chart
Traci Daberko for Education Week